Fortinet Expands Security Solution Portfolio with New FortiGuard™ Web Filtering Service

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - May 10, 2004 - the only provider of ASIC-powered, network-based antivirus firewall systems for real-time network protection - today expanded its solution portfolio with the introduction of the FortiGuard Web Filtering service. Available for deployment on Fortinet's family of FortiGate™ and FortiWiFi™ Antivirus Firewall devices, this new service enables organizations to affordably safeguard their networks from unauthorized Web content. Using an efficient "in the cloud" service model that eliminates the need for local URL database servers, and offered with an attractive "per-box" pricing model, the FortiGuard Web Filtering service provides a powerful, highly cost effective Web filtering solution that helps eliminate the legal liability, regulatory and productivity costs associated with the viewing of unauthorized content.

Distribution and viewing of unauthorized content poses a significant risk for any organization, be it a Fortune 1000 enterprise or a local high school. Governmental regulations such as the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in the United States requires that schools and libraries have in place proper technologies for preventing children from viewing pornography, or risk losing federal funding. For enterprises, monitoring employee Web usage and preventing the viewing of inappropriate and unauthorized Web content has become a necessity, as the legal and financial costs of not doing so can be incredibly high. According to Gartner, non work-related Internet surfing results in up to a 40 percent loss in business productivity. But, a more dangerous and tangible threat to businesses is the legal liability created by the viewing of unauthorized content in the workplace. One major electronics manufacturer fired 40 employees as a result of public viewing of pornography at work, and a major auto manufacturer recently paid $1M USD in fines as a result of a sexual harassment suit brought about by the viewing of certain online content.

The FortiGuard Web Filtering service is an integral part of Fortinet's highly-acclaimed, ASIC-powered FortiGate antivirus firewall product portfolio. Providing Fortinet customers with a broader choice in Web content filtering solutions, the FortiGuard Web Filtering service delivers the following benefits:

• Extensive Coverage - the FortiGuard URL database contains information on over 5 million URLs and is updated continuously. The 80 content categories supported by the FortiGuard database enable highly specific policies to be created to match the needs of individual organizations and users, allowing customers to fine-tune access right of their employees while mitigating risks.
• Efficient, "In-The-Cloud" Delivery Model - rather than requiring servers at each company location, the FortiGuard database is maintained by Fortinet in strategic hosting locations deployed around the world. FortiGate units query the FortiGuard database over the Internet to determine which categories are matched by a particular Web page, and either allow or deny the requested page based on the policy defined for each user. URL ratings are cached by each FortiGate unit, greatly reducing latency and providing performance equivalent to solutions that require a locally hosted database.
• Built-in Logging and Reporting - FortiGate units have a built in graphical user interface (GUI) that shows web page usage by category. FortiGate units also log the requestor, the requested URL, the action taken (allowed/denied), and the content category for each URL request, enabling detailed analysis of Web usage. The service integrates with Fortinet's FortiLog family of integrated logging and reporting systems and is also compatible with third party reporting tools, such as eIQ Networks Firewall Analyzer.
• Continuous Updates - because the service is managed by Fortinet, customers benefit from a comprehensive database of categories and URLs that is updated continuously, in near real time. This ensures timely analysis of new sites and eliminates delays that are incurred by systems that require periodic updates of a local URL database.
• Compatible with Fortinet's Native Web Content Filtering - the FortiGuard service works in concert with the FortiGate unit's built-in Web content filtering capabilities, which scans Web pages for banned keywords and phrases in HTML content, along with malicious scripts and other harmful content even if a page is allowed by the URL database check. This provides an extra level of content-based filtering and ensures that as-yet-unrated but objectionable Web pages can still be detected and stopped.
• Lower Total Cost of Ownership - with the FortiGuard service, organizations eliminate the need for additional server hardware to host onsite Web content filtering solutions. Additionally, the attractive licensing model for the service, which provides an annual subscription for a fixed price per FortiGate model rather than a per-user charge, allows managed security service providers and enterprises to deploy the service at a highly-affordable and predictable cost.

"We have been working with the FortiGuard Web Filtering service for several months now, and the results are very impressive," said Ian Smith, CEO of Matrix Communications PLC, a Fortinet partner in the UK. "The FortiGuard policy configuration is extremely flexible and is integrated seamlessly with the FortiGate management GUI. This allows us to configure very granular policies for our customers. The FortiGuard URL database is quite extensive and Fortinet's FortiGuard team is doing a great job of keeping it current and complete. The FortiGuard offering provides a high quality service at a very attractive price, and we expect to see significant uptake from a wide range of companies and public institutions."

The FortiGuard service is one of the key applications supported by all 13 models in the scalable family of FortiGate and FortiWiFi Antivirus Firewalls. In addition to providing Web content filtering, FortiGate and FortiWiFi systems detect and eliminate the most damaging, content-based threats from email and Web traffic in real-time without degrading network performance. The FortiGate and FortiWiFi systems deliver a full range of security services, including firewall, VPN, intrusion detection and prevention, antivirus protection and traffic shaping in dedicated, easily managed platforms.

"Fortinet is committed to providing our customers with the industry's most complete suite of real-time network protection services," said Richard Kagan, vice president of marketing at Fortinet. "The development of the FortiGuard Web Filtering service is evidence of that commitment and a natural progression of our ability to directly address customer requirements with cost effective, high-performance, easy-to-maintain solutions."

Pricing and Availability
The FortiGuard service supports FortiGate and FortiWiFi systems running FortiOS version 2.8, and will be available for general release in Q2 2004. Pricing is available from Fortinet's worldwide network of authorized channel partners. For more information on the FortiGuard Web Filtering service and other Fortinet solutions, please visit: www.fortinet.com/products

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)
Fortinet's award-winning FortiGate™ series of ASIC-accelerated antivirus firewalls, winner of the 2004 Security Product of the Year Award from Network Computing Magazine and the 2003 Networking Industry Awards Firewall Product of the Year, are the new generation of real-time network protection systems. They detect and eliminate the most damaging, content-based threats from e-mail and Web traffic such as viruses, worms, intrusions, inappropriate Web content and more in real time - without degrading network performance. FortiGate systems are the only security products that are quadruple-certified by the ICSA (antivirus, firewall, IPSec, NIDS), and deliver a full range of network-level and application-level services in integrated, easily managed platforms. Named to the Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies, Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.