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Fortinet Boosts Quantum-Safe Security Portfolio Capabilities
New FortiOS features enable organizations to protect highly sensitive data from quantum threats, smoothly migrate to post-quantum security, and future-proof their infrastructure without impacting performance.
Key Highlights
- Fortinet's FortiOS now includes innovations designed to protect against emerging quantum computing threats to current encryption standards.
- Quantum computers pose a significant risk by breaking existing encryption, leading to "harvest-now, decrypt-later" attacks targeting sensitive, long-lived data.
- FortiOS 7.6 offers built-in quantum-safe features at no extra cost, including PQC methods, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), and algorithm stacking, for secure network traffic.
- These capabilities facilitate a smooth and gradual transition to post-quantum security with a hybrid mode and simplified user interface.
- Fortinet is proactively providing crucial quantum-safe solutions to safeguard digital assets and networks against future quantum threats.
The News
Fortinet announced expanded innovations within its unified operating system, FortiOS, that are designed to protect against quantum-computing threats to current encryption standards. The latest FortiOS capabilities help organizations with highly sensitive data deploy encryption algorithms and key distribution methods that can withstand quantum-powered attacks, stack algorithms for more robust protection, and easily transition to post-quantum security.
Analyst Take
Fortinet unveiled significant innovations within its FortiOS unified operating system, designed to protect against emerging quantum-computing threats to current encryption standards. The newest FortiOS capabilities can empower organizations to handle highly sensitive data to implement quantum-safe encryption algorithms and key distribution methods. This ensures they can build more robust defenses by stacking algorithms and facilitates a transition to post-quantum security.
Quantum computers possess the ability to perform complex calculations at unprecedented speeds, making them capable of easily breaking current encryption standards. This creates a significant threat, as cybercriminals are already engaging in "harvest-now, decrypt-later" (HNDL) attacks. They're storing encrypted traffic with the intent to decrypt it in the future, specifically targeting industries that handle highly sensitive data with long-term relevance, such as telecommunications, financial services, government, and healthcare.
FortiOS 7.6 directly addresses this challenge, equipping organizations using solutions like FortiGate next-generation firewall (NGFW) and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN with built-in quantum-safe features. These capabilities, available at no additional cost, help secure network traffic, simplify deployment, and support a smooth transition to post-quantum security.
Key features include Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) methods (like NIST-approved ML-KEM and emerging algorithms), Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) for secure key exchange with detectable eavesdropping, and algorithm stacking for enhanced resilience. Additionally, FortiOS offers a hybrid mode for gradual transition and an enhanced user interface to simplify configuration, enabling network administrators to easily implement these advanced security measures.
Fortinet Directly Addresses Looming Quantum Computing Threats
Quantum computing threats are growing primarily due to the accelerating advancements in quantum technology itself, coupled with the inherent vulnerability of current cryptographic standards to future quantum capabilities. Classical computers rely on bits that are either 0 or 1, but quantum computers use qubits, which can be 0, 1, or both simultaneously (superposition), and can be linked through entanglement. This allows them to perform complex calculations at exponentially faster speeds than even the most powerful supercomputers.
Algorithms like Shor's, when run on a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, could efficiently break widely used public-key encryption methods such as RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), which form the backbone of today's digital security for everything from secure web Browse and email to financial transactions and VPNs. Quantum specialists are increasingly revising their "Q-Day" predictions, the point at which cryptographically relevant quantum computers become a reality, suggesting it might arrive sooner than initially anticipated, possibly within the next decade.
This looming threat is amplified by the widespread concern of HNDL attacks. Nation-state actors and sophisticated cybercriminals are already aware of quantum computing's potential. They are currently collecting vast amounts of sensitive, encrypted data (such as financial records, intellectual property, government secrets, and personal health information) and storing it. Their strategy is to patiently wait for quantum computers to mature to a point where they can easily decrypt this stored information.
This creates a silent, long-term risk because data that is considered secure today could become fully exposed years or even decades down the line. Industries handling highly sensitive, long-lived data, like telecommunications, finance, government, and healthcare, are particularly vulnerable, making the adoption of post-quantum cryptography an urgent necessity, even before powerful quantum computers are fully realized.
Looking Ahead
I believe by integrating these advanced capabilities, FortiOS enables organizations to proactively safeguard their networks against future quantum computing threats. As quantum technology progresses, adopting quantum-safe measures is crucial for protecting the digital world, and Fortinet is leading the way in delivering these essential solutions for a secure future.
As a result, FortiOS is integral to an organization's security posture because it acts as the unified operating system across Fortinet's diverse security fabric, providing centralized control and consistent enforcement of security policies. By integrating a wide array of security functions, including NGFW), VPN, and intrusion prevention (IPS) to web filtering, application control, and advanced threat protection, FortiOS creates a comprehensive defense against evolving cyber threats.
This unified approach eliminates the complexity and security gaps often found with disparate point solutions, ensuring that policies are applied consistently across the entire network, from the data center and campus to the cloud and edge. It empowers organizations to proactively adapt their defenses to new threats, including emerging quantum computing risks, and enables rapid, automated responses to incidents, making it a cornerstone for maintaining a strong and adaptive security posture.
Ron Westfall | Analyst In Residence
Ron Westfall is a prominent analyst figure in technology and business transformation. Recognized as a Top 20 Analyst by AR Insights and a Tech Target contributor, his insights are featured in major media such as CNBC, Schwab Network, and NMG Media.
His expertise covers transformative fields such as Hybrid Cloud, AI Networking, Security Infrastructure, Edge Cloud Computing, Wireline/Wireless Connectivity, and 5G-IoT. Ron bridges the gap between C-suite strategic goals and the practical needs of end users and partners, driving technology ROI for leading organizations.