Fortinet has announced the release of FortiOS 6.4, the latest version of its flagship operating system powering the Fortinet Security Fabric. With over 350 new features, FortiOS 6.4 introduces new automation, scalability, performance, and AI capabilities, which the company says will deliver full protection across the entire digital infrastructure.
To address today’s risks, Fortinet continues to enhance the Fortinet Security Fabric, with the firm launching a slurry of new features to support organisations’ digital transformation goals. These new features include:
Security-driven Networking: Secure and accelerate the network and user experience
- New intuitive SD-WAN orchestrator and granular application analytics in Fabric Management Center to simplify and automate Secure SD-WAN deployments.
- Real-time SD-WAN application optimisation in FortiGate to enable consistent and resilient business application experience.
- Broader segmentation visibility by connecting multi-tenant VDOMs into the Security Fabric with FortiGate to protect internal risks of organisations.
- Expanded Secure Web Gateway and IPS use cases to enable better protection and simplify administration operations.
- Enhanced SD-Branch capabilities with FortiAP Controller, and simplified operation of LTE links through integrated management with FortiExtender and broadened FortiAP portfolio with WiFi 6 models.
Zero-trust Network Access: Identify and secure users and devices, on and off network
- Increased native device visibility across the Fortinet Security Fabric through integration of FortiNAC into the Fabric Topology Map and with FortiAnalyzer.
- Enhanced profiling of devices within FortiNAC that includes better visibility into Linux devices, and simplifying zero-trust network access implementations with such capabilities as automatic IoT detection and segmentation to reduce the complexities of securing IoT devices.
- Improved user identification and management with FortiManager docker for FortiAnalyzer Cloud that delivers overall workflow improvements and enhanced SAML in FortiAuthenticator alongside 2FA with FortiToken Cloud.
- On- and off-network visibility and management with Fabric agent telemetry for devices on-network, and secure VPN tunnels with FortiClient as well as secure offsite access with FortiGuard Cloud for devices off-network.
Dynamic Cloud Security: Secure and control cloud infrastructure and applications
- Broader cloud application protection with increased Office 365 security coverage through integrations with FortiMail and FortiCASB; new FortiWeb deep-learning capabilities to protect continuously changing applications running anywhere. FortiWeb can be deployed as a physical and virtual appliance, as a SaaS offering in public or private cloud or as a Docker container.
- Stronger cloud network security effectiveness through support of advanced hybrid cloud use cases, including SD-WAN for AWS Outposts and GCP Anthos using FortiGate VM, and auto remediation capabilities with FortiGate VM Cloud IDS.
- Enhanced workload protection capabilities and multi-cloud visibility via FortiCWP asset inventory and streamlined security operations workflows.
AI-driven Security Operations: Automatically prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats
- Adds new advanced threat detection and prevention capability at the endpoint with new next-gen AV (NGAV) capabilities, complementing endpoint-hardening of FortiClient with machine learning-based NGAV, real-time ransomware protection and the ability to defuse threats in FortiEDR.
- Increased automation in FortiAnalyzer and FortiSIEM, as well as the full orchestration of our new FortiSOAR, to reduce the SOC burden and company exposure. While FortiAnalyzer is the foundation of Security Fabric analytics and FortiSIEM extends to multi-vendor environments, FortiSOAR in particular adds the most robust automated collection of additional context and data to enrich incident response (IR), case management for more effective coordination and collaboration across customer security teams, and visual playbook orchestration and guided response.
- Also, supplements the Security Fabric with dynamic threat hunting and staff augmentation to extend their resource-constrained security teams with Fortinet’s remote monitoring and IR service 24×7.
FortiGuard Labs: The Fortinet 360 Protection bundle delivered by FortiGuard Labs provides a complete package of operational, support, and security services to enable customers to easily deploy and benefit from the full power of the Fortinet Security Fabric and is optimized for SD-WAN deployments.
- New services within the Fortinet 360 Protection bundle enable organizations to leverage intuitive SD-WAN orchestration, automated IoT device identification and segmentation, as well as optimize operations with IP Address Management (IPAM) across the Security Fabric.
- New enhancements to 360 Protection’s Security Rating service also allows customers to proactively identify and remediate configuration, policy, security, and compliance gaps as well as benchmark against industry peers to assess relative posture and investment strategies.
John Maddison, EVP of products and CMO at Fortinet, noted of the new release, “With the release of FortiOS 6.4, we’re continuing to build out the Fortinet Security Fabric to deliver automated workflows across multi-attack vectors and infrastructure. Combined with one of the most extensive alliance partner ecosystems in the industry, an industry-leading research and analyst team, and integrated security intelligence ecosystem, Fortinet delivers the most comprehensive cybersecurity platform on the market.”
