Fortinet’s new Fabric Connectors help automate security operations and policies through one-click integrations with partners including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco ACI, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and VMware NSX.
Fortinet first rolled out its Security Fabric in 2016. Since then, the company has added capabilities to the platform, which provides visibility in real time across all applications and integrates detection and response technologies from multiple vendors via a single console. It also uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to allow companies to automate responses and remediation to threats across the network.
The security platform also added partner integrations. At last count, the fabric integrates with 42 technology providers — Fortinet calls these its Fabric-Ready Partners — for unified security management across cloud, virtual, and software-defined environments. Partners join across various API integration points.
Some of the most recent partners include VMware for cloud and software-defined networking (SDN), McAfee for endpoint and Internet of Things (IoT) threat detection and response, and IBM Security for management and incident response.
The company this week added Fabric Connectors. The new technology automates operational capabilities in multi-vendor environments through open API integration with Fabric-Ready Partners’ technologies.
“Fabric Connectors is where we build to somebody else’s API, whether AWS or Cisco or VMware, and make it very easy for partners to point and click and bring up that connection,” said John Maddison, senior vice president of products and solutions at Fortinet.
Many enterprises use security products and tools from several different vendors. This can lead to alert fatigue and too many consoles for security analysts to monitor. Additionally, the various products don’t always integrate, which makes it more difficult to manage and automate security policies and processes.
“What we’re seeing with our customers is that they’ve got a lot of different moving parts and a lot of security concerns,” Maddison said. “And secondly, it’s really important not just to be open and connect in multi-vendor environments, but the ability to automate. They need to be able to move their security posture very quickly. We’re basically making the Security Fabric even more open and working more closely with some select partners to enable this.”
The first set of Fabric Connectors cover the following technologies and vendors:
- Dynamic policy cloud: AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle
- Dynamic policy SDN: Cisco ACI, Nuage Networks VSP, VMware NSX
- Security incident response/IT service management: ServiceNow, Webhook
- Threat feeds: AWS Guard Duty
- Automation action: AWS Lambda, FortiClient EMS Quarantine
- Single sign-on/identity: Microsoft Active Directory, Radius
- Endpoint common vulnerabilities and exposures: FortiClient EMS