Traditional Firewalls are dimming down: Next Generation Firewalls from Fortinet are shedding a bright light on network security.

The integrated Anti-virus and Anti-malware use a signature-based database. This means that when a virus or type of malware is known to Fortinet, it is also recognised by the FortiGate. This keeps you protected against both old and new viruses and malware. The firewall will also start recognising patterns, allowing it to make its own associations with modified versions of viruses and malware. In addition, Fortinet is a partner of the Cyber Threat Alliance. That is an organisation with several companies specialising in cybersecurity such as: Cisco, Avast, McAfee and Palo Alto. They team up to identify and prevent cyber attacks. This way, the database stays up-to-date and you are assured of high-quality security.

The Intrusion Prevention System also leverages a signature-based database. So all known intrusions that are in the database will be repelled. This technique is designed to detect and stop network intrusions. Thus, the security of your corporate network is not compromised and data is not stolen.

URL filtering allows you to allow or block websites by setting up ‘whitelists’ or ‘blacklists’. Managing applications within web environments is also possible with the integrated Application Control. An example of this would be having access to Facebook, but no access to a particular game on Facebook such as Tetris or Farmville.

SSL or Secure Sockets Layer filtering is a standard feature of Fortigate. It is a technique that ensures that HTTPS websites can also be identified. Cunning hackers create malware websites with HTTPS to trick visitors into thinking the websites are secure. With this web-filtering, you protect your corporate network from smarter hackers.

With the built-in SD-WAN functionality, you can, for instance, perform Failover and Load Balancing on your network. For failover, you define a rule by which WAN 1 is primary and WAN 2 will take over in case WAN 1 fails. That way, you ensure that your network continues to work if one of the connections fails. With Load Balancing, you distribute the load on the network. Configuring SD-WAN correctly is essential.

With Fortinet, you also manage and secure all your organisation’s dataflows. If someone requests data, the data stream will be inspected by Fortigate. A deviation can then be made to a Fortisandbox (FSA) so that these packets can be sent to FSA. FSA will first check this data for malware and viruses by using a large database. Although the security of a Fortigate is very strong, hackers also use advanced attacks such as zero-day attacks. These types of attacks are carried out by professional hackers and usually target a company or organisation. With FortiSandbox, you use sandbox technology that allows you to identify zero-day attacks. Because the code is tested in an isolated environment first, you prevent it from ending up on your network.

A key component of FortiSandbox is Content Pattern Recognition Language (CPRL). This technique checks code for anomalies that may indicate a zero-day attack. Hackers often use evasion techniques. CPRL is good at recognising these techniques so that such attacks are detected.

Plenty of malware and viruses are spread via e-mail. FortiMail uses “store and forward” techniques. As a result, URLs, attachments and all active content of an e-mail are first checked by FortiSandbox. The mail is stored and inspected before it is delivered to the recipient. The mail is sent only if it is secure.

Fortiguard is the heart of Fortinet. It communicates with all Fortinet appliances in the world. If a virus is detected in America, it will be registered in Fortiguard. That means it ends up in a signature-based database so that other Fortinet appliances can identify the same malware or virus.