Cybersecurity firm Fortinet Inc. today announced updates to its operational technology security platform, including enhanced security networking and security operations capabilities as part of its commitment to security for the growing cyber-physical systems market.

The updates seek to address the growing rise of cyberattacks that compromise OT. A report from Fortinet released in June found that 73% of organizations have experienced an intrusion that affected either OT systems only or both information technology and OT systems, up from 49% in 2023. With the growing risk, Fortinet argues, it’s more critical than ever for organizations to deploy cybersecurity solutions specifically engineered for OT environments.

The latest updates to Fortinet’s OT security platform have been designed to mitigate industrial risk and accelerate and optimize customers’ OT security journeys.

The new capabilities include enhanced asset identification and OT network topology in the FortiOS OT View, with the added ability to configure asset locations for improved asset identity, location and communication pathways. FortiOS also gets new expanded virtual patching capabilities, with new virtual patching signatures in the FortiGuard OT Security Service providing protection against vulnerabilities and shielding unpatched OT assets.

On the hardware side, Fortinet has introduced two new series of rugged switches — the FortiSwitch Rugged 216F-POE, designed for bandwidth-intensive industrial environments and redundant architectures, and the FortiSwitch Rugged 424F-POE, which powers industrial internet of things devices.

FortiSRA, the company’s Secure Remote Access for OT product, now offers secure remote access for third-party contractors, auditors and employees, safeguarding critical OT systems against remote threats. An update to FortiExtender Vehicle enhances fleet management with a ruggedized form factor, providing secure LAN extension from remote FortiGate next-generation firewalls for a unified platform for vehicles and first responders.

Fortinet also announced additional artificial intelligence-driven OT security operation capabilities to defend against growing OT threats. These include expanded capabilities in FortSOAR, such as a new OT View dashboard for OT Asset management and new compliance playbooks to enhance OT network and asset visibility and remediation.

FortiAnalyzer now offers increased analytics and reporting capabilities with North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection, International Electrotechnical Commission 62443-3-3 and IT/OT Risk reports. An upcoming IoT/IIoT/OT Dashboard will provide analytics for medical IoT devices to aid regulatory compliance and security evaluations.

Additionally, FortiNDR for OT now analyzes network behavior to detect threats and anomalies, while FortiDeceptor-as-a-Service expands deception capabilities for OT and IoT with more devices and protocols, simplifying deployments for users.

Image: Fortinet