Tag: sd-wan

Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment for SD-WAN, FortiGate, & FortiMail

The Cyber Threat Assessment Program

There are exactly two ways to test your network’s security against cyber threats: run validation testing to assess precisely how your network performs or wait for the real thing to happen and draw conclusions while you’re picking up the pieces in the aftermath. While trial-by-fire is certainly a conclusive way to assess your network security, Firewalls.com strongly recommends the former option. Fortinet’s Cyber Threat Assessment Program is a convenient and non-intrusive process that lets you see where your network stands without interrupting day-to-day operations.

The assessment is free of charge, requires little to no legwork on your part, and yields results in just over a week. Check out the infographic below to see how it works, or listen to our recent podcast episode where we discuss Cyber Threat Assessments with Fortinet’s Ben Bolen.

See How Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN Can Save You Time & Money

Been curious about SD-WAN? The very same process described in the infographic above can be used for an SD-WAN assessment as well! Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN allows for high-speed application performance at the WAN edge, intelligently determining the ideal routes for MPLS, 3G/4G, or broadband traffic. Since traditional WAN architectures are not equipped to accommodate the high-demand workloads modern organizations who may be using applications spanning multiple cloud environments. Now you’re one FREE assessment away from seeing exactly how Secure SD-WAN can transform your network.

 

What Information Is Included In CTAP Report?

The Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment focuses on three key areas: Security, User Productivity, & Network Utilization.

  • Security: Details network vulnerabilities and helps to identify which devices and applications are at an elevated risk so that they can be properly secured. In this section of the report you’ll get to see which vulnerabilities and threats were observed bypassing your existing security solutions.
  • User Productivity: Provides extensive visibility into peer-to-peer, messaging, and other application usage to see how users are using your network in their daily work. In this section you’ll see how spam, newsletters, and other cyber nuisances impact how your users navigate the network.
  • Utilization: Provides real-world numbers about throughput and bandwidth usage during peak traffic. In this section, you’ll get to see when your network resources are needed most and where waste can be eliminated.

No Risk, No Extra Work, No Commitments

The infographic above outlines the basic process for receiving, setting up, and reviewing your results. At no point in the process are you required to make any purchases, change any settings, or meet any deadlines. Fortinet’s Cyber Threat Assessment is a risk-free program that requires no more extra work than plugging in a cord. If at any point you decide you want to end the test, pull the cord back out! That’s it. No money changes hands, no contracts are signed, and no network settings are changed. If you want to dump your final assessment in the trash, no problem. The report is yours to use as you see fit.

Ready For Your Free Assessment?

Getting your Cyber Threat Assessment is as easy as filling out a form on our Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment Program page. Leave us your contact info and Firewalls.com will work behind the scenes to get a test set up for you. We work closely with Fortinet to make sure the test requires as little effort on your part is possible.

 

FortiGate 40F – Secure SD-WAN for the Small Business

FortiGate 40F – Secure SD-WAN for the Small Business

Compact. Fanless. Affordable. Secure. The new FortiGate 40F from Fortinet hits all the marks when it comes to arming small businesses and branch offices with the fast, secure access necessary in 2020. Fortinet is an industry standout in the SD-WAN arena thanks to their innovative SoC4 SD-WAN ASIC processor. You may recognize this mighty, mini-sized processor from Fortinet’s other recent additions: the FortiGate 100F & FortiGate 60F. Fortinet’s best-of-breed SD-WAN allows for intelligent application steering, scalable VPN capabilities, and other advanced networking capabilities.

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The best part? While boasting all of the SD-WAN capabilities of its larger cousins, the tiny FortiGate 40F also reaches maximum throughput speeds up to 5.0 Gbps. For an appliance built with small offices in mind, those speeds are insane!

