A change is occurring in how organisations secure their network perimeters, users, applications and data. Secure access service edge (SASE) is starting to disrupt traditional approaches to networking and security, and is giving IT professionals an opportunity to fundamentally reimagine how they design their network and security architectures.

Previously, enterprise network architecture was based on discrete silos of network and security controls, with remote access provided via virtual private networks (VPNs). These approaches are being rapidly replaced by SASE and zero-trust network access (ZTNA) architectures.

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Getting SASE right can be a complex proposition that presents significant challenges. While major elements that make up SASE have been around in some form for at least 10 years, it is still an evolving technology.

A case study in SASE Success: India Insurance Company

As part of the research commissioned by Verizon Business to help companies cut through the noise to get a true picture of obstacles and opportunities in implementing SASE, S&P Global Market Intelligence conducted 10 in-depth interviews with decision makers and those purchasing SASE technology.

One successful SASE implementation case study was shared in an interview with a VP at one of the largest insurance companies in India, which we will refer to as “IIC” (India insurance company).

“The primary driver [for SASE] was the pandemic. Before, we had a traditional bricks-and-mortar office infrastructure. When the pandemic hit, everything was being provisioned by the company. There was no way to use ‘bring your own devices (BYOD) – only company-owned, hardened machines could be used […] which took 10-15 days to provision,” he said.

Suddenly, many users, particularly contractors, did not meet security requirements because controls were not designed for off-site workers. In response, IIC implemented a SASE project focused initially on data access, followed by applications.

“Now, we can fully support BYOD, which was the hardest problem to solve. We were forced to go with an agentless approach, through an outside portal […] new employees and contractors are now productive from day one instead of waiting for their machine to arrive,” said the respondent, an Executive Vice President and Head of Business Systems and Infrastructure at the IIC, which currently employs over 10,000 people..

The company could immediately improve the user experience, meet remote worker security and compliance requirements, and improve productivity by supporting BYOD, which enabled employees and contractors to begin work immediately.

What is driving SASE adoption?

Some compelling factors driving SASE adoption are the size and maturity of organisations. For more mature, technically sophisticated enterprises, SASE implementations are motivated more by business and digital transformation needs than technical requirements.

Common business drivers include improved business agility, cost reduction, support for hybrid work (office-based and remote workers), improved end-user experience, reduced threat impact and risk, improved compliance and competitive pressure.

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Larger organisations, especially those with over 10,000 employees, tend to suffer from technical debt and incompatible legacy systems that slow down deployments. Conversely, smaller organisations tend to adopt solutions faster and can often source the entire SASE stack from a single vendor.

Common technical drivers include network, security, IT modernisation and simplification, and simplified management of rapidly growing networks.

Key considerations for implementing SASE

Research participants indicated a variety of deployment approaches. None indicated embarking on a “big bang” implementation: some organisations rolled SASE out to high-risk users and apps first, while others chose lower-risk users and applications.

For example, some organisations with high short term risk exposures, such as the potential for breaches or failing compliance audits, chose to solve the issue for those groups first. Others, less concerned about short-term risk, took a more conservative approach like deploying to staff already using modern cloud apps.

“It was all about basic access first to support the remote workforce. Subsequently, it was about business-critical targets and high-risk estates, with quick wins peppered in between,” said one respondent, a Regional Information Security Manager for a large Australian IT services company.

“Any users who can migrate without losing any access to unsupported apps naturally will do so. This provides a faster, better user experience that rewards the user to move to SASE. They were excited to move away from VPN and use [it] as a […] fall-back plan,” said another, a Regional CISO at a large Singapore engineering firm.

Overall SASE projects vary in duration (from initial sign-off to production) from 6-12 months to over three years. Nearly half (45%) of all respondents indicated durations of 12 months or less; another 45% fell in the 13 to 36 month range; and the remaining 10% indicated more than three years to complete a SASE implementation.

In Asia Pacific, only one-third of participants indicated that SASE was deployed as part of a digital transformation initiative, as compared with three-quarters of their counterparts in Europe.

End matters

In the next part of this article, we’ll be looking more deeply into the study’s results, and getting the thoughts of Rob Le Busque, Regional Vice President at Verizon, APAC. In the meantime, head to this page to learn from the experiences of enterprises who have already migrated to SASE, detailed in the report produced in collaboration with S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Continue your exploration of SASE adoption with Part 2 of this feature, which will cover in-depth study results and insights from Rob Le Busque. Check back in the coming weeks for the next instalment and in the meantime, you can explore the research and business impact briefs for comprehensive insights at the following links: Research | Business Impact Briefs.

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SASE – Secure Access Service Edge – first emerged in 2019 but has risen to prominence in recent months. According to Cognitive Market Research, the SASE sector was valued at US$1.92 billion in 2022 and will reach US$6.57 billion by 2030. This equates to CAGR growth of more than 25 per cent, and is a good reason to take a closer look.

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While it has not yet expanded into common lexicon, Robert Le Busque, regional vice president for Verizon Business in Asia Pacific, says it’s only a matter of time.

“We haven’t yet seen 2023 become ‘the year of SASE’, but we’re definitely entering an era of SASE architecture,” Mr Le Busque said. “It’s not a trend that will be here for 18 months then move on; it will be the defining architecture for the next five to ten years.”

Varying degrees of readiness

According to Mr Le Busque, organisations in the Asia Pacific region are leading the way in the implementation of SASE in many ways. But the level of adoption varies depending on the sector and maturity of their network architecture lifecycle.

Many organisations moved towards software-defined networking (SDN) more than six years ago, which provided a boost in digital transformation funding for the region. Those early adopters of SDN are now well prepared to move to a SASE architecture.

“Some organisations are already well advanced in cloud migration at scale and were already preparing to move to cloud network architectures,” says Mr Le Busque.

“We are seeing pockets of early adoption within Singapore, Malaysia, parts of India and parts of Australia. Interestingly, countries that have not been as far advanced in cloud network architectures – such as Japan – are now catching up very rapidly.”

The benefits of SASE

Any company with a significant number of remote workers will benefit from adopting SASE architectures, as it makes secure connections faster and more resilient. It also provides advanced network security and scalability that is fit for purpose to combat modern-day cyber threats.

One example of this can be seen at a large global healthcare company that employs tens of thousands of staff distributed across the globe and spans a number of business units, each with its own teams, technologies and security policies.

