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Network security: Enterprise in scope, personal in delivery

Network security: Enterprise in scope, personal in delivery

The Fortinet Security Brand Posts are a series of hard-hitting discussions of trends in the cyber-security world. This month Fortinet’s Jon McGettigan talks about protecting enterprises and individuals via Fortinet’s Security Fabric.

Jon McGettigan, Senior Regional Director, Fortinet ANZ

The security requirements of the enterprise and the individual user are closely aligned: Ease-of-use, interoperability across multiple devices and adaptable to evolving operations. Security should be seen as a business enabler, not an inhibiter. Indeed, with the pace of digital transformation gaining speed globally, in Australia, inside the enterprise and at the personal level, building security into every network operation for every user transaction is an imperative.

Security should be seamless from the user perspective. Regardless of which device, where they access and what they do online, users want to be assured of a safe, fast, and robust experience. This is equally true for the finance team, school administrators, remote workers, parents and every other on-line user. People want to be protected.

Delivering seamless security at the personal level requires carrier-grade infrastructure at the enterprise level. The sheer volume of online transactions and the diversity amongst users, devices and applications means that individual point security, even the so-called best-of-breed products, cannot possibly keep pace with developments.

Digital business opportunities

Trends such as SD-WAN (software-defined wide area networks), OT (operational technology), multi-cloud architecture, 5G and DevOps (development/operations) are redefining the way enterprises deliver network-based services to users. It is incumbent upon the security vendor to adapt their solution sets so that enterprises can take advantage of new technologies and digital business opportunities without compromising their security posture.

This requires an integrated, comprehensive and future-proofed security fabric that drapes over the entire network topology, regardless of where, what or how. One that is adaptable to respond to real-time threat intelligence. One that is seamless for the user. And one that is manageable for the IT team in respect to complexity, transparency and operations.

Transparency for the individual

Exactly how this protection is applied is of no consequence to the user…as long as it ensures a secure session without any apparent latency. Users shouldn’t have to worry about settings, malware, DDoS attacks or hackers. They have jobs to do and lives to live. Connectivity is becoming an absolute requirement. And they need secure network access in order to fully participate.

But providing unobtrusive yet comprehensive protection is not a trivial undertaking. Indeed, the easier it is for the user, the more complex it becomes for the IT team. Too complex, in fact, for humans. Innovation such as AI (artificial intelligence) and automated operations, orchestration and response are necessary to effectively deliver seamless security. These technologies, which combine network and security centre operations, automate many routine tasks and make overall management less onerous for the IT team.

Managed services for OpEx security

And, one step further, managed service providers and telcos are finding that the security fabric can be scaled up to provide seamless protection to multiple enterprises, multi-cloud environments and multi-edge architectures. With these comprehensive security offerings from telcos and MSPs, enterprises now have the option of implementing carrier-grade security right down to the individual with a Security as a Service (SaaS) model. Indeed, enterprises can ‘subscribe’ to security hardware, engineering, monitoring and management as an operational expense and pay a single monthly bill to a single provider. This frees up the IT team so that they can support users and mission-critical applications.

Conclusion

The pathway to enterprise-wide security starts with the user. If the user is protected as they go about their day-to-day business, the enterprise will be secured as well. Security is only as good as the weakest link. Any gaps in the defence can have catastrophic consequences.

Similarly, enterprise-wide security requires comprehensive protection for all nodes on the network and all network edges. Again, any gaps will be found out and exploited.

Fortinet, with their comprehensive Security Fabric, is the only security vendor on the market that has the solutions, Australian support teams and the delivery and deployment options in place to provide the necessary infrastructure to protect everyone across the enterprise. Regardless of whether your enterprise installs the Security Fabric in-house, subscribes to the Security Fabric as an operational expense or employs a hybrid model, users, applications, data and devices will be protected.

About Fortinet

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organisations around the world. Fortinet empowers its customers with intelligent, seamless protection across the expanding attack surface and the power to take on ever-increasing performance requirements of the borderless network - today and into the future. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric architecture can deliver security without compromise to address the most critical security challenges, whether in networked, application, cloud or mobile environments. Fortinet ranks #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 375,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Learn more at http://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.

For more Brand Posts in the Fortinet Security Insight series, click here



About the author

A leading provider of fast and secure cyber security solutions offers enterprise-level next generation firewalls and vast array of network security products. Visit https://www.fortinet.com/ for more information.
A leading provider of fast and secure cyber security solutions offers enterprise-level next generation firewalls and vast array of network security products. Visit https://www.fortinet.com/ for more information.

Jon McGettigan is Fortinet’s Senior Regional Director, ANZ. As such, he is responsible for driving Fortinet’s continued expansion in the Australasian region through building and maintaining relationships with enterprises, partners and staff. As a senior executive, he understands the risks, motivations and opportunities that face executives as they transform their networks into 21st century revenue centres.


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Tags Information Technologydenial-of-serviceInternet of Things (IoT)operational riskreputation riskinvestment risk

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