Product Overview of Cato Networks
Cato Networks offers a comprehensive Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform designed to unify enterprise networking and security into a single, cloud-native solution. Here’s an overview of what the product does and its key features and functionality:
Unified SASE Platform
Cato Networks provides the world’s first SASE platform, which converges SD-WAN, a global private backbone, a full network security stack, and seamless support for cloud resources and mobile devices. This platform is designed to address the challenges of traditional networking and security solutions, which are often rigid, static, and fragmented, by delivering a unified, agile, and secure service.
Key Features
Global Connectivity and Optimization
- Cato SASE Cloud Platform connects all enterprise locations, users, applications, and clouds into a global and secure network. It optimizes traffic from all edges to all destinations, enhancing application performance and user experience. This includes support for latency-sensitive traffic such as voice, video, and transactional applications.
Advanced Security Capabilities
- The platform features a Single Pass Cloud Engine (SPACE) that integrates multiple network security functions, including Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), Secure Web Gateway (SWG), Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), Next-Generation Anti-Malware (NGAM), and Remote Browser Isolation (RBI). These capabilities ensure comprehensive threat prevention and data protection for both inline and out-of-band access.
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) and Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- Cato provides broad visibility into the usage of both sanctioned and unsanctioned applications, enabling IT teams to enforce access policies based on application, user, and device risk. The DLP engine enforces access policies and granular actions on sensitive data across on-premises and cloud destinations.
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)
- The Cato Client offers Universal ZTNA, enforcing risk-based application access policies for users regardless of their location. It includes extensive device posture analysis and integration with multiple identity providers to ensure full authentication and compliance with corporate policies.
IoT/OT Security
- Cato extends comprehensive protection to IoT and OT environments through real-time device discovery, classification, and granular policy enforcement, all as a native feature of the SASE Cloud Platform.
Real-Time Monitoring and Troubleshooting
- Cato DEM (Digital Experience Monitoring) provides real-time monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities with end-to-end visibility. It uses synthetic probing combined with AI/ML for proactive monitoring and mitigation of user experience issues before they are reported.
Scalable and Resilient Architecture
- The platform is built on a cloud-native architecture with numerous Points of Presence (PoPs) worldwide, ensuring real-time scalable and efficient security protection and network optimization. Cato’s architecture is self-evolving, self-healing, self-optimizing, and self-scaling, which simplifies IT operations and ensures service continuity.
Centralized Management
- IT teams can configure and enforce corporate policies across the business from a single, self-service console. This unified management interface enhances cross-team collaboration and improves overall service delivery to the business.
Endpoint Protection
- The Cato Client provides granular endpoint traffic management capabilities, ensuring corporate endpoints are continuously protected. It supports always-on mode and integrates with third-party endpoint solutions like Microsoft Defender and Crowdstrike.
Benefits
- Improved User Experience: Optimized traffic routing and real-time monitoring ensure high performance and minimal latency.
- Enhanced Security: Comprehensive threat prevention, data protection, and zero-trust access policies safeguard enterprise resources.
- Simplified IT Operations: Unified management, automated high availability, and self-healing capabilities reduce IT complexity and workload.
- Agility and Scalability: The platform supports rapid provisioning of new resources and scales seamlessly with business needs.
In summary, Cato Networks’ SASE platform is a robust solution that integrates networking and security into a single, cloud-native service, offering advanced features for optimization, security, and management. This platform is designed to support the evolving needs of modern, cloud-centric, and mobile-first digital businesses.