Ready for 5G: Fortinet’s Next-Gen Firewall Solutions in Anticipation of the Most Powerful Wave of Connectivity

Introduction

The arrival of 5G technology has transformed the digital & mobile world that offers lighting speed, zero delay and able to connect a pool of devices at one go. When businesses are gearing up for adopting 5G considering it as a transformative lever, security takes on center stage. It is a simple input that more connected devices, and faster speeds are, of course, increasing the menace for thousands of vulnerabilities and complex cyber threats. In this blog, we investigate the security challenges that come with 5G networks and how they are being tackled by Fortinet — a market-leading cybersecurity firm which is working on up-to-the-minute trojan infected firewall technology. In addition to these, the business perspective of whye it is better to lease instead of buying firewalls, servers and routers.

5G Security Challenges

Moving to 5G is more than just an upgrade, but rather a new era with massive security implications. What are some of the problems they face?

• Extended Attack Surface: With the accelerated uptake of 5G, the volume of connected devices gets multiplied. Every device is a potential angle for corporation of the Red team cyber actors.
• Moreso – Faster attack rates: The increased bandwidth and lower latencies, which are one of the big wins with 5G, can also encourage faster attacks that might swamp traditional security approaches.
• Network Slicing: This is a technique through which operators can divide the 5G network into multiple virtual networks. This is efficient, however it also adds a lot of complexity in security management and constitutes a risk because this slice can be target of attacks.
• Edge Computing: As processing power moves to where data is created, securing these distributed points takes on renewed importance. With large numbers of points of connectivity, the system must also be very secure so as not to be easily breached.

Fortinet’s Innovations

Fortinet is one of the vendors who are leading the way in developing firewall technology that can combat 5G challenges and perform efficiently while doing so.

FortiGate NGFWs

FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) from Fortinet are architected for high throughput and low latency – a 5G bedrock, given the number of business cases that rely on higher speeds and performance.

• Integrated Security: These firewalls provide broad security functionality such as intrusion prevention systems (IPS), antivirus and web filters.
• Threat Intelligence: Both NGFWs are backed by Fortinet’s AI-powered threat intelligence, FortiGuard Labs, enabling them to identify and counter threats in real-time.
• Scalability: FortiGate NGFWs scale intelligently so businesses can seamlessly expand their security infrastructure as they expand their 5G networks.

Security-Driven Networking

A security-driven networking approach from Fortinet tightly integrates network architecture with security. This essentially bakes in security measures into the fabric of the network versus response readings that are done post-facto.

• Increased Visibility: Provides real-time visibility into the network traffic, both unencrypted and encrypted helping successfully identify and prevent threats.
• Automation: Market-leading automation enables swift response to threats, limiting downtime and ultimately mitigating the load on security teams.
• Simplified Management: Centralized management consoles simplify security operations and allow businesses to more easily maintain strong security postures.

Multi-Edge Computing Support

Fortinet also has special architecture to address multi-edge computing environments, which are key for 5G-ready applications.

• Flexible Deployment Options – On-premises and cloud deployments enable businesses to customize their security infrastructure accommodating specific requirements.
• Edge Protection: New edge protection offers robust security to protect data and applications at the edge, so unauthorized access and breaches do not compromise applications or data.

Business Implications

What does this mean for business from an enterprise point of view, when we start to assess the actual implications involved in adopting Fortinet’s own firewall advances in the 5G space? Organizations also must think about how these transformations influence their cyber operations and strategy.

Enhanced Security Posture

Businesses can vastly improve their security stance by combining Fortinet’s next-generation firewall. This translates to:

• Decrease in Breaches: When there are security frameworks implemented, breaches are sloping down.
• Greater Customer Trust: Better security makes possible for customer trust, thus encritical to companies handling sensitive data or working under stringent industry laws.

Cheaper Renting

But purchasing advanced firewall solutions might be capital-intensive, especially for a small to medium business. The value in firewalls, servers, and routers as a rent is as follows:

• Cost-effectiveness: Renting rather than buying helps to minimize upfront expenses so companies can acquire expensive firewall which otherwise would be unavailable due to the capital expenditure.
• Flexibility: Renting allows businesses to make changes or upgrades with little to no hassle as security needs may change.
• Managed Services: Many renting models come with managed services where the provider takes on monitoring and maintenance of the security infrastructure, freeing businesses to focus on their core operations.

Operational Efficiency

The new innovations from Fortinet are aiming to help operators to drive greater operational efficiency by simplifying the security management straddle across 5G networks. This efficiency is achieved through:

• Streamlines Processes: Automation and central management eliminate many manual tasks, enabling IT resources to focus on higher value work.
• Adaptivity: For example, Fortinet’s scalable solutions allow businesses to quickly adapt to changes in the threat landscape or increases in network traffic.

Conclusion

Corollary with the movement of businesses to 5G is the need for robust and adaptive security. The firewall innovations from Fortinet can meet the challenges of this era of connectivity, making it purpose-built to enable businesses secure their networks effectively. And with the benefit of lease options, even small businesses have access to enterprise-class security without being saddled with significant upfront costs. As they do, however, Fortinet offers the tools and technology that will not only shield them from these new risks but to also enable them to make the most of the opportunities being made possible by 5G technology. In the growing landscape of connectivity, staying one step ahead of security challenges will be necessary both to retain a competitive edge and guarantee the integrity of digital operations across the board.