Fortinet Explained

Fortinet should not be confused with Fortnite.

Fortinet, Inc.
Type:Public
Location City:Sunnyvale, California
Location Country:U.S.
Revenue: (2023)
Operating Income: US$1.24 billion (2023)
Net Income: US$1.15 billion (2023)
Assets: US$7.26 billion (2023)
Equity: US$-463 million (2023)
Footnotes:[1] [2]

Fortinet, Inc. is a cybersecurity company with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and sells security solutions like firewalls, endpoint security and intrusion detection systems. Fortinet has offices located all over the world.

Brothers Ken Xie and Michael Xie founded Fortinet in 2000. The company's first and main product was FortiGate, a physical firewall. The company later added wireless access points, sandbox and messaging security. The company went public in November 2009.

History

Early history

In 2000, Ken Xie and his brother Michael Xie co-founded Appligation Inc. The company was renamed ApSecure in December 2000 and later renamed again to Fortinet, based on the phrase "Fortified Networks."[3]

Fortinet introduced its first product, FortiGate, in 2002, followed by anti-spam and anti-virus software.[4] The company raised $13 million in private funding from 2000 to early 2003.[4] Fortinet's first channel program was established in October 2003.[5] The company began distributing its products in Canada in December 2003 and in the UK in February 2004.[4] By 2004, Fortinet had offices in Asia, Europe, and North America.[6]

In April 2005, a German court issued a preliminary injunction against Fortinet's UK subsidiary in relation to source code for its GPL-licensed elements.[7] [8] The dispute ended a month later after Fortinet agreed to make the source code available upon request.[9]

Growth and expansion

Fortinet became profitable in the third quarter of 2008.[10] Later that year, the company acquired the intellectual property of IPLocks, a database security and auditing company.[11] In August 2009, Fortinet acquired the intellectual property and other assets of Woven Systems, an Ethernet switching company.[12]

According to market research firm IDC, by November 2009, Fortinet held over 15 percent of the unified threat management market.[13] Also in 2009, CRN Magazines survey-based annual report card placed Fortinet first in network security hardware, up from seventh in 2007.[14] In November 2009, Fortinet had an initial public offering. By the end of the first day of trading, the company had raised $156 million.[15]

By 2010, Fortinet had $324 million in annual revenues and held the largest share of the unified threat management market according to IDC.[16]

Fortinet made four acquisitions from 2012 to 2016. The company acquired app-hosting service XDN (formerly known as 3Crowd) in December 2012,[17] Coyote Point in 2013,[18] and Wi-Fi hardware company Meru Networks in 2015.[19] In June 2016, Fortinet acquired IT security, monitoring and analytics software vendor, AccelOps.[20]

Recent history

In July 2014, Fortinet announced a technical certification program called the Network Security Expert (NSE) program.[21] In March 2016, Fortinet launched a Network Security Academy to help fill open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. Fortinet donated equipment and provided information to universities to help train students for jobs in the field.[22] Also in 2016, Fortinet launched a program called FortiVet to recruit military veterans for cybersecurity jobs.[23]

In January 2017, it was announced that Philip Quade, a former member of the NSA, would become the company's chief information security officer.[24] At the end of 2017, Fortinet reported $416.7 million in revenue, a 15 percent increase from the previous year.[25] In June 2018, Fortinet acquired Bradford Networks, a maker of access control and IoT security solutions.[26] In October 2018, Fortinet acquired ZoneFox, a threat analytics company.[27] In January 2019, it was announced that Fortinet and founder Ken Xie would participate in the annual World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland.[28]

In September 2019, Fortinet settled a whistleblower lawsuit regarding what the company has described as an "isolated incident" of sales of intentionally mislabeled Chinese-made equipment to U.S. government end users.[29] [30] In late 2019, Fortinet acquired enSilo and CyberSponse.[31] [32] Also in 2019, Fortinet's FortiGate SD-WAN and Next Generation Firewall received a "Recommended" rating from NSS Labs.[33]

In July 2020, Fortinet acquired OPAQ Networks.[34] OPAQ is a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) cloud provider based in Herndon, Virginia.

