Fortinet, the global cybersecurity leader powering the convergence of networking and security, has announced updates to its OT security platform, which already stands as the industry’s most comprehensive.
The latest enhancements will offer clients boosted secure networking and security operations (SecOps) capabilities and expand Fortinet’s strategic partnerships with leading OT vendors. The move reflects Fortinet’s commitment to delivering security for the growing cyber-physical systems (CPS) market and its dedication to protecting critical infrastructure in verticals spanning energy, defense, water supply systems, manufacturing, food, transportation, and more.
According to International sources and the Fortinet 2024 State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report, cyberattacks that compromise OT systems are on the rise, with nearly three-fourths (73%) of organizations experiencing an intrusion that impacted either OT systems only or both IT and OT systems (up from 49% in 2023). As an outcome, it’s more critical than ever for organizations in the Kingdom to deploy cybersecurity solutions specifically engineered for OT environments, including critical infrastructure.
John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer at Fortinet stated, “As more operational infrastructure becomes increasingly connected, the attack surface increases, leading to greater cyber risk. Traditional information technology (IT) security tools are ineffective and worse, cannot be deployed in an operational technology (OT) environment. Fortinet has been building an industry-leading OT security platform for over 20 years, and today we are proud to announce many enhancements across the platform.”
New Advanced Capabilities in OT Secure Networking
Industry sources added that Fortinet’s OT security platform now comprises of boosted asset identification and OT network topology in the FortiOS OT View with configurable asset location to improve asset identity, location, and communication pathways. Additionally, Fortinet has expanded its virtual patching capabilities and unveiled the latest capabilities in FortiOS, comprising of the introduction of virtual patching signatures in the FortiGuard OT Security Service, which provides wide-ranging vulnerability protection and unpatched OT asset shielding.
Fortinet has also unveiled two new series of rugged switches: the FortiSwitch Rugged 216F-POE (power over Ethernet) is designed to support bandwidth-intensive industrial environments and redundant architectures, and the FortiSwitch Rugged 424F-POE has features designed to power Industrial-Internet-of-Things (IIoT) devices.
Expanding AI-Driven OT Security Operations Capabilities to Defend Against Growing OT Threats
Industry sources further confirmed that Fortinet’s OT security platform now includes expanded OT capabilities in FortiSOAR, including the introduction of OT View – an IT/OT overview dashboard with OT asset management – and new compliance playbooks to increase OT network and asset visibility and remediation for OT. Additionally, Fortinet has increased analytics and reporting capabilities in FortiAnalyzer by creating NERC CIP, IEC 62443-3-3, and IT/OT Risk reports. An upcoming IoT/IIoT/OT dashboard includes analytics support for Internet-of-Medical-Things (IoMT) to further assist with regulatory compliance and security posture evaluations.
Enhancing Fortinet’s OT Partnerships
Fortinet’s global partner ecosystem creates together organizations with specialized OT expertise to aid clients both globally and in the Kingdom to maximize cyber resiliency and boost operational efficiency. Recent collaborations with Fortinet Alliance partners Armis and Claroty, as part of the Fortinet Open Ecosystem, have unveiled the latest and boosted integrations with FortiManager, FortiSIEM, FortiSOAR, and FortiNAC to maximize actionable OT asset information, simplify OT network operations for customers, and improve customers’ security postures.
