AUSTIN, Texas – July 19, 2021 – CyberRatings.org, the non-profit entity dedicated to providing transparency on cybersecurity product efficacy, has published its first Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) rating. CyberRatings conducted an independent test of Zscaler’s Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), including its Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities using Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access. Zscaler earned a ‘AA’ rating overall, with components of the test achieving ‘AA’ to ‘AAA’ ratings.
SASE technology is relatively new to the market, introduced by Gartner in a late 2019 blog post. It is a new package of technologies delivered as a service:
- Access control (FWaaS and ZTNA)
- Threat protection (Secure Web Gateway, anti-malware, and intrusion prevention)
- Data protection (Cloud Access Security Broker and Data Loss Prevention)
“The pandemic accelerated adoption of new technologies such as SASE that securely enable a distributed workforce,” said Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org. “This first-of-its-kind test provides the cybersecurity industry with a reliable and independent way to evaluate SASE offerings.”
Because these technologies are so new, CyberRatings spent several months working with Keysight’s network and cloud product teams to develop the apparatus to test FWaaS and ZTNA. Keysight provided CyPerf for testing stability and reliability, TLS / SSL functionality, and application performance.
“The distributed nature of hybrid/cloud networks calls for a new way of testing,” said Ram Periakaruppan vice president and general manager, Keysight’s Network Test and Security Solutions. “Keysight developed its industry-first cloud-native CyPerf test solution to help users validate services like SASE, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN), and cloud network firewall. We are excited to partner with CyberRatings in this first independent test of SASE technology.”
CyberRatings has a three-phase plan for testing SASE products, with FWaaS and ZTNA as the first phase. Phase two will include testing discovery and handling of exploits, malware, and evasions. The third phase will address cloud access security broker (CASB) and data leak protection (DLP).