In December 2020,[35] Fortinet acquired the automated incident management company Panopta.[36]

In 2021, Fortinet acquired application security company Sken.Ai to offer continuous application security testing.[37]

In September 2021, Fortinet pledged to train one million people in support of President Joe Biden's call to action to address the talent shortage in American cybersecurity.[38]

In March 2022, Fortinet announced the termination of operations in Russia. The company has stopped all sales, support, and professional services within Russia. In the same month, Fortinet acquired cloud and network security firm ShieldX.[39]

Also in 2022, NetworkWorld reported that Fortinet had introduced new AI and ML-based security services utilizing telemetry from its global network.[40]

In 2023, Fortinet Fortiguard devices were revealed by Microsoft and members of the Five Eyes intelligence network to be the subject of a wide-ranging and ongoing cyberattack by a state-sponsored entity in China.[41]

In June 2024, Fortinet acquired Lacework, a data-driven cloud security company for an undisclosed amount.[42]

In August 2024, Fortinet acquired Next DLP, a cloud based DLP provider company for an undisclosed amount.[43]

Products and research

Products

Fortinet released its first product, FortiGate, a firewall, in 2002, followed by anti-spam and anti-virus software.[44] As functions like anti-spam were added, they were made available in a unified product along with the firewall and other functions. FortiGate was updated later to use application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture.[45] The company has used ASIC in several of its products, including to support its SD-WAN features.[46] [47]

Initially, FortiGate was a physical, rack-mounted product but later became available as a virtual appliance that could run on virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere.

In May 2004, Trend Micro, a competing cyber security and defense company, filed a legal complaint against Fortinet. Though the International Trade Commission initially ruled against Fortinet,[48] the Trend Micro patents at the center of the dispute were later declared invalid in 2010.[49] In 2005, an OpenNet study suggested that Myanmar, which was under American sanctions, had begun using Fortinet's FortiGuard system for internet censorship. Fortinet stated that their products are sold by third-party resellers and that they acknowledged US embargoes[50] ; however, their sales director participated in a ceremony to deliver the firewall product to the prime minister. [51] [52]

In April 2016, Fortinet began building its Security Fabric architecture so multiple network security products could communicate as one platform.[53] Later that year, the company added Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) products.[54] In September 2016, the company announced it would integrate the SIEM products with the security systems of other vendors.[55]

In 2017, Fortinet announced the addition of switches, access points, analyzers, sandboxes and cloud capabilities to the Security Fabric, in addition to endpoints and firewalls.[56] [57] Later in 2017, Fortinet created a standalone subsidiary, Fortinet Federal, to develop cybersecurity products for government agencies.[58] Fortinet has received security effectiveness certifications through NSS Labs.[59] Gartner, a research and consulting firm, has ranked Fortinet within the top three companies in its Magic Quadrant for enterprise network firewalls, which measure market trends and direction.[60]

In July 2018, the company launched FortiGate SD-WAN, its proprietary SD-WAN service.[61] FortiGate SD-WAN was included in the Challenger category of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure later that year, joining the Leader category in 2020.[62] [63] Later in 2018, Fortinet released FortiGuard (AI) to better detect new and unknown threats, and also announced the 6.0 version of its FortiOS security operating system with enhanced centralized management and expanded cloud capabilities.[64]

In 2019, Fortinet grew to 21,000 WAN edge customers, according to a Gartner report.[65]

In February 2020, Fortinet released FortiAI, a threat-detection program that uses artificial intelligence.[66] [67] In July 2020, Fortinet launched multi-cloud SD-WAN.[68] That year, BT Security selected Fortinet and other Threat Alliance members as Critical Partners.[69]

As of January 2021, the FortiGate line of firewalls is and remains the company's main product which accounts for most of the gross revenue.

