Protecting your clients in a hyperconnected world

Hyperconnectivity. It's today's latest buzzword.

Your client's networks are no longer constrained by physical boundaries - they are evolving from traditional, point-to-point connections between controlled devices into a highly-meshed network of networks that can be based virtually anywhere.

And it's not just the physical infrastructure that is nomadic. Data and applications are also stateless. They can be housed anywhere and mixed and matched on demand so that client organisations can add value by accessing, connecting, correlating and distributing data.

But as networks become more decentralised, protecting data, applications and users becomes more challenging. Fortinet's Security Fabric – anchored by FortiGate Next Generation Firewalls – ensures that your clients can safely navigate their cloud-based information and operational assets in a safe and secure environment, regardless of where these assets are physically housed.

The Fortinet Security Fabric is the first security architectural approach designed to see and respond to sophisticated threats, automatically adapt to distributed and changing networks and provide the power needed to keep up with growing volumes of data, changing user requirements and the demands of today's increasingly hyperconnected networks.

"We're seeing the market catching up to Fortinet's vision for securing the future," says Andrew Khan, Fortinet Senior Business Manager at Ingram Micro, New Zealand's largest distributor of Fortinet's cyber security solutions.

"The growing reliance on the cloud as an enabler means that traditional security solutions are no longer able to keep pace. Hyperconnectivity means that any time one component of the extended network, application set or data asset is modified the ramifications reverberate across all nodes. The 'butterfly effect' (chaos theory) is here and now and mandating a new approach to pervasive security.

Granular visibility

Fortunately, every single key-stroke everywhere leaves a trail. In physical science, the goal is to model reality to identify patterns and predict future performance. For hyperconnected networks, there is no need to model reality – by aggregation and dis-aggregation network managers can see exactly what is going on at any time. If they have the right sensors. And that's exactly what the Fortinet security fabric provides – granular transparency into network activity, application usage and data lineage from a single pane-of-glass dashboard.

"It's mind-boggling to read about hacks where crooks can upload terabytes of data and nobody notices until the goods are auctioned off on the dark web," notes Khan. "If they were paying attention, they'd immediately see any unauthorised activity and shut it down. But if they can't see it, they can't stop it.

This is exactly what Fortinet's security fabric provides, the capability for security functions to collaborate with each other, collect and share critical information and automatically synchronise threat responses anywhere across the hyperconnected network. The security fabric recognises network changes, anticipates threats and automatically responds.

Fortinet anticipated hyperconnectivity years ago and designed highly integrated and interoperable security solutions that could perform regardless of physical location. The Fortinet Security Fabric was also specifically planned and designed to enable a layered and collaborative defence for distributed assets. It combines next-generation detection and response systems, intelligent network segmentation and granular transparency into a unified framework.

Network, application and data sovereignty

All well and good as long as hyperconnectivity network providers play by the rules. We're fortunate in NZ because we have privacy laws and network providers and data centers operate above board. But overseas there could be difficulty as state entities can mandate 'back-doors' into traffic that passes through their territory.

So the flip side of hyperconnectivity is that the more distributed the assets, the more opportunities for mischief. However, barring a state-sponsored 'force majeure' event overseas, NZ enterprises can protect their networks, application, data and, ultimately, business continuity with confidence. Security automation is the solution and Fortinet's security fabric delivers what they need.

Andrew Khan, Senior Business Manager Email: andrew.khan@ingrammicro.com M: 021 819 793

James Meuli, Solutions Architect Email: james.meuli@ingrammicro.com P: 09 414 9350 / 027 552 0167

Hugo Hutchinson, Business Development Manager Email: hugo.hutchinson@ingrammicro.com P: 09 414 0261 | M: 021 245 8276