If your network is not secure the results may have severe and expensive consequences. If your network lacks strong security, you may become a victim of a cyberattack and spend thousands of dollars to repair it.
Additionally, if your network were under a cyberattack, it may be unavailable to use.
Without a reliable network or a network that has become a victim of a cyberattack, employee performance, and productivity will be adversely affected.
Coeo has delivered thousands of SD-WAN solutions to customers and knows how important a secure network is to an organization.
We want to give you information on SD-WAN and how it can improve network security so you can be assured that your network is secure and data is safe.
By the end of this article, you will know what SD-WAN is and the five ways SD-WAN improves your network security.
What is SD-WAN?
SD-WAN or Software Defined Wide-Area-Network, is an overlay network built on top of underlying network connections, whether over fiber, LTE, or broadband.
SD-WAN is applied as a software network of SD-WAN appliances, connected by an encrypted tunnel. These tunnels ensure that the data being sent across them is always secure.
SD-WAN appliances continuously monitor the availability and performance of each network. The SD-WAN solution chooses the network with the best performance and reliability to send data.
Data traffic is then classified based on application, ensuring data is sent out over the fastest, most reliable path.
How SD-WAN improves security
Not only does SD-WAN improve your network reliability and help your network with uptime, but it also helps improve network security.
SD-WAN prevents attackers from disrupting operations or stealing critical information while securely and efficiently directing traffic across the WAN using a centralized control function.
There are multiple ways that SD-WAN can help improve network security.
1. Traffic Encryption
Most SD-WAN solutions come with encrypted tunnels that data is sent through. These encrypted tunnels ensure your data is safe from malicious outside sources.
Encrypted data is coded in a way that cannot be read by hackers and other malicious actors to ensure data is safe.
In addition to keeping your data safe, SD-WAN also works to prevent unauthorized traffic from accessing your network, protecting your company from all types of ransomware attacks.
2. Microsegmentation
This SD-WAN feature allows administrators to segment traffic depending on network policies.
An example of this would be setting aside a specific set of policies for a branch location’s use of applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems or other cloud-based applications such as Microsoft Office 365.
This prevents traffic from entering locations that may not be secure thereby protecting viruses from reaching areas of the network housing sensitive and critical information.
Some ways you can improve security through micro-segmentation are:
Applying distinct policies for each application
These policies ensure that applications are safe. Because each application will have its own policy, viruses will have a harder time infecting applications with each policy.
Quick threat response
Micro-segmentation will allow you to respond to threats quickly. This can protect your network by catching threats before they do devastating damage to your network.
Reducing the attack surface by isolating applications
With applications separated from each other, it will spread out the attack service of the threat. If one application is compromised, others are not at risk because they are segmented.
Gaining greater control
SD-WAN helps you gain more control over your network. This results in improved network reliability and security.
With greater control comes a more personalized solution. This enables you to focus on your company’s greatest needs so if your organization is struggling with network security, you can make that your priority.
3. Threat intelligence
SD-WAN provides threat intelligence services that identify security threats and mitigate them automatically.
This capability uses artificial intelligence to also pinpoint suspicious traffic patterns that enable the organization to predict future security threats.
4. Ability to integrate with other security services
Finally, SD-WAN integrates well with a variety of other network security services. Depending on the manufacturer's unique environment, SD-WAN can be combined with a host of other security services.
Security services such as Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateways (SWG), and Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) can be integrated with SD-WAN to further strengthen their technology environment.
5. Updates
With an SD-WAN solution, your managed service provider will ensure your network and network security are always updated to the most current version.
An out-of-date network can result in slow network speeds, or poor-performing performance and can open your network up to malicious actors. Updating your network ensures it will constantly be reliable and secure.
Next steps to purchasing an SD-WAN solution
Now you know what SD-WAN is and the five ways an SD-WAN solution improves your network security.
This will help inform you on how SD-WAN can protect your network in addition to providing a more reliable network connection.
If your organization is looking for better network security as well as a more reliable network, an SD-WAN solution can help you address these issues.
No one wants to work on a poor-performing network or be a victim of a cyberattack. An SD-WAN solution will help your organization avoid these consequences.
Coeo has delivered thousands of SD-WAN solutions and knows how important good network security is.
We want to give you information on how SD-WAN can improve network security so you can make a better-educated decision to determine if SD-WAN is the right service for your organization.
If you would like to speak with our team to talk about SD-WAN and how it can improve your network security or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment. 
Now that you know the ways SD-WAN improves network security, read this article to learn the security differences between MPLS and SD-WAN to determine which solution is right for your organization.