![70] !Product!Explanation
1FortiADCApplication delivery controller
2FortiAnalyzerCentralized logging and reporting solution
3FortiAuthenticatorUser identity management server
4FortiCASBCloud access security broker
5FortiClientAdvanced endpoint security
6FortiEDR
7FortiCNPCloud-native protection solution
8FortiDDosDDoS mitigator
9FortiDeceptorDeception-based solution
10FortiExtender5G/LTE & remote Ethernet gateways
11FortiGateNetwork security platform
12FortiIsolatorBrowser isolation platform
13FortiMailMessaging security server
14FortiManagerCentralized management platform
15FortiNACNetwork access control solution
16FortiPAMPrivileged access management
17FortiSandboxAdvanced threat prevention system
18FortiSIEMUnified event correlation and risk management solution
19FortiSASEAllows clients to securely access the Internet with the protection from FortiOS
20FortiSOARSecurity orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) solution
21FortiSwitchSecured access switch
22FortiTesterNetwork tester
23FortiTokenTwo-factor authentication token
24FortiVoiceSecure VoIP solution
25FortiWebWeb application firewall / API security

Accomplishments in cybersecurity

In 2005, Fortinet created the FortiGuard Labs internal security research team.[71]

In 2008, Fortinet researchers sent a report to Facebook highlighting a widget from Zango that appeared to be tricking users into downloading spyware.[72] By 2014, Fortinet had four research and development centers in Asia, as well as others in the US, Canada and France.[73]

In March 2014, Fortinet founded the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) with Palo Alto Networks in order to share security threat data across vendors.[74] It was later joined by McAfee and Symantec.[75] In 2015, the CTA published a white paper on the CryptoWall ransomware, which detailed how attackers obtained $325 million through ransoms paid by victims to regain access to their files.[76]

In April 2015, Fortinet provided threat intelligence to Interpol in order to help apprehend the ringleader of several online scams based in Nigeria. The scams, which resulted in compromise of business emails and CEO fraud, had cost one business over $15 million.[77] The following year, in March 2016, Fortinet and Cisco joined NATO in a data-sharing agreement to improve their information security capabilities.[78]

In January 2017, Fortinet worked with Interpol to conduct an investigation into web security in several southeast Asian countries. The investigation identified compromised websites, including government-operated web servers.[79] Later that month, Fortinet researchers discovered a spyware that scammed victims by impersonating the IRS.[80] Also in 2017, researchers helped identify malware, called Rootnik, and ransomware, called MacRansom, that targeted Android and MacOS systems respectively.[81] In 2018, Fortinet entered into an information-sharing agreement with Interpol.[82]

In March 2022, Fortinet participated in the Mitre Corporation's Attack Flow project which created "a data format describing adversary behavior sequences to help identify cyberthreat choke points".[83]