Learn more in our 40F feature review video:

FortiGate 40F Spec Snapshot

FortiGate 40F with Secure SD-WAN

Fortinet FortiGate 40F

Max Firewall Throughput: 5.0 Gbps

Threat Protection Throughput: 600 Mbps

Network Interface Ports: Multiple GE RJ45

Maximum Connections (TCP): 700,000

New Connections/Second (TCP): 35,000

Maximum Supported Wireless Access Points: 10/5 (Total/Tunnel Mode)

Hardware-Only MSRP: $495

 

“Do-It-Yourself” SD-WAN Deployments

Fortinet makes life for small business owners easy. All FortiGate Secure SD-WAN appliances are easily managed through Fortinet’s Security Fabric in the Fabric Management Center. Paired with zero touch deployment, the FG-40F is user friendly even for businesses with limited IT staff, letting you skip a burdensome manual configuration.

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Looking for More Small Business Solutions from Fortinet?

Our website is now bursting with Fortinet network security options for you to shop!

Shop FortiGate Firewalls if you’re looking for enterprise-grade protection at SMB prices.

Extend fast, secure WiFi with Fortinet’s FortiAP access points with integrated WLAN controllers.

Future-proof your setup with secure, scalable FortiSwitch Network Switches.

Or browse all of our Fortinet products to find the perfect solution for your unique network needs.

4 Things to Consider Before an SD-WAN Migration

Just about any Google search for the phrase “SD-WAN” will turn up an overabundance of articles explaining why replacing traditional MPLS with SD-WAN solutions can save you time and money.  Heck, we even published a podcast about it. There is certainly no shortage of elevator pitches pointing you toward SD-WAN (also known as a software-defined wide area network); however, like all things in life, there is far more to the process than “just doing it.” Keep reading and we’ll lay out four key considerations to account for before any SD-WAN migration.

1 – Take Inventory

Your first step should be taking an accurate inventory of all of the locations, connections, and applications using your network. Categorize these locations by requirements. Do they rely on extremely high availability? What requirements are there for factors such a packet loss and jitter? Consider also the costs that each piece of the puzzle will require. All of these factors figure into what your business’s path to SD-WAN looks like.

Forming a highly detailed network diagram should be a priority. Knowing your WAN–including physical locations of devices and the layout of your LAN (local area network)–is crucial. Individual locations may require unique services, bandwidth, or traffic considerations. You will likely be sharing this network diagram with any third-party vendors you work with, ISPs, and your IT team so that all parties participating in the migration have a comprehensive understand of your needs. Firewalls.com always recommends that you leave plenty of wiggle room in your systems to accommodate for growth. With so many applications increasingly re-homing in the cloud, you should absolutely plan for the future of your SD-WAN solution to be able to accommodate them in the coming years.

2 – Determine What the Roll-Out Will Look Like

The second consideration is how quickly you expect your SD-WAN roll-out will be. Businesses have the option to switch everything from MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) as a routing technique to SD-WAN at once, or complete the process in a number of smaller, more modest phases.

SD-WAN is a flexible solution that can work in tandem with MPLS deployments already in place, allowing businesses to operate both simultaneously. Many organizations, especially small businesses, may not be ready or be able to migrate their entire WAN infrastructure in one process, and that’s okay. Hybrid WAN management, where certain connections are handled by MPLS and the rest by SD-WAN are not only possible, but fairly common.

Even if an organization is unable to fully transfer connections to SD-WAN, hybrid WAN management allows for reduced costs associated with bandwidth over time. Not only is this extremely flexible, but the money saved through SD-WAN begets resources needed for the later continuation of digital transformation. Or, put plainly, sometimes you have to save money to save more money later. Hybrid WAN environments make that possible.

3 – Acquire Dedicated Internet Access Lines Early

After taking inventory of the network and diagramming WAN infrastructure, you’ll have a solid idea of exactly what connections and bandwidth requirements to consider. Organizations need to start very early on with the process of orchestrating Internet service provider (ISP) installations, especially if connecting outposts or branch offices in remote locations. Getting Internet circuits installed can take several weeks or months. If the entire SD-WAN migration grinds to a halt while waiting on an ISP to haul fiber to branch locations, businesses can find themselves relying on more expensive MPLS solutions for longer than expected. Those costs add up and can act as a costly spoiler unaccounted for in initial budgeting.

4 – Consider Effects on End Users

Change, even positive change, causes friction. Friction in a business environment can have ripple effects on budget, productivity, and reputation, so it is imperative that businesses are fully prepared for cause-and-effect wrinkles in their daily routines. To that end, there are a number of questions you should ask about how an SD-WAN migration can impact users and internal traffic.

