How CrowdStrike & Fortinet Power Enterprise Cybersecurity

The cybersecurity industry has transformed in response to escalating digital threats.

As cyber threats must evolve by nature, so must security solutions.

Traditional security approaches, which relied on separate tools for different aspects of network protection, have proved insufficient against modern cyber attacks.

Consequently, organisations now seek integrated solutions that can protect both their network infrastructure and individual devices, while leveraging AI to detect and respond to threats in real time.

As attackers become more sophisticated, employing tactics such as advanced persistent threats (APTs) and zero-day exploits, the need for comprehensive, real-time protection has never been more critical.

The convergence of endpoint and network security represents a significant step forward in addressing these challenges.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company known for its Falcon platform which protects individual devices and networks, has announced a partnership with Fortinet, a network security provider.

The collaboration aims to combine CrowdStrike's AI-based endpoint security with Fortinet's network firewall technology to tackle cyber attacks.

CrowdStrike and Fortinet partnership

This partnership between CrowdStrike and Fortinet addresses a common challenge in enterprise security: the gap between network protection and device-level security.

Daniel Bernard, Chief Business Officer at CrowdStrike says: “Decisive strategy and execution from industry leaders to drive innovation is what benefits customers and delivers better security outcomes.”

“CrowdStrike pioneered an AI-native platform to revolutionise endpoint security – Fortinet defines next-generation firewall protection and network security focused on performance and efficacy.”

Endpoint security protects individual devices such as computers and phones, while network firewalls monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic.

By bridging this gap, the partnership offers a more holistic approach to cybersecurity, enabling organisations to detect and respond to threats more effectively across their entire IT infrastructure.

The collaboration also reflects a broader trend in the cybersecurity industry towards consolidation and integration of security tools.

This approach not only enhances security effectiveness but also simplifies management and reduces operational complexity for IT teams.

Technology implementation

Fortinet's firewall technology operates through custom-built processing chips, which the company says perform 17 times faster than competing products while using 90 percent less power.

These firewalls come in various forms, including hardware, software and cloud-based services.

This flexibility allows organisations to implement robust security measures across diverse IT environments, from on-premises data centres to cloud-based infrastructures.

The partnership also enables security teams to view threat data from both network and device levels in one interface.

This unified approach aims to speed up threat detection and response times, which traditional separate systems often delay.

By consolidating threat intelligence and security events from both endpoints and network devices, security teams can gain a more comprehensive view of their organisation's security posture, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.

“For nearly 25 years Fortinet has set the standard for the convergence of networking and security,” says John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of products at Fortinet.

“By bolstering our partnership with CrowdStrike, we look forward to continued collaboration and innovation as we offer customers a joint solution that resonates at scale with all market segments globally – securing the Fortune 500 to SMBs, across networks, applications and endpoints”, he adds.

Daniel concludes: “Customers benefit from using us together, partners benefit from bringing us to market together and this strategic partnership symbiotically advances both companies' expansion strategies. We look forward to our collaboration with Fortinet.”

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