Next Generation Firewall (NGFW)
Businesses are learning the limits of outdated integrated firewall and virtual private network (VPN) solutions when it comes to performance and scalability, especially with today’s remote workforce challenges. Many have already seen firsthand that traditional firewalls simply cannot scale across multiple applications required for secure telework—putting further burden on IT teams to upgrade firewalls or install completely separate appliances to keep pace. Next-generation firewalls (NGFW) must be able to provide performance and advanced capabilities at an agreeable cost—and with the ability to scale to meet future demands of distributed teams.
New Generation Firewalls simplify security complexity and provide visibility into applications, users, and networks. They utilize purpose-built security processing units (SPUs) and threat intelligence services to deliver top-rated security and high-performance threat protection (e.g., intrusion prevention, web filtering, anti-malware, application control) for known attacks. The unknown attacks are detected and prevented by on-premise and cloud-based advanced threat protection solutions.
As part of the broader Fortinet Security Fabric architecture, FortiGate NGFWs leverage automated, policy-based responses to accelerate time to resolution. When a FortiGate NGFW detects an event, it communicates with the Security Fabric, which determines what information will be shared across the enterprise. For example, when malware is detected in one part of the organization, the Security Fabric shares threat intelligence with the rest of the enterprise IT infrastructure. In another instance, when a policy is created for one security solution, the Security Fabric can contextually apply that same policy across other security solutions in the architecture for consistent and coordinated control.
FortiGate NGFWs allow deployment flexibility that can be tailored to the specific security needs of an enterprise that require either running one or more security features like SSL/TLS inspection, IPS, and antivirus individually or concurrently with minimal performance degradation. All deployed FortiGate devices across the organization’s network infrastructure are interconnected via the Security Fabric. This integration provides comprehensive, real-time protection while simplifying deployment and reducing the need for multiple touch points and policies across the enterprise.
