Tag: MEF

MEF: Securing the Future – Certifiably SASE

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Ian Foo, CTO and EVP of Product for CyberRatings.org, MEF’s testing and certification partner, details the rise of cybercrime, particularly state-sponsored cyber threats, and the critical need for securing operational technology. He discusses the role of SASE certification in mitigating these risks, highlighting its comprehensive testing methods for malware, exploits, and evasions. How does third-party certification enhance vendor trust and validate enterprise security and performance amid rising cyber threats?

In this Executives at the Edge episode, host Pascal Menezes explores these topics and more with Ian Foo of CyberRatings.org:

  • How is the cyber-crime space evolving?
  • Which industry opportunities and challenges are key in the SASE arena?
  • How does CyberRatings.org’s testing for MEF SASE certification differ from other types of testing in the industry?
  • What value does testing and certification bring to the table for SASE vendors, service providers, and enterprise end users?
Listen to the full podcast here.

MEF: 15 Leading Technology and Service Providers Achieve SASE Certification in Industry’s Only Independent Certification Program

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

DALLAS, Texas, October 29, 2024 – MEF, a global consortium of network, cloud, security, and technology providers driving enterprise digital transformation, today announced significant advancements in its MEF 3.0 Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Certification Program. Technology providers Fortinet and Versa have achieved full SASE certification, while service providers AT&T, BT, Colt, Comcast Business, Console Connect, Liberty Latin America, Lumen, Orange Business, TPG, and Verizon have also earned full SASE certification. Additionally, technology providers Broadcom Inc. and Palo Alto Networks, and service provider Sparkle, are expected to achieve full SASE certification shortly. Organizations that achieve SASE certification through MEF’s rigorous independent program receive a rating on product effectiveness and are listed in MEF’s registry of certified companies. SASE certification is now available to all MEF members.

Read the full press release here.

MEF: Leading Technology Providers Achieve First Milestone in SASE Certification Program

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

LOS ANGELES, Calif., August 28, 2024 – MEF, a global consortium of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today announced new certifications in the first module of its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) products and services certification program. SD-WAN certification was achieved by Broadcom, Inc., Fortinet, and Versa. Palo Alto Networks is expected to achieve its SD-WAN certification shortly. Certified technology providers have received a rating on product effectiveness and will be listed in MEF’s registry of certified organizations. MEF’s SASE certification program is now generally available to technology and service provider members.

Enterprises worldwide have adopted SD-WAN to enable digital transformation, addressing changing workforce needs and cloud migration. SD-WAN offers improved application performance, centralized management, optimized connectivity, agility, security, cost, and other benefits. As a key component of SASE, SD-WAN has become increasingly integrated with cybersecurity solutions to protect distributed environments.

Read the full press release here.

MEF: SASE standardization and certification drive adoption

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Industry trade group MEF released its “State of the Industry Report: SASE” report underscoring the role of its standards-based secure access service edge (SASE) certification program in helping enterprise networking and cybersecurity decision-makers identify effective solutions.

MEF emphasized the importance of industry standards and certification programs in ensuring consistent terminology and validated security effectiveness, which it claims will help build trust in SASE solutions and accelerate their adoption across the industry.

Read the full article here.

SDxCentral: How SASE shows that the industry needs standardization for innovation and growth

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

In the ever-evolving networking and security services landscape, standardization of new technologies is essential for innovation to thrive. It drives quicker market adoption and, most importantly, the adopters’ ability to evaluate, compare, contrast, and ultimately select the best technology that meets their needs. So, what happens with networking technology that doesn’t have a foundation in standardization?

SD-WAN technology was a highly anticipated development in the networking industry that emerged in 2012. However, it didn’t follow a clear path until its standardization by MEF in 2019. This caused market confusion and slowed down its adoption and growth.

Read the full post on SDxCentral.

CyberRatings.org Announces SD-WAN Test Results for Fortinet

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Austin, TX – October 3, 2023 – CyberRatings.org/ (CyberRatings), the non-profit entity dedicated to providing confidence in cybersecurity products and services through its research and testing programs, has issued a Recommended Rating for Fortinet’s Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) Fortigate 100F model as a high availability pair at the head-end, along with Fortigate 70F models at corporate headquarters, a regional office, and a retail outlet. A product with the “Recommended” rating has the highest rating assigned by CyberRatings.

SD-WAN technology helps organizations achieve operational savings by enabling remote configuration of new locations rather than requiring engineers to be on site. Many vendors, such as Fortinet, offer zero-touch provisioning, where on site engineering expertise is optional other than the ability to power up the device and connect to the appropriate internal and external links. Once online, the device will call “home” through a cloud configuration service to gather the configuration details.

An SD-WAN offers traditional routing and policy control features including basic application identification, policy controls, stateful network controls and a virtual private network (VPN). It prioritizes applications, has remote configuration capabilities and should have a predictable performance experience for users. SD-WANs have highly resilient remote office connectivity.

To assess the SD-WAN, the traffic content, throughput, transport, and impairments were tailored for each use case to provide insight into how the SD-WAN would perform under various conditions. Management, routing and stateful access control, encryption, application identification and prioritization, WAN maximum capacity, stability and reliability, and rated throughput were all rigorously tested.

“The Fortinet SD-WAN handled all use cases with ease and proved to be highly reliable and capable. It should be on everyone’s short list,” said Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org.

SD-WAN is a component of the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) security model which integrates multiple security services in a cloud-native platform. The SD-WAN report published today by CyberRatings is part of the independent, third party testing program that CyberRatings provides to the industry at large.