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The company wanted to improve security and harmonise its processes and technology, so it turned to SASE and Verizon’s network-as-a-service offering. First trialled in one business unit, SASE eventually enabled this healthcare company to provide staff with secure internet and application access through mobile devices from anywhere, as well as access to IT resources on both physical and cloud-based servers, all through one tech stack and one service desk.

Choosing the best SASE approach

Currently, most SASE solutions will involve a range of providers offering their individual services.

According to Mr Le Busque, companies can currently choose between implementing a single stack from a single vendor or a best-of-breed offering with a range of services from different vendors.

“Ultimately, organisations that need to scale and have increasing levels of complexity are more likely to go for the best-of-breed stack they build and manage and define themselves,” says Mr Le Busque. “Those with less sophisticated, single-stack network architectures can drive simplicity and cost out of the model.”

Why Verizon?

Verizon has helped its customers to transform their networks and core architectures for 25 years and is now leading the way on SASE.

“We’re now helping companies figure out what multi-cloud and industry-access cloud architecture they need, and what they want is secure-by-design, cloud-ready and agile,” says Mr Le Busque.

Discover how SASE can benefit your organisation with Verizon today.

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The Covid pandemic brought with it a huge uptick in remote working and the movement of apps to the cloud. These trends continued through the worst of the health crisis and into the post-Covid world.

And while the remote working, cloud-dependent model brings enormous benefits with it, it has also made it significantly more difficult to properly protect a network.

The number of companies facing this dilemma, in the presence of increased cyberthreats, will likely begin an economy-wide switch from the ‘castle and moat’-style protection of software-defined WAN capabilities to a new concept known as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

This is a network architecture that combines WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security services, including a secure web gateway, a cloud access security broker, zero-trust network access and firewall-as-a-service.

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While SASE has been around since 2019, it has risen to prominence as a cloud-native security solution in the last year. The approach offers a simple cloud-based solution to combat the rising security risk, reducing the amount of physical hardware necessary for a robust cybersecurity system.

At its core, SASE allows companies to create a unified, cloud-delivered service model that supports dynamic, secure access. That creates a new pathway for building networks, which makes it easier to connect resources and workers wherever they may be located. Once you can do that, you benefit from more flexible networking and improved application performance.

SASE helps organisations meet their business goals, too. If implemented correctly, it works to reduce risks and may help to reduce costs, while allowing businesses to scale dynamically. Because it simplifies operations and the addition and removal of users, this network architecture approach can also help simplify Merger & Acquisition (M&A) activity.

The approach can also help optimise network resources. Using SD WAN, deployment can be swifter than legacy network technologies and it enables network bandwidth to be shared and utilised across the network more efficiently.  It also helps security teams to scale security policy holistically, ensuring a consistent, identity-based approach to application and data access, regardless of where the user is located.

Get the lay of the land

The revolution is only just beginning. According to Gartner^®1, by 2025, 80% of enterprises will have adopted a strategy to unify web, cloud services and private application access using a SASE/SSE architecture, up from 20% in 2021.

But is SASE right for your organisation?

There are several critical elements to investigate to determine your answer to this question and discover whether SASE can offer your business the way forward to network security.

Firstly, it’s important to audit your organisation’s current secure network capabilities and WAN and security technology investments. This can help determine whether now is the right time to make the move towards SASE.

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Organisations that have recently invested in their existing network and network security solutions may decide that now is not the best time to jump on board the SASE train. However, it could be perfect for those facing the challenges of legacy networks in terms of cost and complexity.

Another important factor to consider is how many employees work from home or in a hybrid capacity. SASE is particularly effective at ensuring secure access for workers wherever they are, making this approach very useful for organisations with large remote workforces.

Plus, if your organisation is large, it can suffer from inconsistent security policies across different departments, leaving holes in the cyber posture. SASE helps to close those holes by providing a unified and comprehensive security framework.

Define the problem

Before beginning the transition to SASE, it’s essential to map out the challenges you hope to solve with this new model.

In most cases, complexity and costly networks that do not provide adequate security are good starting points. Another consideration is whether your organisation has a hybrid or remote workforce, as a SASE approach will make it easier to onboard new home-workers.

Broad support and broad expertise

Taking a new network approach is a significant decision, which may prove challenging initially, so securing buy-in from executive leadership is a critical success factor.

Engaging C-level and board support will provide the necessary momentum to allow a positive “trickle-down” effect throughout the rest of the organisation to assist in the transition.

A final factor in gaining support for this change will include assessing whether your enterprise has the broad range of expertise necessary to make the shift to SASE.

No “one-size-fits-all” approach

A modern SASE solution will involve a combination of technologies and offerings that will need to be integrated to deliver a customised solution to an enterprise’s networking needs.

According to Gartner’s research¹, by 2025, one-third of new SASE deployments will be based on a single-vendor SASE offering, up from 10% in 2022. By 2025, 65% of enterprises will have consolidated individual SASE components into one or two explicitly partnered SASE vendors, up from 15% in 2021.

The SASE revolution is coming, and coming fast, so now is the time to determine whether your company is ready to get on board and to understand the advantages it will bring. Find out more about what you can do with Verizon here.

¹Gartner, Market Guide for Single-Vendor SASE, Neil Macdonald, John Watts, Jonathan Forest, Andrew Lerner, 28 September 2022.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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This expanded technology consumption has driven operating and maintenance costs for the IT suite on what seems to be a never-ending upward trajectory. Additionally, organisations must always understand and comply with rapidly changing and complex regulatory regimes.

“Digital transformation has accelerated in the Asia Pacific over the past three years. While many organisations have started to address the changing landscape through digitisation, there is still much to do for the region to maintain its competitive position. The years between now and the end of this decade will require increased investment and innovation so the region can establish itself as a technology leader. The region will also require deep expertise in building scaled network effects, agile IT investment models, and increased confidence in data analytics to make effective decisions,”said Rob Le Busque, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific at Verizon Business Group.

“Leaders must now bring all the elements together across siloed processes and embrace new ways of working. This requires strategies that bring together disconnected systems to create powerful, scalable platforms that enable innovation and order-of-magnitude change,” continued Le Busque.