Further reading

External links

NASDAQ:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fortinet Inc. Annual Report 10-K (2022) . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . February 26, 2024 . 7, 71–72.
  2. News: Greene . Tim . New security fabric to unite Fortinet gear with that of other vendors . July 10, 2017 . Network World . April 25, 2016 . April 26, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240426185546/https://www.networkworld.com/article/950782/new-security-fabric-to-unite-fortinet-gear-with-that-of-other-vendors.html . live.
  3. Book: Kenneth Tam. Martín H. Hoz Salvador. Ken McAlpine. Rick Basile. Bruce Matsugu. Josh More. UTM Security with Fortinet: Mastering FortiOS. December 31, 2012. Newnes. 978-1-59749-977-4. 16–17.
  4. Book: Hill, Karen. International Directory of Company Histories:Fortinet. 2012. St James Press. 978-1-55862-810-6. 128. 223–227.
  5. News: Fortinet Adds New Partner Program. Christina. Torode. October 24, 2003. CRN. March 10, 2015.
  6. News: Natividad. Beverly. Real-time firewalls preserve performance. March 2, 2004. BusinessWorld.
  7. News: Fortinet Under Fire for Allegedly Violating GPL Terms. Galli. Peter. May 14, 2005. eWeek. March 11, 2015.
  8. News: Fortinet accused of GPL violation. Marson. Ingrid. April 14, 2005. March 11, 2015. ZDNet.
  9. News: Fortinet settles GPL violation suit. Marson. Ingrid. April 26, 2005. March 11, 2015. CNET.
  10. News: Security Security: Fortinet IPO Jumps 33%. Cowan. Lynn. November 19, 2006. The Wall Street Journal. C6.
  11. News: Fortinet buys assets of security vendor IPLocks. Robert. McMillan. IDG News Service . June 17, 2008. March 14, 2015.
  12. News: Woven Systems technology lives on with Fortinet. IT News. Munir. Kotadia. August 20, 2009. March 13, 2015.
  13. News: Computer security co. Fortinet plans IPO this week. Seattle Times. March 13, 2015. November 17, 2009. September 21, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160921120210/http://old.seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2010287638_apusfortinetipopreview.html. dead.
  14. News: Fortinet IPO: Love Of Services. Robert. DeMarzo. September 25, 2009. March 13, 2015. CRN.
  15. News: Robert. McMillan. IDG News. Security Vendor Fortinet Sparkles in IPO. November 18, 2009. March 13, 2015. September 27, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160927225233/http://www.pcworld.com/article/182549/article.html. dead.
  16. News: Fortinet's Shares Take Wild Ride on Deal/No Deal. Kaplan. Thomas. DealBook. November 2010 . 2018-12-10. en.
  17. News: Did Fortinet acquire XDN in a bid to add more cache to its portfolio?. Davis. Jim. December 17, 2012. March 14, 2015. 451 Group.
  18. News: Fortinet buying Coyote Point for application delivery model. King. Rachel. March 22, 2013. March 13, 2015. ZDNet.
  19. News: Fortinet Dives Deep Into Enterprise Secure Wireless Market With Meru Networks Acquisition. Kuranda. Sarah. May 27, 2015. CRN. June 10, 2015.
  20. Web site: Fortinet Dives Into SIEM Market With $28M Acquisition Of AccelOps. Kuranda. Sarah. June 7, 2016. CRN. June 16, 2016.
  21. News: New online IT training touted to help meet skills shortage. Solomon. Howard. July 29, 2014. March 14, 2015. IT World Canada.
  22. Web site: Intel, Fortinet, launch cybersecurity initiatives. March 22, 2016. San Jose Mercury News. June 24, 2016.
  23. Web site: Cybersecurity skills shortage: vendors step up to address workforce shortfall Verdict. www.verdict.co.uk. 30 May 2018. en-GB. 2018-12-10.
  24. News: Exclusive: Ex-NSA Cyber Boss Named Fortinet Information Security Chief. Fortune. 2018-12-10. en.
  25. News: Fortinet CEO Xie Says Company Primed For Growth, Touts New Third-Gen Firewall Appliance And FortiGate Virtual Machine. Kovar. Joseph F.. CRN. 2018-12-10.
  26. News: Fortinet Snaps Up IoT-Focused Security Firm Bradford Networks. Novinson. Michael. CRN. 2018-12-10.
