Increased reliance on cloud-based applications and remote work has caused the traditional network perimeter to vanish – and attack surfaces to exponentially expand. Nearly 40% of businesses experienced a data breach in their cloud environment last year,1 making it critical for cyber security strategies to evolve as networks expand beyond data centers.
Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) is a modern approach to connecting and managing distributed networks. It decouples the control plane from the physical infrastructure, allowing organizations to dynamically route traffic across multiple connection types, such as MPLS, LTE, and broadband, based on real-time performance, cost, and policy. SD-WAN simplifies management, improves agility, and helps ensure high-performance access to cloud applications and remote users.
Enter software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN). This technology provides the high-performance, reliable connectivity businesses need to access cloud applications and keep remote workers productive, which is likely why 47% of businesses have already migrated to SD-WAN.2 As more businesses embrace SD-WAN, integrated security solutions can help safeguard against the advanced threats targeting their increasingly dispersed networks.In this blog, we’ll explore key considerations for securing SD-WAN deployments to help you leverage this technology effectively.
Traditional WAN architectures and security approaches leave major gaps in protection for today’s cloud-enabled enterprises, including:
IT teams may fail to ensure the authenticity of network devices when adding to traditional WAN environments. Routers and switches can easily be added to branch networks without proper tracking, which makes it difficult to defend against rogue devices that can eavesdrop on traffic. SD-WAN offers centralized authentication and authorization of all edge devices to reduce the attack surface.
Legacy WANs rely on complex manual configuration of encrypted tunnels and security measures to protect data traffic on each link. SD-WAN simplifies this by integrating security solutions such as intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and firewalls, eliminating the need to implement separate hardware for security.
Individual network protocols like BGP, OSPF, and SNMP have their own embedded security mechanisms, and managing security across these disjointed protocols is challenging. SD-WAN platforms unify and simplify security policy automation across all control plane protocols.
Legacy network designs focus on availability over security, allowing undesirable traffic to travel across backup paths unchecked. SD-WAN solutions can deliver both high availability and integrated security across all paths simultaneously.
Deploying SD-WAN introduces both opportunities and challenges from a security perspective. Some common challenges businesses face when securing their SD-WAN infrastructure include:
SD-WAN enables dynamic traffic routing through the best available path, which may bypass your existing monitoring tools and reduce visibility into security threats, data flows, and network usage.
With SD-WAN, centralized security controls deployed at the corporate data center can no longer protect branch locations. Every site will need to deploy its own advanced security services against internet-based threats.
Since different branch locations have diverse needs and capabilities when it comes to security, SD-WAN platforms must be tailored to deliver customized stacks for each location’s unique requirements.
Managing security across hundreds or thousands of distributed edges and devices is difficult to scale, so automation and orchestration capabilities are essential for successful enterprise-wide SD-WAN security.
Many organizations run separate network operations center (NOC) and security operations center (SOC) teams. SD-WAN converges network and security capabilities, making it hard to separate duties between NetOps and SecOps roles.
To ensure your organization has reliable, secure connectivity, choose an SD-WAN platform that provides these fundamental capabilities:
SD-WAN solutions should provide built-in device authentication using certificates or other credentials to validate all components within the fabric, which refers to the complete ecosystem of devices, connectivity, policies, and orchestration that together deliver flexible, software-defined wide area networking. Strong mutual authentication ensures network access is only granted to trusted devices.
Platforms should also enable automated traffic encryption between all devices without the need for manual tunnel configuration. Encryption provides confidentiality and integrity for data in transit throughout the SD-WAN fabric. Advanced encryption standards like AES-256 provide strong endpoint security to protect against eavesdropping or man-in-the-middle attacks.
Centralized key management is critical for deploying encryption capabilities at scale. The SD-WAN controller should handle key distribution and rotation across all edges to simplify operations while ensuring keys are protected and managed according to enterprise security policy.
Integrating services like a next-generation firewall, IPS, anti-malware, and sandboxing with SD-WAN eliminates the need for multiple standalone security functions and reduces network sprawl at branch offices.
Embedded security services can be layered into SD-WAN solutions to provide advanced threat protection tailored to the unique needs of each site. Smaller office locations may rely on basic firewalling in the edge device, while large-scale environments could add IPS, URL filtering, malware protection, and more.
Consolidating security solutions into the SD-WAN platform also provides tighter coordination between networking and security. Integrated edges enable deeper visibility into network traffic and security events for enhanced context and threat detection.
Secure SD-WAN platforms need flexible integration with leading cloud-delivered security services, such as cloud access security brokers (CASBs), secure web gateways (SWGs), and other cloud-based controls. This enables a hybrid security approach combining the best of on-premises and cloud protections.
For example, integrating your SD-WAN with a cloud-based secure web gateway enables consistent security policies and malicious website filtering across all branch locations. Cloud sandboxing can also detect threats targeting the public cloud, while CASB integration secures SaaS applications and improves visibility.
As the SD-WAN market grows, finding the right solution to secure your entire network fabric – from edges to cloud – can be challenging. Here are some of the top security capabilities to look for when choosing an SD-WAN solution:
Look for a platform that combines multilayered security services like NGFWs, malware sandboxes, IPS, and web filtering powered by up-to-date threat intelligence for advanced protection against even zero-day attacks.