Enterprise Intelligence – the roadmap to game-changing technology

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Having a digital advantage in the future requires unlocking insights from within the enterprise. Enterprise Intelligence is an approach that unites disconnected parts of the business and enables secure, smarter insights and more informed decision-making. It also requires new technologies that enable immediate and empathetic interactions with partners, suppliers and customers. This approach creates greater intelligence through systems that deliver ultra-personalised and engaging connections through natural language, interactive commands and, sometimes, by interpreting emotions.

These immersive capabilities create exciting new opportunities, but present a challenge to most organisations to build an effective roadmap. To achieve this requires that organisations, and particularly their CIOs, ask large strategic questions, and reassess business goals and objectives accordingly.

Asset-intensive industries will see significant investment that will help fuel digital opportunities across both core and new operating areas. In the Asia Pacific region, these include manufacturing, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG), as well as public sector and critical infrastructure providers.

Giving manufacturers an edge

By accelerating its digital transformation, the manufacturing sector has a particular opportunity to solve many of its key challenges. These include thriving in new regional and global markets, fending off threats from non-traditional competitors, reducing supply chain risk by increased optionality, and leveraging government investment programs to support infrastructure development.

However, many manufacturing companies are held back by a lack of skills, inertia, legacy business models and a reliance on physical assets.

This is further complicated by the need for these organisations to simultaneously satisfy competing imperatives, including:

• Tapping new sources of data;
• Sharing more data with suppliers, partners, and customers;
• Improving their experiences;
• Strengthening data protection and IT/operational technology (OT)

To date, there is no all-encompassing application that enables all of these outcomes. Instead, it is the combination—or rather the connectedness—of all these capabilities that creates a value multiplier. In much the same way that smartphone developers use the device as a platform for developing compelling experiences, manufacturers can take a platform approach to create the interconnectedness required to streamline business processes. This will in turn increase efficiency and get the job done faster.

Overcoming disenfranchisement in retail and CPG

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There is a common thread between manufacturing and retail in that there needs to be better sharing of data, systems and processes all the way through the value chain. Retailers now need to have readily available data which will allow them to both adapt to changing customer desires and enhance their supply chain’s ability to deliver more rapidly.

As Rob Le Busque points out, “Retailers and consumer packaged goods organisations will need to invest in the right technologies and business models to connect with consumers to meet their specific individual expectations.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, there was a wholesale shift to digital-first retail experiences. This created vast banks of consumer data that didn’t previously exist. Those retailers who executed, or accelerated, a digital retail strategy now have a wealth of customer intent, demographic and purchasing data not previously available to them. The question now becomes how this data can be leveraged in a compliant way to create richer and more valuable retail experiences, while generating a corresponding increase in revenue.

Public services and critical infrastructure

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The public sector is also looking at ways to manage Enterprise Intelligence challenges—from local planning and people movement in urban settings, all the way to addressing vulnerabilities in national critical infrastructure supply chains.

Recently a German town purchased a private 5G network from Verizon to manage the town’s entire ecosystem—from traffic lights and security cameras, to providing a connected campus network. This technology helped town planners understand where large volumes of people congregate and, ultimately, how to manage security and services more efficiently.

Verizon has also delivered connectivity to Associated British Ports (ABP) at the Port of Southampton, the U.K.’s number one automotive port in 2014, which handles 600,000 vehicles per year and £40 billion in exports annually. With pressure on ports—and all links in the supply chain—being possibly higher than ever, ABP needed to streamline its processes with new technology.

ABP reached out to Verizon to deploy a Private 5G Network, enabling the port to capture, process and analyse large quantities of data quickly and securely. ABP can now keep better track of vehicles, allowing the port authority to move products off ships, into parking and out to buyers far more efficiently.

Evolving business through Enterprise Intelligence

To remain competitive, businesses today need to reconsider, evolve and collaborate with experienced partners. With deep expertise in networking, cybersecurity, 5G solutions, and services using agile process methodologies, Verizon can help customers connect whole ecosystems. By bringing users and applications together, organisations all over the world are working to achieve all they can imagine, and more.

Don’t just connect your business. Make it even smarter. To learn how your business can adapt to change in near real time, visit the Verizon website and see Enterprise Intelligence in action.

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Organisations and governments across the Asia Pacific are also grappling with ever evolving cyber threats and the growth in ransomware. Along with this, cyber skills shortages are reaching crisis point, with 46% of Australian firms citing lack of talent as their biggest challenge, according to the KPMG Global Tech Report 2022.

Supply chain shortages, demographic shifts, rising costs, the need to improve customer experiences, competition and economic uncertainty are putting tremendous pressure on businesses.

Leaders are realising that they now need to embrace new ways of working and set out a strategy that brings together disconnected systems to create powerful, scalable platforms that enable innovation and change.

Seeing around corners with Enterprise Intelligence

The network is the foundation for distributing insights to any organisation. To obtain data, analytics or insights leveraging AI and machine learning (ML), you need a highly efficient network (including 5G and edge compute) to collate and process data to enable near real-time decision making.

Enterprise Intelligence represents a major shift in how large businesses and governments achieve digital transformations. It encompasses an approach for large enterprises to aggressively transform and digitise all parts of their business. Enterprise Intelligence will drive growth and new revenue streams, improve customer and user experiences, achieve efficiencies through automation, and address sustainability goals.

Almost half of CEOs surveyed by Ernst & Young (47%) see technology as key to customer engagement and maintaining or improving margins. That has sparked changes in the way enterprises meet consumer demand through digital channels.

Enterprise Intelligence means tapping into vast quantities of data that may also be unused. This can enable better forecasting of demand and customer needs. It means making supply chains smarter, more dynamic, and more resilient. And it means using automation to cut downtime & waste and increase productivity.

What does this look like in practice? Organisations that achieve Enterprise Intelligence will be more agile, more resilient to events beyond their control, and are likely to be more successful. The insights these organisations will have access to, will give them the confidence to act and the ability to deliver quickly. They’ll be able to think like a start-up while taking care of the bottom line. Instead of worrying about cost cutting, they’ll be able to proactively look for the idea that will grow revenues by 10X to 100X. And when they find it, they’ll be able to capitalise on it quickly, not be encumbered by legacy systems and inflexible networks.

Applying Enterprise Intelligence to Asia Pacific

We know transforming an enterprise is not easy. Now, organisations are struggling to meet consumer demands while contending with global factors that continually shift. According to Statista, supply chain challenges cost organisations a combined average of US$182 million in lost revenue in 2021, and history reminds us that the next disruption could happen at any time.

