MEF and CyberRatings announced the kick-off of its beta program for certification of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) products and services. Participants in the beta program include MEF Technology Advisory Board (TAB) member companies Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Versa Networks, VMware, as well as Palo Alto Networks.
The SASE certification program is supported by MEF’s Board of Directors which includes senior executives from AT&T Business, Colt Technology Services, Comcast Business, Liberty Latin America, Lumen, Microsoft, PCCW Global, Orange, Sparkle and Verizon Business.
The groundbreaking SASE certification program, based upon CyberRatings’ methodologies and test programs, will issue a rating on product and service effectiveness of Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), Security Service Edge (SSE Threat Protection), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and SASE. Certification will ensure compliance to MEF SD-WAN (MEF 70.1) standard, and industry first standards for SASE (MEF 117) and Zero Trust (MEF 118).
Once the beta program is completed later this year, certification will be available to MEF membership at large in the first half of 2024.
"MEF's SASE certification program represents a significant step towards enhancing market confidence in cybersecurity products and services,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “This Beta program, with participation from MEF’s TAB and the support of our Board of Directors, underscores our commitment to delivering trusted, standardized solutions that empower enterprises on their digital transformation journey."
“Cybersecurity is a black box. SASE is a black box in a black box,” said Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org. “Nobody really knows if it’s working. A robust testing and certification program is essential to provide customers with visibility into what they’re buying.”
SASE services will also be a crucial component of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings. NaaS enables service providers to bundle standardized services including a combination of on-demand connectivity, application assurance, cybersecurity and multi-cloud-based services that enable enterprises to achieve business outcomes without having to build or maintain their own infrastructure.
Including certified SASE services as part of a provider’s NaaS offerings means enterprises can evaluate the effectiveness of their cybersecurity solution.