Fortinet has announced the evolution of its Security Fabric architecture with the release of FortiOS 6.0, which it claims is the world’s most deployed network security operating system.
With more than 200 new features and capabilities, enterprises will benefit from new levels of security operations automation and advanced protections for their expanding digital attack surfaces.
Fortinet has introduced new security capabilities across the key solution areas within its Security Fabric architecture, including management and analytics, multi-cloud, network, advanced threat protection, unified access, web applications, email, IoT and endpoint security.
Industry-leading secure SD-WAN functionality, threat detection services, and expanded visibility from IoT to multi-cloud networks protect the vast attack surface resulting from digital transformation (DX) strategies.
New automated lifecycle workflows, attack surface hardening services, with customized ranking and industry benchmarking, deliver the next level of NOC/SOC management.
Business, network and entity level tagging functionality enable business precise segmentation, providing the critical building blocks for intent-based network security.
“Digital transformation is creating new operating and service delivery models that provide undeniable value to users through technologies such as IoT, mobile computing and cloud-based services, generating a vast digital attack surface,” says Michael Xie, founder, president and chief technology officer at Fortinet.
“As the speed and scale of cyber threats expands, security must take on its own transformation by integrating into all areas of digital technology and be able to translate user intent into automated business response. FortiOS 6.0 delivers hundreds of new features and capabilities that were designed to provide the broad visibility, integrated threat intelligence and automated response required for digital business.”
According to a Gartner survey, in EMEA, 47% of the CIO respondents have a dedicated digital business team. It also revealed that few of these teams (16%) are made up of IT associates only. “While IT delivery is still a responsibility of the CIO, achieving revenue growth and developing digital transformation were identified most often as top business priorities for organizations in 2018,” according to Gartner.
As companies look to transform everything from their business operating models to service delivery methods, they are adopting technologies such as mobile computing, IoT and multi-cloud networks to achieve business agility, automation and scale. The increasing digital connectedness of organizations is driving the requirement for a security transformation, where security is integrated into applications, devices, and cloud networks to protect business data spread across these complex environments.
The Fortinet Security Fabric is an integrated and automated security framework designed to protect today’s dynamic networks. It provides the broad visibility, integrated detection of advanced threats, and automated response, combined with the continuous trust assessment required to secure today’s digital business.
Available in Q1 2018, the FortiOS 6.0 release provides critical capabilities required to secure the digital attack surface spurred by digital transformation. Some key new features and capabilities across the Security Fabric solution areas include:
Network security
Enhanced SD-WAN path controller measures application transactions for business-critical applications. These granular transactions are key in achieving better application performance for SaaS, VoIP and other business applications with built-in automated fail-over capabilities. New one-touch VPN and zero-touch deployment further reduce complexity and rapidly enable enterprise branches.
Multi-Cloud Security
Expanded Cloud Connectors within the Security Fabric now include visibility of multiple clouds, spanning private cloud connectors (support for VMware NSX, Cisco ACI and Nokia Nuage), public cloud connectors (support for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Oracle Cloud), and SaaS clouds with CASB connectors (support for Salesforce.com, Office 365, Dropbox, Box, AWS and more). These Cloud Connectors enable organizations to have complete visibility of their security posture across all cloud networks to correlate both on and off network traffic through a unified security management console.
FortiCASB 1.2 delivers Fabric integration with AV and ForitCloud Sandbox, extended protection and detection capabilities, as well as shadow IT discovery reporting. Additionally, FortiCASB offers expanded support for AWS to provide advanced compliance, reporting and analysis tools for enhanced visibility and control for AWS users.
IoT Endpoint Security
FortiClient 6.0 will include expanded operating system support for Linux, sharing actionable insight about these systems with the Security Fabric. FortiClient will also provide richer intelligence about all types of endpoints, including the application inventory on each device.
A new Fabric Agent can send telemetry data from the endpoint to the Security Fabric for deeper insight on what is running on a network’s endpoint devices and quickly identify vulnerabilities. It is also certified compatible to work with a range of Fabric-Ready endpoint security partners.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
GDPR regulations in May 2018 will further increase regulatory mandates on global businesses, making automated audit best practices across an enterprise’s security network critical. The new FortiGuard Security Rating Service provides expanded audit rules, customized auditing based on network environments, and on-demand regulatory and compliance reports.
New FortiGuard Virus Outbreak Service (VOS) closes the gap between antivirus updates with FortiCloud Sandbox analysis to detect and stop malware threats discovered between signature updates before they can spread throughout an organisation.
New FortiGuard Content Disarm and Reconstruction Service (CDR) proactively strips potentially malicious content embedded in Microsoft Office and Adobe files to sanitize the most common file formats used to spread malware and help close the opportunity for infection from social engineering or human error.
New FortiGuard Indicators of Compromise (IOC) Service uses a continuously updated list of known bad elements and scans devices connected to the Security Fabric to identify compromised devices for immediate action.
FortiSandbox ATP for Amazon Web Services, available as on-demand and BYOL, allows organizations to defend against advanced threats natively in the cloud, working alongside network, email, endpoint and other security, or as an extension to their on-premises secure architecture.
Email and Web Applications
FortiMail now supports the new FortiGuard VOS and CDR Services. These new services prevent the spread of fast emerging attacks and extract active content to thwart attacks using embedded code execution.
New widgets provide a comprehensive, centralized view of all email and web applications on a network, with advanced threat protection integrated into the apps within the Fabric.
Security Management & Analytics
New Incident Response (IR) lifecycle capabilities across the Security Fabric allow users to automate responses based either on predefined triggers (system events, threat alerts, user and device status) or through direct ITSM integration. Response methods such as quarantine, notifications, configuration adjustments, and custom reports provide organizations with real-time control of their workflow environments.
Automated attack surface hardening feature provides recommendations and trending data on security compliance and best practice adoption, with benchmarking that ranks organizations against similar firms in terms of size, industry and region.
Unified Access
With FortiOS 6.0, integrated security in Fortinet switches and wireless access points enables automation of security response to events, such as quarantine, segment or block, when an infected switch or access point is in violation of a configured policy.