Many industries in the Asia Pacific are seeing emerging regulations around cyber resilience, data sovereignty and stronger environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures. The general population no longer considers cost a primary concern in purchasing, but has a stronger focus on more sustainable purchasing.

Connecting the dots with Enterprise Intelligence starts with the network and improves interconnectivity between processes and systems, providing insights to help make business and government smarter.

The network needs to power new, real-time applications from innovative partners. Examples include the apps the Phoenix Suns use to help turn biometric data into results in the standings. And  upgrading the network while simplifying operations, like Associated British Ports (ABP). By moving from public 4G in one of the UK’s busiest ports to a private 5G network, ABP is boosting efficiency and productivity and worrying less about the network.

Verizon can align to multiple stages of the transformation journey as its clients’ needs dictate.

For example, real-time video monitoring automatically identifies and alerts when individuals are stepping into hazardous or no-go locations in industrial environments.

Verizon can help source the right partners that have developed specialist applications and work with them to create an integrated proof of concept before mainstream deployment.

Some organisations may already have the technology solution defined and require security expertise and integration with Verizon’s global network.

Tomorrow’s successes will go to those who prioritise digital innovation to build smarter, more efficient and more agile enterprises. Becoming one of these leaders means uniting disconnected parts of the business and enabling secure, smarter insights and more informed decision-making. Verizon can show you how to do just that.

Don’t just connect your business. Make it even smarter. To learn how your business can adapt to change in near real time, visit the Verizon website and see Enterprise Intelligence in action.

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Without him guiding it, the mouse had started clicking through the water treatment plant’s controls and was trying to increase the sodium hydroxide mix to an extremely dangerous level.

The attempt was quickly spotted and rectified, but the scary incident highlights the fact that cyber attacks on the infrastructure that is core to our everyday lives are a reality and a matter of if, not when.

The water plant in question reportedly didn’t implement many of the basic techniques that can help critical infrastructure operators take a risk-based approach to mitigate threats. A bonus of a risk based approach is that it can be designed to satisfy the ever-increasing laws and regulations being imposed on organisations by the governments of the world.

There have been a number of recent attacks on pieces of critical infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. In March 2021, elective surgeries were postponed at several hospitals in Victoria after Eastern Health was hit by a ransomware attack.

Back in March 2016, South Korea claimed that North Korea had targeted its railway employees in an effort to launch a cyber attack on the country’s railway control system, while in November 2017 the tallest hydroelectric and water supply dam in India was hit by malware.

In September 2019 the IT network of India’s largest nuclear power plant was also compromised by a hacker group thought to be acting for North Korea.

Events like these, ongoing Covid-19 disruptions, upheaval and conflict around the world have highlighted just how important critical infrastructure is to every part of our lives, from work to play. And critical infrastructure now extends far beyond telecommunications, energy, water supply and the banks. It includes everything from healthcare to satellites to higher education.

This has recently been acknowledged by the Australian federal government, with amendments passed that significantly broaden the scope of companies covered by critical infrastructure regulations.

CISOs need to take a pragmatic, risk-based approach to securing their operations and networks, and need to be open to working with outside third parties to fill the gaps.

As former FBI director Robert Mueller says, cyber attacks are now inevitable: “I am convinced that there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. And even they are converging into one category: companies that have been hacked and will be hacked again.”

According to Australian Signals Directorate head Rachel Noble, over a quarter of all incidents reported to the Australian Cyber Security Centre last year were against critical infrastructure targets.

This is common across the world. In the US, over half of all energy providers reported data losses or operational impacts in the last year, and in 2020 the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity identified more than 300 major attacks against critical sectors, more than double the year before.

According to PwC’s Digital Trust Insights Survey 2022, nearly 70 per cent of Australian executives predict an increase in state-sponsored attacks on critical infrastructure, and despite a 52 per cent increase in data breaches, there has been no corresponding increase in Australian cybersecurity investment.

According to Gartner, nearly a third of all critical infrastructure organisations will suffer a security breach leading to a halt in operations or mission-critical cyber-physical systems.

Read more on Critical Infrastructure right here.

In Australia the critical infrastructure scheme now includes 11 Australian industry sectors, up from the previous four. Operators of this infrastructure are now subject to increased reporting and security obligations, including to create risk management programs which will see them “embed preparation, prevention and mitigation activities into business as usual activities”.

This includes identifying hazards, minimising the risks of these and mitigating the impact if incidents occur.

The federal government also now has “last resort” powers that allow it to take control of a company’s networks in the event of a major cyber attack.

As a starting point to taking a risk-based approach, critical infrastructure operators can benefit from looking at integration options for their operational technology environments and information technology stack (OT and IT). Regardless of the technology and legal requirements, this approach is good security practice and can deliver substantial benefits at a low cost.

An openness to adopting an innovation framework with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 5G and digital twins can help solve challenges facing critical infrastructure operators.

For example, these technologies can help companies to monitor their networks and physical systems remotely, and access operational platforms from anywhere.

The new government reforms have imposed much higher obligations and compliance costs on a broader range of Australian companies.

It’s often difficult to get an adequate budget for cybersecurity activities, and it’s crucial for companies to take a holistic approach to compliance across the board to reduce costs and disruption associated with assessment and attestation.

These compliance activities can also be turned into a positive and used to uplift cyber security across the entire company and promote it to employees.

Uplifting the security of critical infrastructure is about building the best defence for the worst case scenario.

According to the 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, social tactics are still by far the most common action in the data breaches analysed. Companies operating in critical infrastructure sectors need to train all their employees in cyber hygiene, keep devices and data safe when they’re used away from the office, and help educate in spotting suspicious behaviours online like phishing schemes.

With the water plant hack last year, it was reported that the malicious actor gained access to its systems using an app that hadn’t been used for six months but had not yet been decommissioned.

This demonstrates the importance of regularly auditing apps and access to ensure they are on a need-to-know basis and only the apps currently in use are commissioned.

Operating systems and apps also need to be immediately updated and patched when possible – this is one of the most effective and easiest ways to protect a company.

Two-factor authentication should also be implemented across the board, and minimum standards for the strength of passwords should be enforced.

The water plant in question was reportedly lacking two-factor authentication and strong firewalls.

Critical infrastructure operators should look to implement a security incident and management platform alongside their threat intelligence, threat hunting and response services. This can deliver a more automated approach to threat detection and validation.

