Fortinet Recognized as Sole Leader in the Westlands Advisory 2023 IT/OT Network Protection Platform

• 31 Jul 2023
• TM Team
• 0 Comments

Fortinet, the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today 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.

John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer and EVP, Product Strategy at Fortinet, said, “For nearly two decades, organizations 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 recognized by Westlands Advisory, which has named Fortinet the sole leader in its IT/OT Network Protection Platforms Navigator.”

Innovation, Scalability, and Ease of Deployment for OT Organizations

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%) OT professionals, particularly by improving efficiency (67%) and flexibility (68%).

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 ruggedized 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, SEIM, 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.