Business & Technology
Fast Security for the Encrypted Internet Edge: FortiGate Mid-Range Network Firewalls
FortiGate Network Firewalls protect the campus at the internet edge.
Securing traffic at today’s internet edge is not easy. Enterprise branches and campuses now access the internet directly, multiplying the amount of vulnerable network edges that must be managed and secured. Making the task even more difficult is that 95% of internet edge traffic is also encrypted, rendering legacy solutions obsolete as they are unable to provide the level of inspection needed without crippling network performance.
At the same time, the ongoing addition of the latest security point products to the network—nearly 30% of enterprises have more than 50 security solutions installed—introduces complexity to IT, multiplying dashboards and ramp-up time for IT teams. Buying more products and services that don’t integrate as part of a platform makes IT a center for sunken costs. How can businesses improve their security posture, reduce complexity, decrease costs, and ultimately deliver seamless user experiences when they spend almost a third of their time building and managing workarounds just to manage their collection of point solutions?
The answer is Fortinet. FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) are the most-deployed security product in the world with over 8 million units shipped globally. They protect enterprises from the branch to the campus, data center, co-location, and cloud. And our new FortiGate mid-range models combine the security performance and value that many organizations have come to expect from Fortinet, with added features designed to help companies manage their latest digital initiatives, whether in retail, industrial fields, healthcare, finance, government, and more.
The recently released FortiGate 600F protects your network in a few crucial ways:
Protecting the Campus Edge
The campus is a big, busy place. These are large buildings that host numerous access points to support lots of users, whether they work for the company or are visiting the site as guests. Campuses also support mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), and (in cases of manufacturing or industrial companies) OT devices.
Though many campuses still employ local hosting and small storage servers, most campuses also connect to data hosted off-site, either in a private data center or across multiple clouds. As a result, IT must examine users and device behavior while inspecting egress traffic and the applications accessed.
FortiGate delivers granular control over applications. In this example, the admin is able to block Google Chat in Gmail, while still allowing the use of Gmail itself.
Success in this area comes down to visibility. FortiGate Network Firewalls come equipped with a purpose-built ASIC SPU architecture built to perform critical security and networking functions at the hardware layer, allowing you to do things like decrypt TLS traffic without a performance impact. As a result, your IT team can see everything at the internet edge and stop threats before they cause organizational damage. FortiGate Network Firewalls also provide detailed information on applications and users, giving IT admins greater control over policies and protections. And finally, FortiGate Network Firewalls deliver the industry’s best threat-protection performance so you can consolidate security point products into one device to improve network performance while lowering management overhead.
FortiGate can also perform several networking functions critical for campus IT.
Convergence: Reducing Security and Networking Product Sprawl
Enterprises are adding digital services every day. The traffic volume and data of these services require high-quality networking, whether switching and routing or wireless access. However, new networking services cannot be added without appropriate protections. Otherwise, the enterprise expands its risk profile along with its attack surface. Instead, networking must always be developed on a firm foundation of security—and Fortinet provides this foundation via multilayered FortiGuard services like IPS, antimalware, DNS, video and URL filtering, along with more advances features like in-line sandbox, in-line CASB, and advanced posture reassessment and enforcement using the industry’s only in-line ZTNA.
The reality is many networking vendors are simply unable to provide the simple, integrated security services today’s networking products require. Often, their networking products cannot fully integrate with security solutions, requiring multiple consoles and ongoing effort to align policies. Some vendors even rely on third-party integrations that can make things overly complicated and introduce unintended security gaps. And in either case, management and licensing are complex, ultimately adding risk along with unnecessary expense to the organization.
Every FortiGate is more than a firewall. It is also a central management console for the variety of networking services that enterprises need, including fully integrated Secure SD-WAN, switching, wireless access, wireless WAN, and more. And every networking and security function is consolidated into a single pane of glass and unified on one FortiOS operating system—there are no complicated acquisitions, faulty integrations, or external parties to add organizational risk.
You can view your campus security rating in your FortiGate dashboard.
Automate Your Security Posture
Securing enterprise networks does not stop at security controls. There must also be ongoing operations, training, and metrics. IT must also enable its security operations center (SOC) with actional information. This must include a continually updated view of its attack surface, areas of improvement, and overall enterprise risk—its security posture.
FortiGate mid-range network firewalls provide excellent campus management and data through the FortiGate dashboard. Admins can see application signatures, users, and devices as well as the network’s overall security rating along with gaps in the overall security architecture. FortiGate also provides a variety of snapshots and reports to share across the organization while allowing deeper technical dives for relevant staff.
And if greater capabilities around automation and management are needed, FortiGate mid-range network firewalls can also be managed via FortiManager.
Visit our page to learn more about Fortinet’s mid-range network firewalls.
Learn more about why we believe Fortinet was named a three-time Gartner® Peer Insights™ Customer's Choice for Network Firewall and a twelve-time Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls.