A clear incident response plan also needs to be in place, at a minimum detailing exactly what to do and who to contact in the event of a compromise.

This plan can also include having a third party step in and provide emergency response and incident response in the event of a major cyber attack.

Companies shouldn’t shy away from bringing in outside help – budgets are tight and the competition for talent has never been higher, so a combination of global capabilities and sovereign local solutions is needed.

Businesses should look to human capabilities, local capabilities, public capabilities and global standards to determine the right partners to meet new legislative obligations and properly secure their networks and prepare for a cyber attack.

Hackers taking control of key pieces of infrastructure impacting our everyday lives, such as the water we drink or the healthcare we rely on, is no longer in the realm of a science fiction movie. It’s an unfortunate reality, and one that a broad swathe of Australian companies needs to prepare for now.

This should be led by a risk-based approach that utilises third-party solutions and partners to protect a company’s networks and the people who rely on its services.

Read more on Critical Infrastructure right here.

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The last 18 months have been memorable in the murky world of cybercrime, from well-publicized critical infrastructure attacks to massive supply chain breaches. The underworld of financially motivated criminals and nefarious nation-state actors “came out swinging,” according to Verizon’s highly anticipated annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). As a result, we have seen governments sharpening their focus on critical infrastructure legislation to stem losses and boost resilience.

This year’s report paints a clear picture of the wide-ranging consequences of the weak links in the supply chain, which accounted for 62% of incidents in 2021. It’s clear that the “bad guys” have woken up to the multiplier effect of compromising the right partner – leading to policymakers scrambling to widen the definition of critical infrastructure in some jurisdictions.

For example, in early April 2021, the Verizon Threat Research Advisory Centre (VTRAC) collected reports of attacks by advanced persistent threats (APTs) from China and Russia, targeting Japanese manufacturing and the German Bundestag, respectively. Shortly afterward, the Japanese conglomerate FujiFilm and the world’s largest meat packer, JBS Foods, both suffered business interruptions caused by ransomware.

In total, organizations in the Asia Pacific experienced 4,114 cybersecurity incidents in 2021, with 283 confirmed data breaches. Many of these were due to attackers using social engineering and hacking tools. The effects of rapid digitalization from the global pandemic across all industries also led to a rise in ransomware which saw an increase that was greater than the last five years put together.

Taking a collaborative approach to a legislative framework

As the DBIR rightly highlights, cybersecurity threats are persistent, evolving, and increasingly severe. This creates cross-border challenges for both governments and enterprises to protect sensitive information, critical assets, the environment, and the safety of the public.

In an ideal world, there would be a common international approach using a multi-stakeholder framework that addresses cyber threats and risk management activities. For example, the approach embodied in the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity was developed through an international multi-stakeholder process which is risk-based, flexible, and balanced.

From observation, we know that prescriptive legislative approaches which prioritize mandatory or sanction-based security measures can disincentivize organizations from ongoing investments in cybersecurity.

Global organizations also face an increasingly fragmented global regulatory landscape, which makes it onerous and expensive to comply with. For this reason, where possible, cybersecurity policies should rely on existing standards.

Unfortunately, we see policymakers in the Asia Pacific adopting different approaches and tools to deal with the evolving threat landscape, resulting in onerous compliance and duplication of requirements.

Australia – Expansion of industries and government oversight

Last year’s cyberattack on meat processing company JBS Foods demonstrated the supply-chain consequences of a cyberattack on an Australian critical national infrastructure provider. The five-day attack disrupted food supply operations leading to critical outcomes, despite the attack occurring offshore.

Australia’s government introduced updated legislation to include more industries with an emphasis on possible supply chain impacts. These have resulted in amendments to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (SOCI Act) earlier this year.

While these amendments define industries relevant to national security, private-sector industry providers have expressed concerns about the level of interference the government can exercise.

And while a one-size-fits-all approach mitigates the challenge of cyber skills shortages in Australia, it does not consider the complexities and nuanced characteristics of different industries, as well as the diversity of cyberattacks that might be experienced.

Singapore – Licensing the cybersecurity providers (CSPs)

Singapore’s Cybersecurity Act of 2018 already covers 11 sectors with 30 baseline requirements to deal with new and emerging threats such as ransomware and domain-specific risks like 5G. Earlier this year, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) issued licensing requirements for cybersecurity providers (CSPs).

These new licensing requirements include two security services in particular – Managed Security Operations Centres (MSOC) and penetration testing services.

Licensing the CSPs may pose a significant barrier to the global MSOC providers with mandatory registration requirements that could prevent Singaporean companies from accessing global managed security services because it will become too onerous for these large entities to comply with local registration mandates.

Singapore is recognized as a policy thought leader in its approach to regulation, especially in the areas of data flows and cybersecurity, so this approach is likely to influence other ASEAN countries.

“In a way, this may result in a de facto localisation of the MSOC service offering thereby disrupting the global supply chain. From a customer perspective this may translate into a limited product and service offering rather than leveraging the global talent pool of experts and resources to only those resources that are based in Singapore,” according to Verizon’s Head of APAC Policy and Regulatory Counsel, Priya Mahajan.

While this gives a competitive advantage to Singaporean companies, it could lead to a reduction in security readiness as specialist cyber skills are not always readily available.

“Providers may need to take a more restrictive approach if they are unable to leverage global expertise. End user organizations will need to interrogate service providers on how this will impact their service to determine their new level of risk,” says Mahajan.

Japan – Influence from the US and reporting from the industry

The collaborative relationship between Japan and the United States in the areas of cyber-physical systems, cloud, and network security has been a positive influence on market access, with NIST continuing to engage Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and other government agencies.

The United States-Japan Digital Trade Agreement helps drive shared rules that support businesses in key sectors where both countries lead the world in innovation – it is particularly important for cybersecurity to promote collaboration and supplier adherence to common principles in addressing the challenges.

In May 2022, Japan’s parliament passed an economic security bill aimed at guarding technology and reinforcing critical supply chains while imposing tighter oversight of Japanese firms working in sensitive sectors or in critical infrastructure.

Japan is taking a cautious approach, with the measures included in the legislation implemented over two years. It proposes mandatory reporting of software updates and allows the government to vet some equipment procurement in 14 industries, including energy, water supply, information technology, finance, and transportation.

