SASE in Finance - SASE in Finance - Simplifying security, performance, governance, and compliance across the finance sector’s global networks.

SASE in Finance

Simplifying security, performance,
governance, and compliance across the
finance sector’s global networks.

Discover how Exponential-e & Cato Networks’ SASE solution enhances security, compliance & performance for finance firms. Download our whitepaper now.Contents

Introducing Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Case studies

Exponential-e
& Cato Networks

Thank you for reading our

SASE for Finance

Introduction

The finance sector’s ongoing digital journey is a complex one, with fragmented legacy systems, rapidly growing volumes of sensitive data, and increasingly stringent regulatory obligations all requiring a new breed of infrastructure that delivers the very highest levels of performance, availability, security, resilience, and flexibility.

In this report, we will consider these challenges in depth and explore how the convergence of networking and security has the potential to transform the way firms design, deploy, manage, and scale their networks, laying the foundation for a whole new era of technology-powered financial services.

Optimising data security in an evolving threat landscape.

Cyber security is an increasing concern for all organisations, but the volumes of highly sensitive data generated, transferred, and stored across the financial sector make it an especially attractive target for global bad actors, with any breach having the potential to permanently damage a firm’s hard-won reputation. In 2024, the average cost of a data breach in the financial sector was measured at $6.08 million, compared to an average for $4.8 million when all sectors were accounted for¹. However, the increasingly diverse nature of the sector’s digital infrastructure, with Cloud and on-premises solutions increasingly interconnected and multiple SaaS platforms utilised on an ongoing basis, means that the consistent application of corporate security policies and zero-trust principles presents an evolving challenge.

^{1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1324063/cost-of-data-breaches-in-financial-industry-worldwide}

Delivering a seamless, interconnected customer experience.

Customers utilising any sort of financial service expect a world-class experience every step of the way. Indeed, a 2022 survey confirmed that 81% of customers considered access to seamless online services to be a key aspect of their choice of bank2. This means digital infrastructure must evolve to keep pace with these expectations, ensuring all services are both highly available and highly secure, 24 / 7. While this has required many firms to expediate their digital transformation journeys, ensuring their underlying networks fully support the next generation of Cloud platforms, the possibilities are immense, with the growing volumes of customer data opening the door to truly bespoke experiences that inspire lasting brand loyalty.

Maximising agility, minimising costs.

The demands these challenges place on the finance sectors corporate networks are considerable, which means legacy infrastructure is increasingly showing its limitations, particularly in terms of its ability to rapidly adapt to unexpected shifts in the landscape without creating any unnecessary operational disruptions, security risks, or unnecessary costs. Networks must therefore be Cloud-ready by design, with measures in place to ensure corporate security policies can be consistently applied without this developing into an excessive drain on IT teams’ time and resources, ensuring customers’ data remains fully secure, both in transit and at rest.

^{2. https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/blogs/digital-banking-experience-trends-2022}