John Maddison, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, product strategy, Fortinet, said, “For nearly two decades, organisations worldwide have trusted Fortinet to secure industrial environments and meet the operational and regulatory requirements of operational technology (OT) networks. We’re pleased that our continued innovation and investment in OT security has been recognised by Westlands Advisory, which has named Fortinet the sole leader in its IT/OT Network Protection Platforms Navigator.”

News summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, has announced that Westlands Advisory, a leading OT security industry analysis and strategy firm, has named Fortinet as the sole Leader in the 2023 IT/OT Network Protection Platforms Navigator.

Fortinet is the only vendor that achieved Leader status in the IT/OT Network Protection Platforms Navigator, which highlights the company’s OT network and security experience. The company continues to support customers with its continued investments in product development and in building an OT-Aware Security Fabric, which enables multiple technologies to work together across IT and OT environments with shared threat intelligence and simplified management that offers full visibility across the attack surface.

Innovation, scalability, and ease of deployment for OT organisations

Westlands Advisory points out that a key Fortinet strength is “its ability to provide security solutions across the entire Purdue model from sensor to cloud. Industry partners and customers often cite Fortinet’s solutions as easy to deploy, use, and scale.”

This recognition from Westlands Advisory reinforces Fortinet’s commitment to OT security, which is one of the company’s top priorities. Over the last year, Fortinet has increased its market share in the OT market and is now one of the fastest-growing OT vendors on track to meet its goal of being number one in OT security. As Westlands Advisory notes, Fortinet’s “OT business has grown strongly, outpacing average market growth, due to increased investment in products, staff, and the sales and marketing operations.”

Benefits and risks of IT/OT network convergence

IT and OT networks have traditionally been kept separate but are increasingly being integrated to meet business goals such as improving productivity and reducing costs. However, interconnecting IT and OT environments also increases risk. By targeting IT networks, cybercriminals often can gain access to OT systems. Attacks on power grids, shipping lines, manufacturing plants, and other facilities are steadily increasing. But according to the 2023 Fortinet State of Operational Technology and Cybersecurity Report, cybersecurity solutions continue to aid in the success of most (76 per cent) OT professionals, particularly by improving efficiency (67 per cent) and flexibility (68 per cent).

In the Industrial Cybersecurity Outlook section, Westlands Advisory suggests that security leaders “transition to a platform approach to cybersecurity to achieve unified visibility across their assets and to implement and manage security policies and procedures across OT environments.”

Security and services specifically designed for OT networks

To address the customer challenges related to managing threats and vulnerabilities, Fortinet takes a platform approach to OT using the Fortinet OT-Aware Security Fabric. This portfolio of cybersecurity products, solutions, and security services is designed specifically for industrial networks, extending the Fortinet Security Fabric capabilities to OT networks in factories, plants, remote locations, ships, and other operational technology environments.

The OT-centric features and products in the OT-Aware Security Fabric include:

• secure networking, using FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall, FortiNAC, and FortiSwitch for OT, including ruggedised hardware for harsh environments
• threat intelligence through OT and IoT security services and inline sandbox
• zero-trust access with FortiPAM secure remote access
• security operations, using FortiDeceptor; FortiEDR; FortiNDR; FortiAnalyzer; security event and incident management (SEIM); security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR); and professional services for OT
• an open ecosystem of alliances and integrations with leading OT technology vendors.

The OT-Aware Security Fabric seamlessly provides security for converged IT/OT ecosystems to mitigate cyber and production risk for industrial and cyber-physical system companies.

Additional resources

• Download the Westlands Advisory 2023 IT/OT Network Protection Platforms Navigator and read the blog post.
• Learn more about Fortinet OT solutions.
• Learn about Fortinet’s free cybersecurity training, which includes broad cyber awareness and product training. As part of the Fortinet Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), the Fortinet Training Institute also provides training and certification through the Network Security Expert (NSE) certification, Academic Partner, and Education Outreach programs.
• Learn more about FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence and research and outbreak alerts, which provide timely steps to mitigate breaking cybersecurity attacks.
• Learn more about Fortinet’s FortiGuard security services portfolio.
• Read about how Fortinet customers are securing their organisations.
• Follow Fortinet on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Subscribe to Fortinet on our blog or YouTube.

About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet’s solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organisation, develops and utilises leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet blog, and FortiGuard Labs.

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