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Telecom Business Review | Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Edge security is about securing edge computing and potentially a new approach to defining user and enterprise security in the cloud-connected world.
Fremont, CA: Edge computing is a term that is becoming more popular not just as a buzzword but as a way of knowledge and modeling IT infrastructure in an era of pervasive cloud computing. With the increase of edge computing has come a need for edge security.
Edge security is also about securing edge computing; it's possibly a new approach to defining user and enterprise security in the cloud-connected universe.
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While there is no shortage of meaningless buzzwords in IT, edge computing isn't an abstract concept or edge security. Instead, there is a rising set of definitions and standards for edge computing and security.
What is Edge Computing?
A data center is at the core of a network architecture in many modern IT deployments. That data center may be an on-premises, corporate-owned facility, or increase the data center can be a collection of public cloud resources.
Edge computing is often defined as computing at the edge of a network. The broader corporate campus, branch offices and retail locations can be reviewed at the network's edge since the network's core is the data center or cloud. With the egress of 5G cellular, with base station deployments that integrate powerful computing capabilities, 5G is also considered part of edge computing.
Simply stating that computing at the edge of the network is edge computing is not the formal definition; however, at least as per the Open Glossary of Edge Computing, an open source effort headed by the Linux Foundation's LF Edge group.
"By abbreviating the distance between devices and the cloud resources that serve them, and also decreasing network hops, edge computing reduces the latency and bandwidth constraints of today's Internet, accompanying in new classes of applications," the glossary explains.
Understanding Edge Security
As edge computing is a developing area, so too is edge security. There are numerous aspects involved in edge security, including:
Perimeter security: Fixing access to edge compute resources through encrypted tunnels, firewall and access control
Application security: Above the network layer, edge compute devices run applications that must be ensured
Threat detection: As edge computing is by definition not centralized, it's crucially important for providers to employ proactive threat spotting technologies to identify potential issues early
Vulnerability management: Both known and unknown vulnerabilities need to be managed.
Patching cycles: Automated patching to keep devices updated is important for diminishing the potential attack surface
What is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)?
In 2019, a new term was coined by Gartner to define a category of hardware and services that help allow edge security; that term is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
As per Garnter, SASE is an emerging offering combining comprehensive WAN capabilities with comprehensive network security functions, like secure web gateways (SWG), CASB, firewalls as a service (FWaaS) and zero trust network access (ZTNA), to back the dynamic, secure access needs of digital enterprises.
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