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Fortinet ups the ante with updated cybersecurity operating system
Tue, 16th Feb 2016
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Fortinet has announced updates to its FortiOS cybersecurity operating system. According to the company, FortiOS 5.4 enables deployment of internal segmentation, secure access, and includes new features for control and visibility.

One cybersecurity operating system for the entire attack cycle

According to Gartner, 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30% from 2015, and reach 20.8 billion by 2020. Fortinet says this exponentially expands the attack surface and security challenges faced by enterprises.

In response to this, with the latest configuration, analytic capabilities and assisted one-click actions in FortiOS 5.4, enterprises can implement internal segmentation firewalls (ISFW) and Secure Access Architecture to achieve stronger layered security strategies, as opposed to traditional perimeter defence, the company says.

“Organisations are facing an increasingly hostile threat landscape with new and highly sophisticated threats emerging every day. Combating these attacks requires security solutions that can deliver true network segmentation without compromising network performance,” says Michael Xie, Fortinet founder, president and CTO.

“FortiOS 5.4 delivers new features that empower organisations to implement internal segmentation strategies that isolate and remediate malware should it make it past the perimeter,” he says.

FortiOS 5.4 also introduces a new Mobile Malware subscription service from FortiGuard Labs.

According to Fortinet, the rise in mobile device usage within the enterprise shows no signs of slowing down and has made these devices a prime target for cyber criminals.

Leveraging FortiGuard Labs' threat intelligence, FortiOS receives a constant feed of mobile-specific intelligence to aid with automated protection against emerging threats targeting platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows.

On top of this, FortiOS 5.4 includes:

New Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Integration: Integration with Fortinet's ATP framework of services including FortiClient, FortiMail, FortiSandbox and FortiWeb to enable automated threat intelligence sharing with one-click mitigation of threats attacking the network directly, or through all major attack vectors.

Single User Interface (UI): A single UI to provide administrators with a birds-eye-view of the network for control and visibility across the Fortinet product line while incorporating deep analytics.

New FortiHeartbeat Communication: Detailed visualisations of network topologies, arming CSOs with the data and analysis they need to implement end-to-end policies and engineer architecture designs like ISFW.

Incident Response: Automated detection and one-click response actions - such as quarantine device, block source and more - to enable response teams to efficiently identify and respond to threats while delivering reduced time to resolution.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) Integration: Controls for leading SDN solutions including VMware NSX and Cisco ACI.

FortiOS version 5.4 is available immediately. Current customers can update their products manually or reach out to their Fortinet customer service representative.