Is SD-WAN secure?

March 1, 2023 Mike Smith

Is SD-WAN secure? Is it more secure than other wide area network technologies, such as MPLS?

In the video below, I explain that SD-WAN actually has nothing to do with security. But don’t fear! I also explain ways your company can secure your SD-WAN solution.

Want my recommendations on the best SD-WAN solutions your company should be looking into? Click below and ask me today.

About Mike

Mike Smith AeroCom

Mike Smith has been helping companies select the best telecom, WAN, security, and cloud services since 1999. He founded AeroCom in 2003, and has been the recipient of numerous business telecommunications industry awards, including being recognized as one of the top 40 business people in tech-heavy Orange County, CA. Follow Mike on YouTubeLinkedInReddit and SpiceWorks.

Transcript

Hey, everybody. I hope you guys are doing great. Hope everything is going well. Just coming off a great weekend. Went to the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo with my family this last weekend. Had a great time. I don’t know if anybody’s ever been to that place. It’s pretty funky, but a pretty cool place. Throw in the comments down below if you’ve been there. Had a good time.

Today, I’m going to talk a little bit about SD-WAN and whether or not it’s secure. But before I get too far ahead of myself, quick plug.

Reach out!

If you’d like my recommendations on the best SD-WAN service providers for your company to quote, reach out. Shoot me an email. Give me a call (714.593.0011). It won’t cost you a thing. More information on that at the end of the video.

Also, if you like the video, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel. Help me get over that hump of 1,000 subscribers. That will be awesome. Leave some comments. If you have any questions, stuff like that, I’d love to hear what you have to say. Put some comments in down below. We all know YouTube loves the comments, so that’ll help our videos get seen by more people.

Is SD-WAN Secure?

All right. Is SD-WAN secure? Is that a secure technology? Should you be worried about security with SD-WAN?

Say your company has an MPLS network right now and you’re thinking about going to SD-WAN. People have talked to you about it and it’s like, “Hey. It’s been around there a long time.” I know COVID slowed things down a little bit in terms of deploying SD-WAN out, because a lot of people weren’t even in their office. What’s the point? But now that a lot of people have come back into the offices, SD-WAN is coming back again as something that’s kind of a hot topic. Well, is it secure?

Is it something that you need to be worried about when it comes to security? All right. Well, I represent all the major service providers that sell SD-WAN. I’ve researched it quite a bit and I’ve attended training after training after training. I have a lot of customers with SD-WAN. It’s been going on pretty hot and heavy since probably 2015. So I have a lot of years under my belt of understanding what’s going on.

Security isn’t always built-into SD-WAN

I can tell you right out of the gate, first of all, SD-WAN is a wide area network product. It really doesn’t have to do with security. That being said, a lot of times it is combined with security, but it’s not a security-based product. It’s really different than security. To ask whether or not it’s secure, it depends on the other things that are going on in your network, which are securing the SD-WAN. You can either have a secure SD-WAN or an insecure SD-WAN, but it’s really not the SD-WAN itself. It’s not the SD-WAN technology that’s making it secure or insecure.

For instance, there are some SD-WAN service providers out there who are awesome. They would be what I’d call a cloud-enabled SD-WAN solution. You can look at my other videos for what that means. They’re awesome, but they’re security agnostic. Meaning that they play nice with any type of security services or security solutions that your company has in place. If your company already has a Meraki security solution set up in place, or a Fortinet solution all set up and you love it and everything … Hey. That service provider is the best one to come in, because they’re completely security agnostic.

They’re firewall agnostic. They will work with every type of security that you guys have. That’s their specialty. When you look at that solution, would you say, “Hey. That’s a secure solution.” Yeah. But it’s secure because your security is making it secure. Your on-prem security that you already have in place. SD-WAN really … It’s not whether or not it’s secure or not.

SASE SD-WAN

On the flip side, there are also some great SD-WAN solutions out there that include built-in NextGen security. Some of them have stateful firewalls. Some of them have full NextGen security.

Is SD-WAN Secure

Especially, if you look at the new trend. It’s called SASE. Those SD-WAN solutions out there have a cloud-based NextGen security, where all of the security is done in the cloud. Secure access service edge is SASE. All of the security is done in the cloud. And so, your edge devices at that point are like dummy terminals and all the security is done in the cloud. You don’t have to worry about deploying your own firewalls at every single site and all of that good stuff.

Those solutions are very secure, but they’re very secure because of the NextGen security that’s included with the SD-WAN wide area network solution that the service provider is giving you. When someone asks, “Is SD-WAN secure,” I’d say SD-WAN itself has nothing to do with security in a lot of ways. But when you start adding security to it like a SASE solution, yes, it’s very secure. It’s just as secure if not more secure than any other solution you could have out there.

When you go to a SASE solution, you absolutely should not be worried about, “Hey. Is this not that secure compared to other solutions out there?” Absolutely, it’s very secure. But it’s not secure because of SD-WAN itself. It’s secure because of the built-in security that the SD-WAN solution comes with.

Want a shortcut to the best vendors to choose from?

I hope that helps. A lot of security terms thrown out there. But that’s that. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below.

Or again, if you’d like my recommendations on the best SD-WAN solutions for your company to quote, reach out. Send me an email or give me a call (714.593.0011). Again, I’m a broker for all the major SD-WAN solutions out there.

I’ll ask you a few questions to determine your company’s requirements. Based on your answers, I’ll tell you, “If I were in your shoes, I would look at these two to three service providers.” I’ll also introduce you to the right people at those vendors, and I will oversee the quoting process to make sure you get the best pricing from those vendors as well. The nice thing is you won’t have to pay me anything for my service. My service is free to you.

The service providers actually pay me my broker fee. It’s nice. There’s absolutely no reason for you not to at least give it a try. See what I have to say. See which vendors I recommend. I’m happy to help. I love doing this stuff. Again, I’ve been doing it for 20 years. I love it. Happy to answer any questions you have. All right. If you liked the video, hit the button down below and subscribe to the channel. And I’ll catch you on next one.

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