In addition, CyberRatings and MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security and technology providers, signed an agreement in August to launch a new SASE Certification Program for MEF technology and service provider members worldwide. The SASE certification program, based upon CyberRatings’ methodologies and test programs, will issue a rating on product and service effectiveness of SD-WAN, Security Service Edge (SSE Threat Protection), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and SASE. Participants in the beta program were announced today.

CyberRatings members can read Fortinet’s SD-WAN report here.

MEF and CyberRatings Kick-Off Beta Program of the SASE Certification Designed to Increase Market Confidence in Cybersecurity Solutions

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Dallas, Texas, 3 October 2023 – MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, and CyberRatings.org (CyberRatings), dedicated to providing confidence in cybersecurity products and services through its research and testing programs, today 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, Palo Alto Networks, Versa Networks, and VMware. 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.

Read the full press release here.

CyberRatings.org Announces Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) Test Results for Versa Networks

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Austin, TX – August 09, 2023 – CyberRatings.org (CyberRatings), the non-profit entity dedicated to providing confidence in cybersecurity products and services through its research and testing programs, has issued a Recommended Rating for Versa Networks Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution.

CyberRatings tested Versa’s ZTNA across multiple use cases to determine how it handled authentication and identity, resource access, routing, policy enforcement, and TLS/SSL 1.2 and 1.3 cipher suites. Both clear text and encrypted traffic were measured for performance. For this test, CyberRatings tested up to 1 Gbps.

Zero Trust is a security model that replaces legacy models that assumes anything inside a network is safe. Trust should never be assumed, and access is granted on a least-privileged basis.

ZTNA offerings help IT teams implement Zero Trust principles. They are based on a user-to-application model and provide secure granular access to internal applications and resources for remote users and devices based on identity, context, and policy. As a result, ZTNA is gaining popularity as a solution that can protect networks from today’s threats, especially as multi-cloud use and remote work continue to decentralize IT infrastructure and dissolve the traditional network perimeter.

ZTNA is a component of the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) security model, which integrates multiple security services in a cloud-native platform.

“Versa’s ZTNA handled all use cases with ease and proved to be highly consistent and reliable. Their offering should be on everyone’s short list,” said Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org.

CyberRatings is kicking off a series of ZTNA tests and certifications. A recent announcement from CyberRatings and MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, outlined a new Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Certification Program for MEF technology and service provider members worldwide.  The Beta program will begin in August with testing and certification of SD-WAN, followed by SSE Threat Protection and ZTNA.  Once the Beta program is completed later this year, certification will be available to the MEF membership at large in Q1 2024.

CyberRatings members can read the report here.

Executives from CyberRatings are attending the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. To connect, please write to info@cyberratings.org.

MEF and CyberRatings.org Partner on Groundbreaking SASE Certification Program

Posted on by CyberRatings.org

Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX – August 1, 2023 – MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, and CyberRatings.org (CyberRatings), dedicated to providing confidence in cybersecurity products and services through its research and testing programs, have signed a MEF Accredited Test and Certification Partner (MEF-ACTP) agreement. CyberRatings and MEF are launching a new Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Certification Program for MEF technology and service provider members worldwide.

MEF’s membership includes 200 service and technology providers from around the world. Its Board of Directors is comprised of senior executives from AT&T Business, Colt Technology Services, Comcast Business, Ericsson, Liberty Latin America, Lumen, Microsoft, PCCW Global, Orange Business, Sparkle and Verizon Business Group.

This new certification follows the release of numerous MEF Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)-related standards since 2019 and in Q4 of 2022, the release of MEF’s first SASE standard and Zero Trust framework. The certifications for SD-WAN, Secure Service Edge (SSE) Threat Protection, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) will comprise the SASE certification package and are based upon CyberRatings’ methodologies and test programs, and compliance to MEF standards.

Designed to increase market confidence in cybersecurity solutions, this pioneering new SASE certification program delivers assurance of security product effectiveness by providing a report card and rating for vendors’ and service providers’ SASE offerings. The report card data and rating will be included in MEF’s certification registry.

A Beta program will kick off in August with testing and certification of SD-WAN, followed by SSE Threat Protection and ZTNA.  Once the Beta program is completed later this year, certification will be available to the MEF membership at large in Q1 2024.

“MEF’s members are in the best position to address cyber risks at scale. MEF’s new SASE certification program will focus on providing the market with confidence into SASE product and service capabilities, which is in alignment with the Biden Administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy Objective,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “We are delighted to be working with the CyberRatings team who have had a long history in testing security products.”

There is a significant change in which enterprises use cloud-based solutions owned and maintained by third-party service providers instead of purchasing and maintaining their own network security devices and software. These cloud offerings such as SSE and ZTNA are based on new paradigms that offer scalability, flexibility, cost-efficiency, and innovation. They also help organizations support remote work, cloud migration, and digital transformation initiatives in ways non-cloud delivered technologies cannot.

“Enterprises of all sizes are rapidly moving to cloud delivered security such as SSE and ZTNA due to their ability to scale. This MEF-CyberRatings certification is designed to answer the question ‘how do I know it works?” said Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org. “We are happy to be working with MEF and its members in taking this important step toward securing our digital ecosystem.”

SASE services will be featured prominently at MEF’s Global Network-as-a-Service Event (GNE), 2-4 October 2023 in Dallas, Texas, focused on the future of secure Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings across automated ecosystems. Visit GNE 2023 to register to attend or for more information.