How much downtime should be expected for individual applications during the migration? If these are business critical applications, how can this impact be mitigated to minimally interfere with company workflow?

What changes will end users see in their daily network usage after successfully migrating to SD-WAN? Consider the training your staff may need to understand how this new infrastructure affects them. Again, change creates friction that may rub end users the wrong way, particularly if they’re used to doing things a certain way for a long time.

Speaking of end users, SD-WAN often extends greater access to mobile users on your network by eliminating the backhauling issues that mobile devices face with MPLS. Mobile backhaul describes the unseen process of how data-hungry mobile devices interact with wireless networks and data centers. However, SD-WAN excels at backhauling optimization, allowing for freer access to the network for mobile users. While this may be a boon for mobile workers, organizations should take additional security steps to account for increased mobile traffic on the network. Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Fortinet Security Fabric, extending powerful mobile security to minimize this impact when using products such as FortiGuard Mobile Service.

Another change that comes with SD-WAN migration is the beneficial impact it has on the IT department. SD-WAN can improve visibility and reduce the number of touch points and management tasks that IT needs to keep up with on a day-to-day basis. Organizations should consider how this lessened burden on the IT schedule can be taken advantage of to further improve network security and performance. What are network administrators to do with all of this extra time and increased control?

SD-WAN Management Made Easy

Hopefully this article has instilled some confidence if you’re on the fence about an SD-WAN migration. But Firewalls.com can still make managing your SD-WAN even easier. With a Security Operations Center filled to the brim with highly certified network administrators and architects, our Professional Services team can actively manage and configure SD-WAN on your behalf as an affordable, commitment-free monthly subscription. Give us a call at the number below to learn how Firewalls.com Professional Services can turn SD-WAN into an E-Z win.

Call us at 866-957-2975 to learn more!

Chipping In: Spotlighting Fortinet’s SD-WAN ASIC

The Chip’s on the Table

We recently introduced you to Fortinet’s latest FortiGate firewall, the FG-100F. One of the appliance’s key selling points is its unprecedented ability to handle SD-WAN and network security all-in-one. To make a first-of-its-kind all-in-one requires going all-in, putting your chips on the table. In this case though, it’s just one chip that takes the whole pot.

Fortinet’s new SoC4 (SoC = system on a chip) is a result of the network security leader’s lengthy background developing application-specific integrated circuits (or ASICs). The SoC4 is a purpose-built SD-WAN ASIC, a silicon chip that allows one appliance to provide top-notch SD-WAN (software-defined wide area networking), advanced routing, and Fortinet’s industry leading security, all without sacrificing performance.

Performance, You Say?

In fact, that performance is what sets the SD-WAN ASIC apart. You’ll get lightning-quick application identification and application steering for more than 5,000 applications, enabling digital transformation at the WAN edge (which is where an organization connects to external networks). Unlike having to wait too long for a fellow poker player to make a move, your users will avoid delays accessing their applications. You’ll see accelerated overlay performance with low latency – and your users will appreciate it. Fortinet takes a deeper dive into its new chip on this video:

 

 

SD-WAN Is Here to Stay

Why does all this matter? No bluff: SD-WAN’s prevalence continues to increase, as it allows organizations to connect hubs with branch offices via the internet rather than more expensive dedicated connections like MPLS. It also beats MPLS at failover, as it seamlessly moves on to the next point if one fails (no need to wait on the dealer). With SD-WAN, you can ensure your network is performing at its best by routing traffic on the most efficient path. And you can manage SD-WAN on premises or through the cloud. With Fortinet’s SD-WAN ASIC-powered solution, you can do all this without worrying about security (a top concern of network professionals when it comes to WAN).

Where Do I Start?

Need a little more information before playing your SD-WAN hand? Watch our feature review of the FortiGate 100F to learn more about its SD-WAN and security capabilities thanks to the power of Fortinet’s SD-WAN ASIC. Then, browse our site to find the firewall subscription bundle that’s right for you.

Shop the FORTIGate 100F