  27. Web site: Fortinet Buys Threat Analytics Startup ZoneFox To Fight Insider Threats. Novinson. Michael. 2018-10-23. CRN. 2020-04-27.
  28. Web site: Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit.
  29. Web site: Fortinet Settles Whistleblower Case for $545,000. Townsend. Kevin. Securityweek. 17 April 2019 . 11 September 2019.
  30. Web site: Fortinet settles charges of selling intentionally mislabeled Chinese-made tech to U.S. military. Stone. Jeff. Cyberscoop. 16 April 2019. 11 September 2019.
  31. Web site: Fortinet Acquires Endpoint Security Firm enSilo SecurityWeek.Com. www.securityweek.com. 28 October 2019 . 2020-04-27.
  32. Web site: Fortinet Acquires SOAR Platform Provider CyberSponse. Arghire. Ionut. 13 December 2019. Security Week. 27 April 2020.
  33. News: Auger. Steve. 2019-08-08. Fortinet: A Strong Buy (NASDAQ:FTNT). 2020-11-18. Seeking Alpha. en.
  34. News: Fortinet Acquires OPAQ Networks. 2020-07-21. 2020-07-22.
  35. Web site: Fortinet acquires Panopta, SaaS visibility and management platform .
  36. Web site: 8 December 2020 . Fortinet : Acquires Application Security Innovator Sken.ai to Accelerate DevSecOps CRN . 2022-02-04 . www.crn.com.
  37. Web site: Fortinet : Acquires Application Security Innovator Sken.ai to Accelerate DevSecOps MarketScreener.Com . 2022-02-04 . www.marketscreener.com. 8 July 2021 .
  38. Web site: Answering Biden's call, tech and cyber companies commit to more career training . Barth . Bradley . SC Media . 10 September 2021 . 2021-12-08.
  39. Web site: Fortinet Acquires Cloud And Network Security Startup ShieldX . 20 March 2022 . Michael Novinson . CRN.
  40. Web site: Cooney . Michael . 2022-04-04 . Fortinet tightens integration of enterprise security, networking controls . 2023-03-10 . Network World . en.
  41. Web site: Chinese state hackers infect critical infrastructure throughout the US and Guam . 24 May 2023 .
  42. Web site: 2024-06-10 . Fortinet to Acquire Lacework, Enhancing the Industry’s Most Comprehensive Cybersecurity Platform . 2024-06-10 . Yahoo Finance . en-US.
  43. Web site: 2024-08-14 . Fortinet acquires data security company Next DLP . 2024-08-14 . Yahoo Finance . en-US.
  44. Web site: Fortinet UTM: Product Overview and Analysis. www.esecurityplanet.com. 23 July 2018. en. 2018-11-12.
  45. Web site: Fortinet CEO Xie Says Company Primed For Growth, Touts New Third-Gen Firewall Appliance And FortiGate Virtual Machine. Kovar. Joseph F.. CRN. 6 February 2018. 2018-12-10.
  46. Web site: Fortinet CEO: SD-Wan, Edge, Automation Key to Next-Gen Security. 28 February 2020. 27 April 2020.
  47. Web site: New ASIC bolsters Fortinet SD-WAN performance. Tech Target.
  48. News: Judge rules for Trend Micro in Fortinet patent case. Gross. Grant. May 13, 2005. Infoworld. March 11, 2015.
  49. News: The Patent That Refuses To Die. Shimel. Alan. April 12, 2011. Network World. March 14, 2015.
  50. News: Study Says Software Makers Supply Tools to Censor Web. Zeller. Tom. October 12, 2005. The New York Times. March 15, 2015.
  51. Web site: 16 May 2004 . Prime Minister attends ceremony to introduce Fortinet Antivirus Firewall . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060223145818/http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/NLM-2004/May04/enlm/May16_h1.html . 23 February 2006 . New Light Of Myanmar.
  52. Web site: October 2005 . Internet Filtering in Burma in 2005: A Country Study . live . OpenNet Initiative.
  53. Web site: New security fabric to unite Fortinet gear with that of other vendors. Greene. Tim. 2016-04-25. Network World. en. 2019-01-24. 2024-04-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20240426185546/https://www.networkworld.com/article/950782/new-security-fabric-to-unite-fortinet-gear-with-that-of-other-vendors.html. live.
  54. Web site: Fortinet acquires security analytics firm AccelOps. Gagliordi. Natalie. June 7, 2016. ZDNet. June 16, 2016.
  55. Web site: Fortinet Introduces Partner Program to Integrate Its Security Fab. 27 September 2016. 2019-01-14.
