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Security leaders often question why performance matters. In this blog, we will discuss the “tug of war” that exists between implementing robust security controls and delivering a superior user experience as we spotlight the findings from a new white paper from industry analyst IDC, and highlight why the design of the Netskope NewEdge infrastructure is so important to how we approach these challenges.
It’s important to get security decision-makers and practitioners to understand the serious risk that comes from degraded performance and why networking considerations are key. Without factoring in performance, the best-case scenario is that cloud security slows down the business. The worst-case scenario is that users bypass security controls altogether – ignoring hours of security awareness training–creating greater exposure for an organization and diminishing the return on their significant security investments.
Fortunately, in most opportunities I’ve come across at Netskope, the networking team plays an integral in influencing security decisions, especially when it comes to inline services like security service edge (SSE) and secure access service edge (SASE) architecture, as well as individual capabilities like secure web gateway (SWG), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) or zero trust network access (ZTNA).
Different mindsets: security vs. networking
While security teams typically focus on the depth and breadth of features for securing data, identifying threats, understanding application instances, or gleaning context for the best security efficacy, networking puts a spotlight on speeds and feeds. In short, how quickly can traffic get to the cloud, get the security processing needed, and get the user to the content, data, or app they are trying to access. For networkers, performance is all about delivering a high quality experience and it’s also why tools for remediating issues quickly (like Netskope’s Digital Experience Management) are so integral to cloud security purchase decisions.
As reported in the June 2022 results of a Dimensional Research survey, which polled more than 500 enterprise security and IT professionals, a mind-blowing 46% admitted to relaxing or bypassing security to improve user experience. To sum it up, nearly half admit to taking the easy, less secure and more convenient path for the sake of a better experience. It doesn’t take a security expert to recognize the dangers and risks associated with that trade-off. Fortunately the survey results make it clear the vast majority of customers (90%) believe end-to-end monitoring is needed to determine if security between their end-users and the cloud is impacting the quality of experience.
This is consistent with Gartner analysts forecasting that by 2025, half of IT organizations will have established a digital experience strategy, team, and management tool, up from 5% in 2021. It is also noteworthy that in the Dimensional Research survey upwards of 90% of respondents believe visibility into end-user experience will be imperative to SASE adoption and success.
Why should performance matter to both security and networking practitioners?
Shining a spotlight on the connection between security