To secure remote employees, organizations have to find a way of securing hybrid environments where employees can access data and applications. This can be done using a secure service edge. SSE is a cloud-native architecture that delivers security and networking services together in a single platform. This allows continuous security coverage for cloud, SaaS or private applications through a single policy framework. Access Control In an era where more employees are accessing content, data, applications and resources on the web or via mobile devices, having a secure service-edge (SSE), comprehensive solution is vital. SSE protects against unauthorized or malicious access and allows users to access web, cloud, private, and other applications securely. SSE is a cloud-based platform that integrates networking and security functions, such as software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), firewall as a service, secure web gateways (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), and zero trust network access (ZTNA). It offers consistent application and security enforcement across locations and users while delivering centralized visibility into traffic. SSE includes an identity-based zero trust access control system that never puts users on the corporate network. This enables fast, reliable WANs without the necessity of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). In addition, a robust defense-in-depth strategy for detecting and preventing malware and other threats is an important part of SSE. Threat Protection SSE offers threat protection for internet sessions, ensuring that users connect securely to critical business applications no matter where they are located. It enables hybrid work by employees, secures the cloud and private data connection, accelerates cloud-migrations, as well as simplifies the integration of M&As. A single cloud platform delivers security services that follow app-to-app connectivity, regardless of device or location. This reduces the risk of a breach by removing gaps between point solutions and eliminating the need for manually updating traditional legacy appliances. Zero trust access: SSE should only allow access to the least privileged users based on zero trust policies, which include user roles and behaviors, devices, applications and content. This minimizes the attack surface and prevents lateral moves. SSE enforces policies: SSE combines unified threats prevention capabilities with CASB/ZTNA technologies in order to enforce corporate policy on all end-users, no matter where they are located within the network or which devices they use. This can reduce the risk of malware, ransomware, and other threats if employees are using cloud applications or sensitive data that is not compliant with company policies. Data Security Protecting information is essential for organizations that allow remote and mobile workers to access data and applications via the internet. Secure service edges delivers security through the unification of web gateways (SWG), cloud-access security brokers (CASB), as well as zero-trust network access (ZTNA). SSE offers cloud-based data loss protection capabilities that allow sensitive data to easily be found, classified and secured. This can help support compliance policies, such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and GDPR. SSE solutions must also have advanced threat prevention capabilities, such as cloud firewall as a service (FWaaS), CASB inspection of data in SaaS apps, and adaptive access control. SSE's adaptive access control identifies the device posture, and adapts access to it as needed. Monitoring It's crucial to monitor internet sessions when working with a service edge. This lets you see how your network works and what applications are being utilized. Monitoring can help you spot potential problems before they happen and keep your business protected from threats. This can also help you improve your user experience and reduce costs. SSE platforms capable of inspecting web and data trafic on a large scale are critical. Vendors should have strong service-level agreement (SLAs), and experience evaluating inline traffic at major multinationals. One of the primary use cases for a security service edge is enforcing policy control over internet, cloud, and mobile access. This can include enforcing corporate internet and access control policies for compliance or mitigating risk through content blocking and malware isolation.