  56. Web site: CRN Exclusive: Fortinet Launches New FortiOS, Security Operations Solution. Kuranda. Sarah. CRN. 10 January 2017. 2018-12-20.
  57. Web site: Fortinet Extends Security Fabric To The Cloud, Creating New Cloud Security Opportunities For Partners. Kuranda. Sarah. CRN. 11 April 2017. 2018-12-21.
  58. News: Fortinet unveils new federal arm. Wilkers. Ross. May 15, 2017. Washington Technology. July 5, 2017.
  59. Web site: Quality of Experience is What Distinguishes SD-WAN Products, Says. SDxCentral. 9 August 2018. en-US. 2018-12-20.
  60. Web site: eWEEK's Top 11 Vendors for Next-Gen Firewalls. eWEEK. 2018-12-20.
  61. Web site: Fortinet transitions from partner to FortiGate SD-WAN vendor. SearchNetworking. 2018-12-21.
  62. Web site: Here's Who Made Gartner's First-Ever Magic Quadrant For WAN Edge Infrastructure. Brown. Matt. 8 November 2018. 2018-12-21. 2018-12-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20181221182859/https://www.crn.com/here-s-who-made-gartner-s-first-ever-magic-quadrant-for-wan-edge-infrastructure/5. dead.
  63. News: 2020-09-27. SASE, Acquisitions Drive SD-WAN Competition, Gartner States - SDxCentral. en-US. SDxCentral. 2020-11-18.
  64. Web site: Fortinet Enhances Network Security OS, Adds AI-based Threat Detection SecurityWeek.Com. www.securityweek.com. 28 February 2018 . 2018-12-18.
  65. News: 2019-12-17. Fortinet Leapfrogs Cisco With 21,000 SD-WAN Customers - SDxCentral. en-US. SDxCentral. 2020-11-18.
  66. Web site: Fortinet Forges FortiAI Security Appliance. Mann. Tobias. 24 February 2020. SDX Central. 27 April 2020.
  67. Web site: Fortinet expands AI security range with FortiAI. Channel Pro. en. 2020-04-27.
  68. News: 2020-07-14. Fortinet Debuts Multi-Cloud SD-WAN - SDxCentral. en-US. SDxCentral. 2020-11-18.
  69. Web site: Raywood. Dan. 2020-08-27. BT Security Announces Vendor Partners to Simplify and Strengthen Protection. 2020-11-18. Infosecurity Magazine.
  70. Web site: September 2023 . Fortinet Product Matrix . 20 September 2023 . Product Matrix.
  71. Web site: Comparing the best NGFWs on the market. SearchSecurity. July 15, 2016.
  72. News: Facebook's "Secret Crush" malicious widget tricks users. Messmer. Ellen. January 3, 2008. Network World. August 5, 2016. April 26, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240426185807/https://www.networkworld.com/article/809006/lan-wan-facebook-s-secret-crush-malicious-widget-tricks-users.html. live.
  73. News: Fortinet establishes R&D lab in Singapore. Yu. Eileen. August 27, 2014.
  74. Web site: Battling ransomware a priority for cybersecurity company. 2016-03-21. Santa Cruz Sentinel. 2018-12-20.
  75. News: Obama Wants Tech Firms to Alert Feds to Cyber Threats. Albanesius. Chloe. March 13, 2015.
  76. Web site: Why Cisco, McAfee Say Security Vendors Must Share Threat Intel to. 19 December 2017. 2019-01-14.
  77. News: Exclusive: Kingpin Behind Suspected $60 Million Online Scams Nabbed. Fortune. 2018-12-10. en.
  78. News: Cisco, Fortinet cosy up to NATO for infosharing. 2018-12-10.
  79. Web site: Interpol unplugs nearly 9,000 Asian command and control networks. Richard. Chirgwin. 26 April 2017. The Register. en. 2018-12-20.
  80. News: SC Exclusive: Spyware disguises itself as IRS tax notification. Barth. Bradley. April 13, 2017. SC Media. July 10, 2017. April 15, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170415164436/https://www.scmagazine.com/sc-exclusive-spyware-disguises-itself-as-irs-tax-notification/article/650456/. dead.
  81. News: New Ransomware and Malware Attack on Macs, Macos Allows Hackers to Pay to Use. Dellinger. AJ. June 12, 2017. Newsweek. July 10, 2017.
  82. Web site: Why Fortinet, Inc. Stock Has Popped 51.7% So Far in 2018 -. Symington. Steve. The Motley Fool. 17 July 2018. 2018-12-20.
  83. Web site: MITRE, Fortinet Map Cyberattack Flows to Identify 'Choke Point' . Liu . Nancy . SDXCentral, LLC . March 25, 2022 . . 2022-04-27.