The business world is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by rapid technological advancement. At the heart of this transformation are two major forces reshaping workplace dynamics: the increased adoption of cloud services and the rise of hybrid work culture.
Cloud services will evolve from a technology innovation to a competitive necessity for 90% of businesses by 2028, as per Gartner. Organizations are embracing cloud services to increase agility, scale operations, and reduce infrastructure costs. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to remote work, and now, hybrid work models—where employees split time between remote and on-site locations—have become a new standard. In 2025, 65% of employees will work remotely at least one day per week, and the trend is expected to grow, as per Gartner.
Cloud adoption and a hybrid work workforce significantly benefit organizations in terms of business scalability and continuity, as well as employee productivity and satisfaction. However, they also introduce unique challenges, such as data privacy, access security, compliance, and connectivity.
As businesses expand their digital footprint, cyber attackers increasingly target unsecured cloud resources and remote endpoints. Traditional perimeter-based network and security architectures are not capable of protecting distributed environments. Therefore, organizations must adopt a holistic, future-proof network and cybersecurity architecture to succeed in this rapidly changing business landscape.
The Challenges
Perimeter-based security revolves around defending the network’s boundary. It assumes that anyone who has gained access to the network is trusted and that everything outside the network is a potential threat. While this model worked well when applications, data, and users were contained within corporate walls, it is not adequate in a world where cloud applications and hybrid work are the norm. Here are the key reasons, and how they map to a typical enterprise’s IT environment:
- Decentralized Management: Traditional network and security architectures are disjointed, leading to inconsistent security policies across cloud, on-premises, and remote environments. This fragmentation results in policy silos with no unified governance or visibility. IT administrators are forced to manually synchronize security policies across diverse environments and security tools—a resource-intensive process prone to human error, increasing the risk of misconfigurations and breaches.
- Data Siloes: For distributed organizations, sensitive data resides across multiple clouds, SaaS applications, and remote endpoints, creating visibility gaps and inconsistencies in where the data is stored, how it is accessed, and who is using it—often precursors of data exfiltration, unauthorized sharing, and insider threats.
- MPLS and VPN Limitations: Traditional MPLS and VPN solutions were not designed for the cloud or global remote access, leading to latency and performance bottlenecks. These architectures are costly and complex to scale. They often result in poor end-user experience when accessing resources remotely or on the cloud.
- Remote Access Exploits: Sophisticated cyberattacks increasingly target cloud workloads and remote endpoints because they lie outside traditional perimeter defenses. Modern attackers often compromise identities from remote endpoints to appear as legitimate users for targeting cloud and on-premises workloads.
The Solution
To resolve the network and security challenges posed by increasing cloud adoption, remote work, and distributed organizations, Gartner proposed a modern, cloud-delivered architecture in 2019. This architecture, called Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), converges networking and security services into a unified framework.
SASE is an architecture comprising a broad spectrum of technologies, including Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), Cloud Access Security Brocker (CASB), Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN). Everything is embodied into a single, cloud-native platform that provides advanced cyber protection and seamless network performance for highly distributed applications and users.
Sangfor Access Secure: The Smarter, Simpler, And More Secure Way To Connect
SASE represents a shift from traditional perimeter-based architectures. However, the path to SASE is far from straightforward; it requires a gradual, step-by-step approach. Each enterprise has its own starting point, requiring careful planning, flexibility, and customization.
With Sangfor Access Secure—the flagship SASE offering from Sangfor Technologies—you gain an experienced and reliable partner to help you navigate the complexities of SASE implementation at your own pace.
Sangfor Access Secure High-Level Architecture
Sangfor Access Secure is a comprehensive SASE platform that integrates advanced, AI-powered security features (ZTNA, SWG, FWaaS, DLP, EDR) with wide-area network (WAN) agility, empowering modern businesses with a Smarter, Simpler, and more Secure way to connect. Our cloud-native platform ensures users and edge resources enjoy fast, secure, and reliable access to the internet, cloud, and on-premises anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
Sangfor Access Secure Key Features and Benefits
Future Outlook: The Evolution of Sangfor Access Secure
Sangfor Access Secure has a proven track record of transforming organizations’ network and security infrastructures by delivering a resilient yet flexible SASE platform. As buyer needs evolve, we continue to enhance the platform with new technologies through robust R&D. At Sangfor, we believe that the future of SASE is promising, driven by our innovations in the following areas:
AI and Machine Learning Integration: AI and ML will play an integral role in Sangfor Access Secure, adding value through automated policy configurations, behavioral analytics, and automation to detect, diagnose, and resolve performance and security issues in real time.
Edge Computing and 5G Integration: Our vision is to extend robust security to the edge, ensuring seamless protection and connectivity for IoT devices, remote sites, and branch offices.
Quantum-Resilient Security: Quantum computing is a potential threat to existing encryption models. A SASE solution should secure data transmissions and safeguard critical systems against quantum-based attacks.
Additionally, the emergence of open SASE ecosystems will foster interoperability between solutions, and Sangfor will also be part of that ecosystem.
Conclusion
As the threat landscape evolves and organizations embrace digital transformation, SASE will become the de facto architecture for securing and optimizing modern networks. Businesses that invest in a reliable and visionary SASE platform like Sangfor Access Secure will be better positioned to protect their assets, improve operational efficiency, and deliver secure access across dynamic and distributed environments. The future of Sangfor Access Secure is promising, driven by innovations in AI, edge computing, and Zero Trust. By selecting Sangfor as your partner on your SASE journey, you can meet the security demands of today and lay a solid foundation for the demands of tomorrow.
Sources:
https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/5598759
About the Author
Akarsh Jain is the Security Product Marketing Manager at Sangfor Technologies. He has over eight years of experience with leading technology firms, including Senior Product Manager at Citrix and Commercial Product Manager at Oracle, constantly developing his technical expertise in the fields of network security and cloud infrastructure. Akarsh can be reached online at [email protected] and at our company website https://www.sangfor.com/.