To promote innovation and investments in the cybersecurity sector, the government may consider establishing a category of trusted offshore service providers for companies based in an allied country (likely to be the United States), allowing that category of providers to provide services to critical information infrastructure sectors and offer flexibility in the rules. This flexibility will facilitate trade, which is intended to usher in a new era of economic growth and competitiveness for the Japanese ICT sector.

A rising tide lifts all boats – making the region stronger through global collaboration

Ultimately, despite the differences in these approaches, the spirit of both governments and private enterprises is to leverage international best practice to facilitate data flows and take a coordinated approach.

The DBIR aligns its suggested best practice findings with the Centre for Internet Security’s Critical Security Controls. This provides organizations with a way to translate the report’s data into security efforts with the top controls that are considered worthwhile for most organizations. These are baseline requirements that include data protection, secure configuration of assets and software, and security awareness and skills training.

“It is important to show there is a framework available for the government to promote an ecosystem to support innovation,” says Mahajan. “Security measures should not discriminate against either local or global security service providers, but to enhance best practices across the board to support partnerships and global frameworks.”

Increasing enforcements on critical sectors will have knock-on effects on those who are not so classified. They will typically need a security service provider to help them assess their overall security posture and comply with increased cyber incident reporting and monitoring requirements, as well as be an expert on network and internet traffic operating in geographies where there are increased cyber threats.

For enterprises, this means reaching out to a trusted provider that can facilitate a consistent compliance framework. This framework includes the critical sectors they need to comply with and the controls that are appropriate for the industry vertical. Resources such as the DBIR can assist security leaders in identifying the critical controls for their sector. Although the type and frequency of the attacks may differ according to industry vertical and size, it is important to see the big picture to deploy defenses efficiently and effectively.

The 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report contains details on the actors, actions and patterns that can help you prepare your defences and educate your organisation. Get the intelligence you need.  You can also read more on Critical Infrastructure here.

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We could soon see metaverses becoming a reality for governments and enterprises too, with digital twins and 5G converging to connect the dots for digital realms. This possibility is drawing even closer to reality thanks to massive infrastructure refresh projects – for example, the $140 billion funding by the Australian government – that are intended to address complex challenges such as climate change, city and urban developments, responses to the global pandemic, or defending against escalating cybercrime.

These metaverses can be facilitated by connecting digital twins securely through low latency 5G networks that will map applications over these massive datasets.

While each digital twin can offer a powerful opportunity for real-time modelling, linking these worlds – both public and private – has the potential to give leaders seamless information for real-time decision making.

The use cases for inter-connected digital twins are many and varied. Initial use cases are particularly relevant for the public sector, where first responders, defence and civic leaders can protect, enhance and unlock greater potential from cities, citizens and critical infrastructure by sharing modelled data securely.

Modelling cybercrime impact on real-world scenarios

With ransomware attacks on the rise in the Asia Pacific and cyber attackers increasingly leveraging new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), nation-states (including Australia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan) recently came together at a US Summit and vowed to collaborate on the growing problem.

This will include new ways to mitigate the risk to physical infrastructure. Ultimately, it will become critical to create a cross-border, multi-stakeholder and cross-domain approach to tackle cyber threats to the future needs of cities, governments and citizens.

“Cyber hub strategies being adopted by governments aim to understand the impacts of cyber threat by digitising critical infrastructure and applying models around it,” says Tony Harb, Head of Solution Architects at Verizon Business Group.

“By leveraging digital twins, these models will allow governments to gain greater insights into the impact of a cyber attack or an external disruption, so they can better prepare for these issues and make informed and enhanced decisions during such events.”

But even without modelling cybercrime impacts, digital twins can also assist governments to better understand the costs of maintaining and updating critical infrastructure by using sensors to collect data in real-time and then analyse these datasets without the need for inefficient human measurement and intervention.

Defending national borders and improving security

Historically, warfare was conducted on the three traditional domains of land, air and sea. But with advances in technology, the nature of war has changed. These new domains of space and cyber are used in ‘grey zone’ or ‘hybrid warfare,’ where state-on-state or state-on-non-state actor conflicts are increasingly taking place, blurring the lines of traditional military operations.

“Digital twins have plans, blueprints, models, documentation, storage, transmission and data. Stakeholders interact with the digital twins from multiple, geographically-dispersed locations. But what happens when an adversary launches a grey zone attack against us?” says David Gillies, C6ISR Cyber specialist with Verizon Business Group.

“Satellites stop communicating, systems cease functioning, employees lose access to plans, blueprints and models, data becomes inaccurate, projects grind to a halt and therefore the digital twin is no longer the single source of truth. Much like the pandemic, we will scramble to find a workaround, but what happens if that adversary follows up with additional attacks? Can we develop workarounds fast enough to not impact production, programs and projects?” asks Gillies.

The question is, while we operate in the grey zone of the current geopolitical climate at the same time as adopting the digital twin ecosystem, are we simultaneously creating weakness that can be exploited?

In short, Gillies says the answer is yes and no.

“We must embrace the digital twin as a foundation of the defence industry striving to implement industry 4.0, using technology such as mobile edge computing, machine learning and AI to deliver productivity increases. To give an example of the growth, the US military is currently spending $17B on autonomous systems. By 2030 this will grow to $34B. These systems must be controlled, coordinated and integrated into systems of systems. And these issues (growth and vulnerabilities) must be addressed by the defence industry,” says Gillies.

 “The Australian Defence Force is modernising fleets of ships, planes and vehicles – both manned and unmanned platforms. They’re acquiring world-class capabilities as a fifth-generation defence force. This modernisation means communications, which for example includes the ability to send data (intelligence, blueprints or geospatial) to suppliers or customers domestically or internationally. This data becomes a particular target because of our arrangements to share military information with the US and the UK,” says Gillies.

“If adversaries can influence decisions and production throughputs, they can reduce battlefield effectiveness.”

Digital twins are a game-changer in decision making, creating the ability to model defence acquisition and sustainment programs and integrate technology into existing, retrofitted communications and weaponry systems. Defence projects are complex and sometimes thwarted by adopting new technology, implementation challenges or legacy systems integration issues. Digital twins give the defence industry the ability to model how technology changes will impact both the physical and non-physical worlds, leading to cost savings in logistics and human resources.

“An important priority is being able to gather information (intelligence) and transmit that to key stakeholders securely, at the right place and right time,” says Gillies.

