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.
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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.
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“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.”
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