Cato Networks has announced a new clientless remote access option as part of its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) offering. Called Instant Access, it lets remote workers use a browser to access approved applications from a company portal. Companies don’t need to install client software on end-user machines.
With Instant Access, users point their browsers to a custom URL, and are connected via SSL to a portal set up by their employer. The portal resides within one of Cato’s Points of Presence (PoPs). Users sign on with their regular corporate credentials, and the portal lists approved apps that the user can access.
Cato Networks integrates with Active Directory and other LDAP services, so companies can tailor access based on groups or individual users. Customers do have to do some configuration on the backend to decide which groups get access to which applications, and to set up portals.
Cato acts as a proxy between the user and the application at the other end of the transaction. It retrieves the necessary data from the application server and passes it back to the client.
Instant Access supports premises-based, client-server and Web apps, and can redirect users to SaaS and cloud-based apps as well. Cato says Instant Access can also work with legacy apps, but your mileage may vary.
For end users that require an IPSec VPN connection to the corporate network, Cato also offers a traditional remote access client.
The upside of a clientless option is that, with no endpoint software to distribute or manage, companies can more quickly support an influx of remote workers, particularly on devices the company doesn’t control, such as an employee’s personal laptop or PC.
Getting SASE
Cato’s suite combines SD-WAN, security services, a private network backbone, and zero-trust access. The company puts itself in the SASE market, a category recently defined by Gartner.
Cato has built out a private global backbone and a series of Points of Presence (PoPs) in major markets. Branch and remote offices, and individual users, connect to the nearest PoP. At the PoP, Cato customers can run traffic through a variety of security services, including malware scanning, IPS, URL filtering, and others.
After scanning, the traffic rides across Cato’s network, and exits at the PoP nearest to the destination.
Instant Access is available now.