“Secondly, the ability to employ offensive tactics that will interrupt adversarial actions needs to be considered, such as manipulating geospatial data using machine learning and artificial intelligence to create ordered chaos.”

“State sponsored cyber-attacks will intensify as they continue to mirror real world political instability. They remain the most effective asymmetrical form of disruption in grey zone conflict. Fortunately, Verizon’s digital twin gives us ability to transmit data securely to decision makers in geographically separate locations, to model and war game decisions in the digital environment, efficiently and cost effectively to create advantages for our clients.”

Creating human digital twins for better citizen outcomes

Consider the recent vaccine accelerations to manage the global pandemic and allow citizens to move freely across borders once again. The pharmaceutical industry was already exploring digital twins to improve the efficiency and agility of the production chain and expedite time-to-market. However, another powerful related use case for connected digital twins would be creating unique digital models of individuals and using them to provide greater insight into how a vaccine will work on a diverse population, reducing the time it takes to respond to global crises such as health pandemics. 

The same could be said for first responder use cases. For example, digital twins already exist at university campuses to provide information such as student footfall patterns and facilities usage to inform construction changes or campus service decisions. By connecting and providing first responders with access to these digital twins, they could provide immediate situation awareness for crises or incidents on campus or in any other dense populations such as a city.

“In these cases, cyber security becomes an even bigger consideration,” says Harb. “We are providing access to information that hasn’t been connected before. Naturally, by connecting digital twins, the attack surface is further expanded, which provides new and unbounded opportunities for cyber threats and hackers to create havoc. So we will need to ensure security and resilience are a paramount consideration for connected digital twins.”

This is where Verizon’s capabilities can come to the fore through its expertise in securing and ensuring resilient networks for enterprise, governments and first responder networks.

While metaverses may currently be focused on consumer applications, what is certain is that the power of decision making from virtual models will continue to drive interest in connected worlds and metaverses across a wider range of use cases for citizens, governments and enterprises.

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Digital models are not a new concept; NASA used the digital twin concept in the 1960s space programme to create replicas of spaceships that carefully mirrored each decision during missions. These digital models have become more sophisticated since then. Improved telecommunications and digitisation technologies have led to increased control and the ability to reflect the real world and associated scenarios more quickly.

“The change has come from the speed of results,” says Tony Harb, Head of Solution Architects at Verizon Business Group. “In the past, digital twins were static solutions where the model was built, then data was applied, followed by analysis to generate results. The process was largely manual and slow. The advent of 5G, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and ubiquitous IoT sensors will see a step change in interoperability by applying near real-time spatial data sets on digital twins.”

The goal is to create interactive digital twins that turn real-time data into powerful decision-making tools.

Applications of digital twins – then and now

Digital twins have been used in the manufacturing industry for some time to assess the impact of changes on production lines. They are also used to “stress test” manufactured products for reliability and performance. 5G-enabled manufacturing digital twins will be able to aggregate design, manufacturing, production planning, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) data to allow total process simulation of an actual production process and enable “on the fly” decision making.

Governments are looking at digital twins to assist them in taking a long-term view of cities. Interactive digital twins allow them to understand the impact of development decisions for years, or even decades, to come. They are also helping to make better decisions on maintenance and where to make investments in infrastructure. For local councils, they allow the near-real-time analysis of event management and more accurate forecasting by modelling traffic congestion and population service needs. 5G-enabled digital twins can collect near real-time feeds from devices, sensors, citizens and infrastructure to provide this information instantly and more accurately than before.

Digital twins can be applied to other industries. For example, retailers can now apply sensors to all aspects of their value chain. This would allow retailers to monitor people and footfall in stores and individual product lines, where people are walking, and what they are purchasing. Accrued data would enable near real-time decisions on whether they need to offer sales or increase the stock of certain line items.

The building and construction industry uses digital twins to support its safety-first objective and overcome issues stemming from changes or delays due to supply chain issues. Smart construction companies are using digital twins coupled with multiple on-site sensors and drones to assess how things are progressing and what the impact of changes might be.

For first responders, digital twins provide situational awareness when they turn up to an incident. Digital twins can give near real-time feeds from sensors that allow responders to know what is happening with wind and environment during natural disasters or issues with civil unrest in law enforcement situations.

How 5G enables a more connected world

When we think about digital twins connecting multiple people, devices, sensors and data, the power of 5G is undeniable.

“When we started with 4G, at the time it enabled 10,000 devices per square kilometre. With 5G, we can connect a million devices per square kilometre,” says Harb.

5G will allow the models to interact with the real world and take the physical world in the digital world. It will enable the spatial interplay of digital models with their real-world location. We will start to see IoT sensor devices embedded into a holistic picture rather than referring to each model.

“Furthermore, 5G brings lower latency, close to 10 milliseconds, which brings near real-time decision making closer to reality. When you consider the number of people and devices in a densely populated area such as a city, and the connected devices in cars and infrastructure, 5G enablement will be critical,” says Harb.

Private versus public 5G

The perennial question is whether to wait for public 5G to become accessible or whether private 5G is the best solution. The reality is that depending upon the use, they may be complementary – you will need a combination for certain digital twins to work effectively.

However, private 5G will provide immediate results for enterprise and government applications where security and operational performance of networks are critical.

It’s not simply a matter that the current coverage for public 5G is very limited, and when it is rolled out it will largely be available in metro areas. There will also be security requirements for the applications of digital twins, so many uses will likely rely on private 5G solutions.

There is greater operational flexibility and control associated with having private 5G. Throughput and latency are easier to manage too.

However, communication between digital twins and the wider community will ultimately rely on public 5G networks.

A good example is Verizon’s work with National Ports in the UK, where the company is rolling out a private 5G solution to control the stevedore, supply chain and logistics while in port. However, when they move from the private 5G location in port, the ships, trucks, containers, etc., will still leverage public 5G networks for essential connectivity and data needs.

Similarly, in the US, Verizon works with first responders to deploy 5G mobile towers to set up a perimeter of a small private 5G environment, but they still rely on the public 5G network to communicate with the rest of the world about what is happening inside the first responder situation.

It’s no longer a question of waiting for public 5G rollout to start thinking about how 5G can be used in an organisation. Regardless of the industry or use, the time to harness the power of 5G, IoT and real-time data to make smart, fast, accurate and long-ranging predictions is here. The time is now.

If you are interested in digital twins, 5G-enabled innovation or IT-OT convergence, Verizon’s private 5G solutions can help transform your business operations.

