Cloud at times, offers an excellent platform for delivering a wide range of services, but in other instances, it is crucial to acknowledge when a fully cloud-based approach might not be the most effective solution. According to Check Point’s 2024 Cloud Security Report a critical surge in cloud security incidents, marking a significant increase from 24% in 2023 to 61% in 2024, a whopping 154% increase, highlight the escalating complexity and frequency of cloud threats. In fact, as per a recent PWC Survey, 52% of Indian organizations are the most concerned around cloud related threats.
That’s why Harmony SASE takes a hybrid route. Our secure Internet Access offering provides on-device protection, while still providing functionality in the cloud for those who want it. That result is an internet security solution that keeps your workforce protected from online threats and maintains your connection speeds without negatively impacting device performance.
Cloudless Improves Performance
A fundamental component of secure internet access is the Secure Web Gateway (SWG). A SWG can be built into an on-premises gateway, but more frequently, it’s part of a cloud-based gateway.
The cloud-based approach means you don’t have to worry about the so-called Trombone Effect where traffic goes from a remote user to a company data center halfway around the world, and then over to the website. Instead, you just go straight to a nearby cloud provider for security checks before hitting the web.
That’s a much better approach, but it still has some built-in latency you can’t avoid, slowing down connection performance. With Harmony SASE, we cut the cloud step and handle your web security needs directly on the device, including web filtering and malware protection.
The results can be staggering with 2x faster performance compared to the traditional cloud-based approach. That’s the difference when you embrace the most direct route possible to your web destination without sacrificing security.
Need Better Privacy? Go Local
But there’s a lot more to the hybrid approach than just boosting internet speeds, such as security and privacy. Most secure internet solutions carry out SSL inspection in the cloud to check for potential threats. That means your company traffic gets decrypted in an uncontrolled location.
On a day-to-day basis that might be fine, but what happens when your cloud provider experiences a breach due to a configuration error, a zero day in underlying technologies, or any number of other potential threats?
Suddenly, that secure cloud service is a trove of data just ripe for hackers to do more damage.
With Harmony SASE we do the SSL inspection on the end user device. That means every SSL inspection is localized in an environment under your organization’s control. Plus, if you have any region-specific requirements for SSL inspection, they are automatically covered since the feature operates locally by default.
Location, Location, Location?
Hybrid SASE also means you don’t distort your browser’s built-in geolocation, which is helpful for more than just ordering lunch.
Imagine, for example, you need to access a government service as part of your day-to-day operations. The service in question requires an originating IP inside your country, but your closest internet access gateway is not. Now you have to disconnect from your security service just to access the site–not ideal considering the sensitivity of the data you’re about to access.
Better geolocation also helps streamline operations by offering you applications in the correct language or for ordering office supplies using the correct location.
That may not seem like a big deal but add up the number of daily localization requests that need manual adjustment, and you’re talking about a significant hit to productivity.
When it comes to internet access you don’t want to sacrifice performance or productivity, and with Check Point you don’t have to.
Meet Harmony SASE
Secure, fast, localized Internet Access is just one part of our offering. We also offer secure Private Access for remote workers connecting to the public cloud and on-prem servers.
Both Internet Access and Private Access are hardware free meaning we handle all under-the-hood security patches, operating system updates, and other critical maintenance. And both services are packaged in an easy-to-use cloud-based console, which means easier onboarding for your IT team and more efficient operations including one-click scalability.
Harmony SASE is part of the Harmony for Workspace Suite. Harmony helps organizations of all sizes secure their workspaces with a suite of products including SASE, SaaS protection, email security, endpoint and mobile protection, and in-browser security.
Want to see how Harmony SASE can transform your network security? Book a demo today.