The right SD-WAN solution should offer tight integration between your platform’s capabilities and best-of-breed security to avoid tradeoffs between performance and protection across your business network.
Your SD-WAN platform should provide centralized management for monitoring, analytics, and policy enforcement across all edges, traffic flows, and cloud applications. This simplifies managing security across a distributed fabric at scale.
Choose an SD-WAN solution that allows you to meet the unique security needs of each branch location with physical or virtual appliances, cloud-based controls, and hybrid options.
The zero-trust model, which verifies all users and devices before granting least-privilege access, is ideal for securing your SD-WAN infrastructure. Ensure your platform integrates with device and identity management tools to enable adaptive access policies.
When evaluating SD-WAN platforms, security must be a top priority, not an optional add-on. Here are some key capabilities and considerations to help guide your selection:
Choose platforms with built-in next-gen firewall (NGFW), IPS, URL filtering, malware protection, and DDoS defense.
Look for native support for zero trust principles, including user identity verification and least-privilege access policies.
Unified visibility, analytics, and policy enforcement across all locations simplifies ongoing security operations.
Ensure compatibility with secure web gateways (SWG), CASBs, and SASE architectures for cloud-native protection.
The platform should support seamless growth, from a handful of sites to hundreds, without compromising performance or protection.
Check for support of logging, encryption, and auditing features aligned with industry standards like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR.
By assessing both networking and security capabilities, you can identify the right secure SD-WAN platform to fit your organization’s unique needs.
As modern networks become more distributed, combining connectivity and security into a single architecture is essential. While SD-WAN delivers performance and flexibility, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) extends that value by converging networking and security in the cloud.
Together, SASE and SD-WAN form a unified framework that enhances visibility, protection, and scalability for today’s digital businesses.
SASE consolidates core network security tools, like secure web gateways (SWG), cloud access security brokers (CASB), zero trust network access (ZTNA), and firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), into a single cloud-native solution. When paired with SD-WAN, this creates a streamlined way to manage policies, users, and traffic across all locations from a central point.
SD-WAN optimizes access to cloud applications, but security gaps can emerge if protections aren't extended to SaaS and internet-based services. SASE fills this gap by delivering advanced cloud security controls at the edge, ensuring consistent enforcement of policies no matter where users connect from.
Traditional WAN and security setups require multiple devices and point solutions at each branch. By shifting both networking and security to the cloud, SASE reduces hardware dependencies, simplifies deployment, and lowers management overhead, while still maintaining granular control.
Because SASE delivers security from the cloud, it reduces the need to backhaul traffic to centralized data centers. This leads to faster application access and a better user experience, especially for remote and hybrid workers accessing cloud platforms.
As organizations grow and user behavior changes, SASE provides the flexibility to scale security on demand. Integrated with SD-WAN, it enables enterprises to adapt quickly to new sites, new users, and new threats, without rebuilding their infrastructure.
While SD-WAN offers powerful advantages in flexibility, performance, and cost control, a successful deployment depends on careful planning and alignment with your IT environment. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind:
Not all SD-WAN solutions integrate seamlessly with your legacy networking gear or firewalls. Assess whether the platform will work with your routers, switches, and security stack, or if additional investments are needed.
SD-WAN can route traffic across multiple types of connections (e.g., MPLS, broadband, LTE), but it’s only as effective as the links it manages. Ensure each site has reliable, redundant connectivity options to get the most from SD-WAN’s dynamic path selection.
While centralized management is a benefit, large-scale SD-WAN deployments require a learning curve and proper configuration. Ensure your team is trained or your provider offers hands-on implementation support.
Some SD-WAN vendors bundle proprietary hardware or cloud services that limit your ability to switch providers later. Look for open, standards-based platforms when flexibility is important.
SD-WAN can reduce networking costs, but initial deployment may require capital expenses (appliances, licenses, upgrades). Plan for total cost of ownership, including scaling, support, and renewals, when comparing solutions.
Not always. While SD-WAN improves performance and agility, not all solutions come with built-in security. That’s why choosing a secure SD-WAN platform with integrated protection is essential.
SD-WAN focuses on optimizing WAN connectivity, while SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) combines networking with cloud-delivered security services like SWG, CASB, and ZTNA. Together, they offer a complete solution for secure access across distributed networks.
Zero Trust enhances SD-WAN by enforcing strict access controls. It ensures that only verified users and devices can access the network, minimizing the risk of lateral movement or internal threats.
As SD-WAN adoption continues to grow, implementing proper security is imperative for protecting your distributed business network. With the right solutions and best practices in place, you can confidently unlock the performance and productivity benefits of SD-WAN without compromising on security.
CommQuotes can help you navigate the crowded SD-WAN landscape to find a platform that meets your organization’s unique needs at the best possible pricing. We leverage our long-standing relationships with hundreds of providers to cut through the clutter and find right-fit solutions – at no cost to you.
Ready to find a secure SD-WAN solution that keeps your remote and hybrid workers online and protected? Reach out to CommQuotes today.
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