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Achieving real-time business operations depends on being able to connect people, things and applications securely and reliably, anytime and anywhere. Being online is now mandatory – come rain or shine, pandemic or Black Friday, companies need to be able to create, gather, store, and process data. When things change, they need their infrastructure to adapt — fast.

The fourth industrial revolution is already here, and progressive companies are addressing weaknesses in their business models and rethinking risk. There will be losers, but many more organisations will come out stronger by implementing the changes needed to cope with the restrictions forced upon them. The reimagination and automation of business processes is key.

Bringing networks up to speed ahead of a 5G—enabled world

Network management is never going to sound as exciting as using 5G to enable automated guided vehicles or the myriad of other exciting digital transformation projects companies are working on. Being able to execute changes to network configurations quickly is crucial to delivering these projects. Businesses need that agility to survive and prosper.

We expect a lot from our networks – they need to enable thousands of applications, transfer enormous amounts of data across vast distances in milliseconds, prioritise the most time-sensitive data, and reroute automatically if there is a problem. It’s why the current state of network management is a complicated business.

There is a greater need for those managing an organisation’s IT infrastructure to understand and manage this complexity. With aspirations of operating in real-time, IT teams will need help to simplify network management or risk spending too much time, budget, and resources on the control and configuration of their networks.

The future is the self-driving network, with the potential of network automation promising to transform network management in the future.

Why does this matter? According to Cisco, “95% of network changes are performed manually, resulting in operational costs two to three times higher than the cost of the network.” When everybody is hunting for ways to eke out a bit more performance and trying to focus on innovation, that’s a lot of time and money that could be being put to better use.

Automating global business networks to achieve growth, digital transformation

Global food and beverage supplier, Tate & Lyle, identified network constraints were hampering their ability to expand. Legacy network infrastructure was a clear bottleneck on the demands of a growing, global business.

The company was looking to expand globally in 28 countries and needed to upgrade to transport-agnostic infrastructure that would enable a seamless rollout of new endpoints to remote plants in these locations. The company also lacked visibility over application performance.

The solution was to transform its outdated mixed technology network to a Managed SD WAN solution with intelligent routing control. Given the challenging rollout at physically remote locations under harsh conditions (including a plant site in a Brazilian jungle), the company looked to Verizon to manage the rollout and subsequent managed network services.

The company has successfully supported business growth targets by seamlessly adding endpoints at 28 countries on three continents. Furthermore, the team can now deploy and configure network management and policies through a centralised dashboard.

Another global brand, Bayer, has recognised the need to actively drive the automation of their business processes following a shift towards digital transformation approaches.

Historically, Bayer’s in-house team looked after its global IT infrastructure, which was a multi-vendor environment. With the goal of moving to a cloud-first, digital business model, the company wanted to simplify and streamline network management to a single service provider. The company achieved this through deploying next-generation network technologies, including software-defined networking, to improve network resilience, flexibility and scalability. Using Verizon’s network managed services, Bayer now has managed services at over 700 sites in 91 countries. This includes a managed global Private IP network, a managed software-defined Wide Area Network, and Professional Services support and governance.

In taking this approach, Bayer was able to free up resources to focus on supporting the company’s core crop science, pharmaceutical, and consumer health business activities. They also developed a secure, stable but flexible network platform to improve connectivity and collaboration around the globe, supporting their ongoing digital business transformation.

What makes network automation possible?

Virtualisation might be a term associated with data centres, but it has been one of the big trends in networking over the last decade.

Software-defined networking (SDN) separates the physical layer, the cables in the ground and mobile base stations, from the logical network. Functions like load balancers, firewalls, and wide-area network (WAN) accelerators can now be deployed as software.

By accessing virtualised network infrastructure and SDN technologies, organisations can add, remove and configure services like firewalls and load-balancers from anywhere. This means no longer waiting for deliveries or finding space to store physical network infrastructure. No need to allow for site access delays or plan for hours of downtime so things can be unplugged.

It means building a network by dragging and dropping the components required at the place and time they are needed.

The introduction of software-defined wide area networks (SD WANs) is helping companies to increase their automation maturity. These enable a greater degree of self-service—so companies can make changes themselves without having to go through service desks and ticketing systems.

This enables faster activation of new services, reduced management overheads and faster resolution of issues.

SD WANs can also improve monitoring which can help to explain the dependencies between applications and users that the network needs to support. Knowing how the network is being used can not only help IT teams spot problems more quickly, it can also improve planning for the future too.

One of the main areas of development of SD WAN controllers is adding APIs that enable integration with the service management platforms that IT already uses. Instead of having to learn and log into a proprietary SD WAN portal, DevOps will be able to manage network features through the same “single pane of glass” they use for other IT services.

What this means for business

The goal of network automation is to integrate network management with core business systems and use artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to make it proactive and invisible. This will enable companies to focus on things like transaction processing times, instead of latency and packet-loss statistics.

Most organisations are currently at the “Aware” stage in our maturity model for automated networks. This promises network engineer robots that operate tirelessly 24/7, never have an “off” day and won’t make mistakes. They will devour the enormous amounts of data networks generate—not the data they carry, but the metadata about the traffic flows—to build and constantly improve cognitive models. This will enable organisations to adapt their network configuration quickly and without manual intervention.

When companies reach the Aware stage, their networks will:

• Proactively monitor application performance and carry out optimisation tasks, automatically, making better use of resources and improving the user experience;
• Dynamically identify and configure new devices and services as they are added, cutting the time to bring new users, applications and even sites online;
• Monitoring capacity and performance of each component in the data path and compare them with a global knowledge base, enabling proactive reconfiguration;
• Automatically reroute traffic and repurpose devices, resolving issues before anyone realises they exist, or the end-user experience is affected.

What comes next?

The goal is being able to consume connectivity “as a service”. Network as a Service (NaaS) isn’t a technology, it’s a model for the future of networking.

Automation is key to achieving NaaS, but it’s just one component. Successful NaaS also depends upon a fundamental shift in the approach to security. The leading candidate for this new security architecture is secure access service edge (SASE, pronounced “sassy”). It will also require fundamental changes to contracts, commercial models and business processes.

The next five years will bring a dramatic transformation in how networks are bought and managed. That will enable companies to do things they cannot yet imagine.

Explore how to get your organisation ready for a new era of agility.

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