Fortinet enhances OT security platform to combat rising cyber risks

Fortinet, a global cybersecurity leader, has announced enhancements to its existing operational technology (OT) security platform.

The updates aim to provide customers with improved secure networking and security operations capabilities. These advancements also strengthen Fortinet's collaborations with leading OT vendors, highlighting the company's commitment to protecting critical infrastructure across various sectors such as energy, defence, water supply systems, manufacturing, food, and transportation.

John Maddison, the chief marketing officer for Fortinet, emphasised the increasing cyber risks faced by operational infrastructure. "As more operational infrastructure becomes connected, the attack surface increases, leading to greater cyber risk," he stated. Maddison pointed out that traditional IT security tools are not viable in OT environments and underlined Fortinet's long-standing expertise, saying, "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."

The improvements to the platform include new ruggedised appliances and advanced features to bolster OT secure networking. Among these updates is the enhanced asset identification and network topology provided through FortiOS OT View, which aims to improve asset identities and communication pathways. New virtual patching signatures in FortiGuard OT Security Service are also introduced for broader vulnerability protection and shielding of unpatched OT assets.

Additionally, Fortinet launched two new series of rugged switches: the FortiSwitch Rugged 216F-POE and FortiSwitch Rugged 424F-POE. The former is designed for bandwidth-intensive industrial environments and redundant architectures, while the latter powers Industrial-Internet-of-Things (IIoT) devices. The FortiExtender Vehicle update has also been introduced to support fleet management in harsh environmental conditions, enabling secure local area network extension from remote FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls.

In the realm of security operations, Fortinet has expanded the capabilities of FortiSOAR to include an IT/OT overview dashboard and new compliance playbooks. This expansion aims to increase visibility and remediation for OT networks and assets. FortiAnalyzer's analytics and reporting capabilities have been heightened, and the platform now supports IoT/IIoT/OT dashboards for improved regulatory compliance and security evaluations. Furthermore, FortiNDR for OT provides network behaviour analysis to detect known and unknown threats, while FortiDeceptor-as-a-Service offers expanded deception for OT and IoT devices to streamline user experiences.

Fortinet's strategic partnerships with Armis and Claroty have also been strengthened. Nadir Izrael, co-founder and chief technology officer of Armis, remarked, "Being a partner in Fortinet's industry-leading Fabric-Ready Alliance Program enables Armis to deepen the integrations between the Armis Centrix platform and the Fortinet Security Fabric. Together, we co-innovate to address our customers' most consequential cyber risks in OT and enable protection at scale."

Claroty has similarly expanded its collaboration with Fortinet. Stephan Goldberg, vice president of business development at Claroty, highlighted the benefits of this partnership, stating, "Claroty xDome combined with the Fortinet Security Fabric delivers a level of visibility, context, and network policy enforcement that is unmatched in securing cyber-physical systems. As a partner in Fortinet's Open Ecosystem, we're able to drive key integrations that harness these capabilities to deliver a faster time to value for our customers."

Customer feedback also appeared positive. Dustin Fischer, director of IT at Wunderlich-Malec Engineering, said, "With Fortinet, we centralised everything and brought all the management information we need into a single pane of glass." He added that the system's efficiency helps his team quickly identify network issues without the need for additional staff.

Chad Logan, senior director of IT and applications at McPherson Companies, commented on the operational benefits, stating, "The [Fortinet Security] Fabric allows us to operate a lean team as we do not need a large staff to manage our security and network infrastructure. It drives efficiency through a single-pane-of-glass approach to device management and the ability to centrally configure policies."

Fortinet's OT security platform continues to evolve, aiming to address the increasing cyber threats faced by critical infrastructure globally.