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With many employees working from home , current network security architectures are failing to effectively serve the requirements needed for digital business , including optimum security . This is according to Michael Wood , CMO at Versa Networks , who tells us how Secure Access Service Edge ( SASE ) is transforming SMEs ’ network security and what businesses can do to adopt SASE .

What are the current inadequacies around existing network security architectures for SMEs ?

An obvious factor that most SMEs are currently facing is the fact that their employees are working remotely . Home environments are not typically an extension of an SME ’ s network , so they become one of the least secure and least protected environments that exist . Suddenly , due to the pandemic , these extended networks have to be protected . As such , this has become one of the biggest areas of security exposure for SMEs and therefore means their network security architectures need to be assessed and possibly changed .

Another area of inadequacy that certainly contributes towards the large security exposure experienced by SMEs is the devices used by employees to connect to the network . Some SMEs may provide corporate devices for their employees to use , but many do not have the budget to do so . As a result , employees are left with no choice but to use their personal devices to gain access to corporate assets which may be located on-premises but are typically in the cloud .

The reason why many company applications are found on the cloud is because SMEs , rightly so , have looked to take advantage of solutions that are more cost effective and cloud offerings are perfect for them .

Consequently , this has created an environment where many employees are working remotely and accessing applications from multiple devices which , in many cases , are now distributed around the world ( depending on the scalability of the organisation ).

As such , those who look after security for SMEs ( this could be a team or even an individual person ), are struggling to maintain control and actually secure their network .

HOME ENVIRONMENTS ARE NOT TYPICALLY AN EXTENSION OF AN SME ’ S NETWORK , SO THEY BECOME ONE OF THE LEAST SECURE AND LEAST PROTECTED ENVIRONMENTS THAT EXIST .