How Cato Networks and SASETY help meet NIS2 requirements effectively

OP-ED · 31 JULY 2024

NIS2 directive: the role of Cato Networks and SASETY · Lire en français

Introduction

The Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) imposes strict cybersecurity requirements on critical infrastructure.

Through its SASE platform, Cato Networks, a Leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant, offers a comprehensive technology to help organisations comply with these new regulations.

In this article, discover how Cato Networks technology and SASETY managed services address the main requirements of the NIS2 directive.

1. Asset management and visibility

Asset management and visibility are essential elements of the NIS2 directive.

The Cato SASE Cloud platform provides exhaustive visibility of assets, including users, devices and all the applications consumed.

Using artificial intelligence, Cato automates the discovery of IT, IoT and OT devices, in both passive and active modes.

Administrators can view all the assets connected to the infrastructure from a single dashboard, which simplifies management and decision-making.

The Cato platform automatically identifies unlisted applications (Shadow IT), making it possible to classify the risks associated with each application, user and device.

Vulnerability assessment is performed by the Managed XDR (Extended Detection and Response) engine, which continuously analyses threats and risks.

The asset management and visibility delivered by Cato SASE Cloud therefore fully meet the requirements of NIS2.

2. Risk assessment

Risk assessment is a fundamental aspect of NIS2 compliance.

Cato Networks provides sophisticated risk assessment and management tools, built directly into the SASE platform.

The MITRE ATT&CK dashboard makes it possible to track and analyse cyberattack tactics and techniques, helping to put appropriate defensive measures in place.

Based on actual application usage, the Cato application catalogue discovers more than 200 new applications every week, each with a detailed risk assessment.

Dashboards present security best practices and recommendations to improve the security posture. All these dashboards are available from the Cato management application, providing an immediate understanding of the organisation's security posture.

By combining these risk assessment tools with real-time management, Cato Networks ensures full compliance with NIS2 requirements.

3. Governance and compliance

The NIS2 directive requires organisations to ensure robust governance and compliance with various regulations.

Cato Networks guarantees this compliance through its certifications and trusted partnerships.

Cato complies with ISO 27001, SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3 and the GDPR, ensuring that security practices meet international standards.

As a trusted partner, Cato also ensures supply chain security, thereby meeting the governance requirements of NIS2.

Cato's centralised platform removes the complexity of point products, allowing simple and efficient management of security policies.

By acting as a reliable digital partner, Cato ensures ongoing compliance with NIS2 and other regulatory frameworks.

4. Network security

Network security is a priority of NIS2.

The Cato SASE Cloud platform includes advanced features to ensure comprehensive protection of network traffic.

Cloud-delivered security engines such as NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall), SWG (Secure Web Gateway), IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), NGAM (Next-Generation Anti-Malware) and RBI (Remote Browser Isolation) provide 360° protection of North-South and East-West traffic.

The platform performs full traffic inspection with unlimited processing and inspection capacity.

With predefined security policies, more than 80 built-in categories and artificial intelligence that automatically manages threat intelligence, Cato provides instant protection against emerging threats.

5. Data security

Data protection is a fundamental requirement of NIS2.

Cato Networks offers robust capabilities to secure data at every level. Cato's CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) and DLP (Data Loss Prevention) protect applications and data, both online and offline. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, thanks to a proprietary distributed key management system.

The platform also provides full visibility of cloud applications and control of unsanctioned applications (Shadow IT). Cato enforces tenant restrictions for corporate SaaS (Software as a Service) applications, ensuring consistent protection of sensitive data. With these data security measures, Cato Networks guarantees full compliance with NIS2 requirements.

6. Access control and Zero Trust

Access control and the implementation of a Zero Trust model are essential to meet NIS2 requirements.

Cato Networks provides comprehensive capabilities to ensure secure access to critical assets.

Cato's multi-level access controls continuously assess device security posture to guarantee secure access.

The platform enables clientless access for third parties and BYOD devices, with granular identity-based access policies.

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), SSO (Single Sign-On) and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) policies provide granular access control, delivering a consistent user experience while strengthening security.

By applying a Zero Trust policy everywhere, the platform ensures uniform security for all users, wherever they are.

7. Incident detection and response

Rapid incident detection and effective response are a NIS2 requirement.

The Cato XDR platform offers advanced incident detection and response capabilities.

Native sensors built into the Cato XDR platform enable rapid detection of security and network incidents.

In addition, supply chain monitoring by the Cato CASB platform guarantees full visibility of third-party application providers' compliance.

Cato provides a full range of incident reports for in-depth post-incident analysis.

MITRE ATT&CK dashboards provide an immediate understanding of how an attack is progressing, enabling a rapid incident response.

8. Business continuity and disaster recovery

Business continuity and disaster recovery are essential for organisations providing critical services.

Cato Networks offers a resilient architecture to ensure continuous service availability.

Cato's self-healing architecture delivers 99.999% availability, guaranteeing business continuity even in the event of an incident.

Actionable policies through the Cato console enable fast and effective threat management.

Cato's global private backbone, with redundant Tier-1 links, ensures rapid disaster recovery.

Cato's advanced remediation services enable a rapid response to security incidents, ensuring operations resume quickly.

How SASETY accelerates NIS2 compliance

As an expert and strategic French partner of Cato Networks for 4 years, SASETY plays an important role in helping organisations achieve compliance with NIS2 requirements.

Drawing on in-depth expertise in cybersecurity and network management, SASETY offers a range of services to ease this transition.

The process starts with a full assessment of the organisation's needs, identifying current gaps in cybersecurity and NIS2 compliance.

This assessment makes it possible to define a detailed implementation plan, aligned with the organisation's security and compliance objectives.

By mapping all digital assets, including IoT and OT devices, SASETY's teams carry out an in-depth risk analysis to identify vulnerabilities and prioritise the actions to take.

The second step is to draw up a detailed roadmap for implementing Cato SASE, with a clear action plan and defined deadlines.

This plan includes specific measures to meet NIS2 requirements, ensuring full compliance.

SASETY's implementation of Cato Networks SASE comprises several phases, from initial installation to advanced configuration and team training.

During the installation phase, SASETY's teams configure the platform according to the organisation's specific needs, including security policies, access controls and data encryption protocols.

Particular attention is paid to optimising network performance and managing bandwidth, guaranteeing a smooth user experience.

SASETY also offers comprehensive training programmes for IT teams, ensuring an in-depth understanding of SASE and cybersecurity best practices.

In-depth technical training sessions are organised, covering every aspect of SASE management and maintenance.

Hands-on workshops allow teams to become familiar with the platform's tools and features, strengthening their skills.

After the initial implementation, SASETY continues to support its clients with managed and continuous improvement services, guaranteeing lasting compliance and optimal protection.

SASETY monitors network and security services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to quickly resolve any technical problem or identify any security incident.

The Cato platform is automatically updated to include the latest security improvements and new features.

Regular security audits are carried out to identify new vulnerabilities and adapt security policies accordingly.

SASETY also ensures that the technologies deployed remain compliant as regulations evolve, in particular NIS2.

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