Fortinet Strengthens OT Network Security Protection

“It’s becoming increasingly important to understand what each OT device is, what it does, how it’s connected and what it can communicate with. (The new features) enable a more efficient NAC strategy and micro-segmentation,” Maddison said. “They also enable virtual patching to protect against urgent vulnerabilities.”

Fortinet has also increased visibility into OT assets with its FortiSOAR Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response platform to help customers manage OT assets more efficiently. Improved analytics and network behavior analysis are also part of the platform enhancements.

Finally, the new FortiDeceptor-as-a-Service option extends the deception capabilities for OT and IoT to more devices and protocols, simplifying deployments for users, Maddison said. FortiDeceptor DaaS creates and deploys decoy systems that mimic real assets on the network. By creating decoy assets that attract attackers, customers can identify and analyze their behavior without compromising real systems. The platform provides detailed information about attacker activity, helping companies design countermeasures.

New switches and takeover

On the hardware side, the company has added two new switches: the 24-port FortiSwitch Rugged 216F-POE (Power over Ethernet), which is intended to support high-bandwidth industrial network connections, and the FortiSwitch Rugged 424F-POE, which is intended to improve the connectivity of industrial IoT devices.

In related Fortinet news, the vendor said it has acquired enterprise data loss prevention (DLP) player Next DLP and is rolling out the technology to its SASE/SSE suite, as well as integrating additional data protection and insider risk capabilities across the Fortinet Security Fabric. Next DLP’s technology specializes in determining insider threat risk and tracking potentially stolen insider data.