Fortifying Firewalls The Fortinet Way

firewall

Test Center engineers took a look at FortiOS 3.0 on a Fortigate 300a firewall, one of Fortinet's hardware offerings. FortiOS 3.0 will run on a range of Fortigate appliances and is available as an upgrade for users of earlier versions. While the company's hardware offerings are important, the real power of those devices comes from the underlying operating systems and feature sets.

Solution providers will find significant enhancements to the FortiOS-based product line with new features such as control for instant messaging, including full virus scanning capabilities. Other notable improvements come in the form of granular Web-filtering control, Active Directory support and complete control of peer-to-peer technologies.

Test Center engineers found the product easy to install and were impressed with the SSL-based, browser-powered management interface. The management console offers a good balance between quick setup tasks and the ability to delve deeper into more complex controls.

Administrators are faced with a handsome system status screen that offers hyperlinks to all of the major features of the security appliance. The status screen also is the portal to configuration chores and acts as a dashboard, showing all critical traffic information, hardware statistics and attack information. The System hyperlink expands to show additional system-related tasks, ranging from DHCP configuration to maintenance downloads. Administrators can use the Router hyperlink to define how the unit interacts with the network.

The firewall tab/hyperlink lets administrators define what protection policies are deployed and control what services are allowed on the unit. By default, the unit ships with all access closed and administrators must choose what services and ports to open. That style of implementation helps to avoid overlooked services, immediately helping to guarantee enhanced security. Access policies and service control can be wrapped into administrator-defined protection profiles, allowing different rule sets to be deployed for different users or groups.

The unit offers SSL VPN capabilities, along with PTPP, IPSEC and certificate-based VPNs. Administrators will select the User tab to define access rights to the network. Integration with LDAP, AD and RADIUS is supported, allowing user control to be homogenized across the network.

The integrated antivirus system offers a range of scanning options, from traditional signature recognition to examining file contents to blocking extensions. An innovative feature is the inclusion of grayware blocking, which can be used to block spyware, adware and other unwanted pests. The product offers the same style of protection against intruders. An intrusion-detection system protects against all of the known intrusions, along with using intelligence to protect against zero day attacks. The intrusion-detection engine also identifies traffic and protocol anomalies, and prevents those from entering the network. The product's Web-filtering acts as advertised, offering blocking capabilities based upon content, site classifications and a blacklist. An antispam capability rounds out the product and offers the ability to block mail based upon keywords, addresses, blacklists and other technologies used by spammers.

Solution providers will be intrigued by Fortinet's ability to deal with peer-to-peer and instant messaging traffic. Extensive reporting helps to demonstrate ROI and empowers administrators to diagnose and discover exactly what is happening on the network.

Fortinet's four-tier channel program is quite VAR-friendly. Requirements for Bronze-level partners include an initial purchase plus a valid resale license with an authorized Fortinet distributor. Higher levels, Silver, Gold and Platinum partners, must have technical certification and varied levels of revenue commitment. Margins range from 10 percent to 30 percent. Silver, Gold and Platinum partners receive express routing codes to Fortinet's Technical Assistance Center (Platinum partners receive highest priority). All technical support is based on the purchase of a support contract. There is no cost for field engineering support. Training is offered annually and can be done via the Web or in a classroom.

Fortinet Inc.

Stocks: Real-time U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only; comprehensive quotes and volume reflect trading in all markets and are delayed at least 15 minutes. International stock quotes are delayed as per exchange requirements. Fundamental company data and analyst estimates provided by FactSet. Copyright 2019© FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. Source: FactSet

Indexes: Index quotes may be real-time or delayed as per exchange requirements; refer to time stamps for information on any delays. Source: FactSet

Markets Diary: Data on U.S. Overview page represent trading in all U.S. markets and updates until 8 p.m. See Closing Diaries table for 4 p.m. closing data. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

Stock Movers: Gainers, decliners and most actives market activity tables are a combination of NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American and NYSE Arca listings. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

ETF Movers: Includes ETFs & ETNs with volume of at least 50,000. Sources: FactSet, Dow Jones

Bonds: Bond quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: FactSet, Tullett Prebon

Currencies: Currency quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: FactSet, Tullett Prebon

Commodities & Futures: Futures prices are delayed at least 10 minutes as per exchange requirements. Change value during the period between open outcry settle and the commencement of the next day's trading is calculated as the difference between the last trade and the prior day's settle. Change value during other periods is calculated as the difference between the last trade and the most recent settle. Source: FactSet

Data are provided 'as is' for informational purposes only and are not intended for trading purposes. FactSet (a) does not make any express or implied warranties of any kind regarding the data, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use; and (b) shall not be liable for any errors, incompleteness, interruption or delay, action taken in reliance on any data, or for any damages resulting therefrom. Data may be intentionally delayed pursuant to supplier requirements.

Mutual Funds & ETFs: All of the mutual fund and ETF information contained in this display, with the exception of the current price and price history, was supplied by Lipper, A Refinitiv Company, subject to the following: Copyright 2019© Refinitiv. All rights reserved. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Lipper content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Lipper. Lipper shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrency quotes are updated in real-time. Sources: CoinDesk (Bitcoin), Kraken (all other cryptocurrencies)

Calendars and Economy: 'Actual' numbers are added to the table after economic reports are released. Source: Kantar Media

Fortinet (FTNT) Fell on Missed Forecast

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Select Strategy” third quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. Rising bond rates and the Federal Reserve's shift to a more hawkish stance put pressure on stocks in the third quarter. The strategy underperformed its Russell 3000 Index in the third quarter. Overall stock selection and sector allocation detracted from performance on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.

ClearBridge Select Strategy highlighted stocks like Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the third quarter 2023 investor letter. Based in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) offers cybersecurity and networking solutions. On December 7, 2023, Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) stock closed at $51.32 per share. One-month return of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was 0.98%, and its shares lost 1.55% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has a market capitalization of $39.409 billion.

ClearBridge Select Strategy made the following comment about Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

"Our information technology (IT) exposure also detracted from results as higher growth, higher multiple disruptors came under pressure from rising rates and a more cautious demand environment. Information security software platform Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) dropped sharply after its second quarter revenue and billings numbers missed forecasts and the company reduced third quarter and full-year guidance as backlog trends normalize post last year’s supply chain issues."

An engineer typing on a computer, developing the latest cybersecurity application.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 45 hedge fund portfolios held Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)at the end of third quarter which was 49 in the previous quarter.

Story continues

We discussed Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in another article and shared the list of best-performing S&P 500 stocks in the last 10 years. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

Suggested Articles:

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.