What is Fortinet?

Have you ever heard of Fortinet? What about next-gen firewalls? If you haven’t, now is a great time to learn.

Next-gen firewalls have existed since the mid-2000s, and they have continued to evolve as cyberthreats have levelled up in frequency and sophistication. As a result of this digital arms race, next-gen firewalls have become much more complex than when they were created. They’ve gone through various evolutions as vendors have created tighter security ecosystems.

One of those vendors is Fortinet. Fortinet is known for its firewall, but like other network product vendors, they have grown to include a full product line of network equipment. That network equipment creates a complete data security ecosystem. So, let’s discuss what Fortinet is and what Fortinet does.

What is Fortinet?

When most people think of Fortinet, they think of firewalls. Fortinet earned its name in the IT industry through security. Fortinet is so much more than a firewall, though. Fortinet is a security ecosystem. Fortinet is a business much like Cisco, and much like Cisco, Fortinet provides a variety of different products. Only one of those products is a firewall.

Though Fortinet offers each of its products individually, it likes to demonstrate its security products working as a tightly integrated ecosystem. It’s not a coincidence that Fortinet’s next-generation firewall launched roughly around the same time Fortinet introduced its wireless products.

Fortinet realized early that it needed to power the IT ecosystem from the bottom up to control every aspect of network and cybersecurity. Fortinet sales reps let CIOs connect those dots, though.

For instance, Fortinet understood that they could create the best next-gen firewall on the market (even creating specialized ASIC cores designed for deep packet inspection). Still, that firewall doesn’t mean anything if networks contain other intrusion points.

For instance, wireless access points can be used as intrusion vectors that bypass the firewall, and 5G radio towers can be used in the same way. Both types of wireless access can be used as direct attack vectors onto a network, so Fortinet created wireless products to control those types of attack vectors.

Fortinet has other tricks up its sleeves. The company decided against a closed ecosystem early on. They realized the power of combining other services with theirs. They also learned that the cloud would play a significant role in the enterprise IT infrastructure.

With that in mind, the Fortinet ecosystem can plug into other services and clouds. For instance, Fortinet can interface with other cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Data and security events can flow both to and from those cloud providers, and Fortinet supports multi-cloud security management features.

This integration gives you centralized, automated security management over multiple cloud platforms through FortiCNAPP. You get threat detection and compliance management across all the major cloud providers, which gives you a unified view of your current online assets.

That last sentence is significant. Data can flow both to and from providers. Fortinet uses RESTful and responsive APIs. Data is bidirectional, unlike other products that only offer one-way data. That means that the Fortinet ecosystem can send data out and also receive data to act on it.

Fortinet can interface with other services, too. For example, IT teams use an app called ServiceNow. ServiceNow is a ticket and resource tracking system. IT teams use ServiceNow to track issues and projects within an organization. Because Fortinet interfaces with ServiceNow, Fortinet can create actionable items for humans to inspect when Fortinet sees a problem.

Fortinet also integrates with SIEM products like Splunk and Microsoft Sentinel, and it also connects with security orchestration tools that automate threat response.

Still, Fortinet is known for its firewall. All of these other products make the Fortinet firewall much more robust. With the added benefits of connecting with third-party cloud providers, the firewall sitting on the network’s border suddenly becomes much more powerful.

Fortinet Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Fortinet and other firewall vendors?

Fortinet focuses on creating an integrated security ecosystem where all of its products work well together. Its strength is in how its firewalls and software platforms automatically share threat intelligence with one another.

Do I need all Fortinet products to get value from their firewall?

No. Fortinet firewalls work well as standalone devices, but you'll get better threat detection and automated response when you use multiple Fortinet products in their Security Fabric ecosystem.

Is Fortinet suitable for small businesses or just enterprises?

Fortinet offers solutions that work for all business sizes. They have entry-level FortiGate firewalls for small offices, and enterprise-grade solutions for large organizations.

How does Fortinet handle cloud security?

Fortinet has its own cloud-native security tools and it also integrates with major cloud providers. Their FortiCNAPP platform gives you centralized security management with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform from a single dashboard.

What certifications should I pursue for Fortinet skills?

Start with the Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) certifications. NSE 4 covers FortiGate security, and higher levels go into advanced topics like SD-WAN and cloud security.

What is a Next-Gen Firewall?

Firewalls started with access control lists (ACLs). ACLs worked well enough for basic security, and they were a reliable way to block unwanted traffic, but managing them was difficult and very time-consuming.

You see, access lists work by knowing what you need to block in advance. Access lists block specific URIs, ports, IP ranges, or services. For instance, if you want to block all traffic from www.bad-website.com, your access lists need to say that explicitly. Likewise, if you’re going to allow all data coming through port 443 on your network, that needs to be defined, too.

So, after years of wrestling with ACLs and manually managing entries, next-gen firewalls arrived to save the day. How do they work?

Next-gen firewalls have intelligence built in, allowing them to perform most security and administrative daily tasks automatically. This is a huge step up from the basic packet filtering features that traditional firewalls could only muster. 

They can do much more than just deep packet inspection. Modern NGFWs use AI technology to drive threat detection, which allows them to spot ransomware, supply chain attacks, and IoT vulnerabilities in real time. They can inspect encrypted traffic and support zero-trust network architectures for enhanced security. The AI component allows NGFWs to autonomously allow or block traffic based on their rule set. 

Final Thoughts

If you've never worked with Fortinet products, now is a great time to learn them. Fortinet competes directly with Palo Alto Networks, Cisco Secure, and Check Point in the enterprise security space. There's a good chance you'll encounter their products in your career.

As discussed, when you hear Fortinet, most IT techs typically think of firewalls. However, Fortinet is designed to use all of its products to control the entire security landscape. Again, it’s an ecosystem thing.

Think of it this way. Apple encourages customers to own all Apple products. When you start combining Apple products, you gain access to amazing features. For instance, an Apple Watch can be used to unlock a MacBook.

Fortinet products do that for the internal security machine. In addition, Fortinet can offer more advanced security measures by controlling everything from wireless access to firewalls and switches.

Want hands-on Fortinet skills? Employers running FortiGate at scale need certified admins. CBT Nuggets Trainer Keith Barker's FortiManager 7.6 Administrator course prepares you for the FCP exam and gives you the real-world skills to stand out in security roles.