Cybersecurity never stops evolving and the new era that we are entering requires that we look beyond the technology and focus on proactive measures, resilience, and adaptability. From the rise of quantum computing and AI to the importance of public awareness and collaboration, the journey ahead requires a comprehensive, forward-thinking approach.
 

2024 will soon be upon us and this is the perfect time to get a sneak preview of what might be in the annual FortiGuard threat predictions.

Regardless of the prevailing economic climate, investments in technology will not stop. In fact, the latest figures even indicate a 26% CAGR from 2023 to 2030.   But even with this projected growth, cybersecurity purchasing decisions should look beyond the final purchase price.  A structured cybersecurity strategy must include both a technological and financial perspective including innovative licensing options to maximize protection and investment return.

Technology is the enabler of today’s digital world.  But when technology is compromised, are the consequences beyond the financial impact fully appreciated?  In this moderated round table discussion, participants will examine the proposition that cybersecurity should be thought of in terms other than as a technology. 

Although networks are constantly evolving, the firewall remains the cornerstone of any cybersecurity strategy.  But the firewall must evolve as well to meet new challenges and requirements. The Hybrid Mesh Firewall concept, recently announced by Gartner, picks up where a Next Generation Firewall leaves off, providing consistent functionality, protection, and management regardless of form factor or network placement.

Anticipating the future is a key part of any organization’s strategy.  In cybersecurity, looking ahead is more than just the shiny new box, it’s about finding the right balance between technology, people and process to best equip organizations to meet the challenges in combating the threat landscape.

Users, devices, and applications.  All of these are network edges and each one represents a potential weak link in the security chain.  It’s not a question of whether to secure each of these edges but rather how to secure them and improve the overall security posture of the network. This session will focus on how a strategic security approach ensures maximum protection while minimizing complexity at the same time.

The Security Operations Center (SOC) is the nerve center of any response to a cyber-attack.  Having the right tools and the right information when it’s needed are critical to a successful defense. This session will focus on the critical technologies that every SOC should have and the role of Threat Intelligence in incident response.

OT assets owners, vendors, and the larger OT ecosystem is evolving at an ever-increasing pace. Convergence, advanced wireless, the sustainability journey, the threat landscape, and changing regulation are all at play. This session will focus on determining the cybersecurity impact and what is needed to be able to securely enable your OT evolution? 
 

Secure Service Access Edge, or SASE, is one of the most disruptive networking trends in decades. But with a wide range of use cases and requirements, not all SASE offerings are able to support both remote users and location. FortiSASE is a single-vendor SASE offering with integrated SD-WAN capabilities and enables universal ZTNA for all users.

“Sometimes the best defense is a good offense” is an often-used sports expression.  But it also applies to cybersecurity. Cutting edge technology now gives organizations the ability to proactively protect themselves rather than responding reactively to an attack. This session will focus on the technologies that are key to this transformation.

OT asset owners and vendors drive innovation and enable increased efficiency, lower cost of ownership and a better ROI through adoption of various cutting-edge technologies. Cybersecurity is no different. 
This session will introduce Fortinet’s Single-Vendor SASE solution and how it enables a wide breath of dynamic cybersecurity capabilities in an OT ecosystem with simplicity, flexibility, and cost effectiveness.
 

Since its introduction in 2016, the Fortinet Security Fabric has always included Cloud Security. But as cloud has become a bigger and bigger part of an organization’s digital strategy, the role that security must play has become bigger as well. This is why Fortinet has evolved cloud security to the CloudSec Fabric, a key subset of the Fortinet Security Fabric. This session will focus on the “What is it”, “Why the change”, and “How to create a CloudSec Fabric” for my organization.

It is often said that “Complexity is the enemy of security” and its most noticeable impact is on time. Manually sorting through logs and alarms dramatically lengthens the amount of time it takes to detect when there has been an incident and even longer to respond. The key to combating this is automation. This session will focus on the role that Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) technology plays in an automated SOC.

With the NIS directive being enforced in all EU countries and its version 2 taking effect on October 2024, Information Sharing and Cyber Risk Management in compliance with OT cybersecurity frameworks are critical for Critical Infrastructures across several industrial vertical. This session will look at what does this directive mean for asset owners, and what is needed to get ready to comply?
 

One of the key drivers for Cloud has always been increased flexibility, both in deploying resources as well as in the OPEX versus CAPEX financial model.  But as the cloud continues to evolve, additional flexibility is needed.  This panel discussion will focus on the different licensing options, known as Fortinet Flexible Service (FortiFlex),  to enable organizations to maximize their investments in their cloud strategy.

Technology is essential but regardless of claims about AI replacing humans, the human element is still very much needed in cybersecurity. Threat readiness and professional services are just two of the services that can dramatically increase the effectiveness of Security Operations. This session will focus on the different services available from Fortinet that can improve the efficacy and efficiency of Security Operations.

OT consists of a fast-evolving ecosystem of assets, technologies, and services – all working together to deliver a desired set of outcomes - and the role of technical partnerships between ecosystem players is a key enabler. Fortinet is delighted to host Schnieder Electric to demonstrate how the two companies’ technical partnership delivers greater value working together.