Choosing the Best Firewall for Your Network: Fortigate vs. PAN

Choosing the Best Firewall for Your Network: Fortigate vs. PAN

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The right firewall can monitor and control applications and information coming in and going out of your network. It can also limit cyber threats and risks to your computer and devices. Palo Alto and Fortinet are well-known for their next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) that excel in independent performance testing. They offer a range of features, including device monitoring, cloud-delivered security services and automation-driven network management.

Threat Prevention

Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks are next-generation firewalls (NGFW) industry leaders. They both offer a full range of security features that allow for strong protection against threats at the gateway, cloud, and edge. Both companies have highly rated security products by users and independent testing organizations. However, they differ slightly in ease of use and pricing. Both companies offer various NGFW models to suit your specific business needs. They can help you secure your network no matter the size or type of environment. For example, the Fortinet PA-Series NGFW offers advanced features such as multi-cloud support and unified threat management. It also allows you to protect data centers from internal attacks by identifying and separating unsanctioned applications and hiding hidden threats. Fortinet NGFWs are easy to deploy and can be managed centrally. They also provide a wide range of security features, including AI/ML-powered FortiGuard services, full visibility and protection, natively integrated proxy, hyper-scale security, and automation-driven network management. In addition, Fortinet’s latest version of their PAN-OS OS has more than 60 new features, including device ID, advanced granular control of SaaS applications and extended SSL decryption capabilities.

Advanced Threat Detection

According to Cybersecurity Ventures, 60% of small-to-midsize businesses leave within six months of a cyberattack. The right NGFW can be the best way to prevent these attacks. Regarding firewall comparison between Fortigate and PAN, Fortinet offers more powerful security features and is affordable and easy to use. Fortinet is a leader in this category. Their Panorama network security management platform is easy to implement and allows centralized network traffic monitoring. It can be deployed on a hardware management appliance, virtual on a VM, or hosted in the cloud. Fortinet’s products have been given the highest ratings in independent tests, including a first-place win last year in NSS Lab’s Software-Defined Wide Area Network test. This makes them a strong choice for SMBs that need to secure their infrastructure. In addition to a strong security portfolio, Fortinet has excellent offerings for managing cloud apps and providing visibility in the data center and beyond. Their security processors are built to deliver scalable performance with low latency.

Unified Threat Management

The best-unified threat management (UTM) solutions combine the functionality of multiple-point security tools into one all-inclusive system. This reduces complexity and enables organizations to manage the entire network security solution from a single interface, making them less likely to miss a threat. Fortinet’s NGFWs feature this type of UTM software designed to detect unsanctioned applications and hidden dangers that traditional firewalls often miss. Users and independent testers highly rate their hardware, while their software offers advanced capabilities such as cloud and FWaaS support. The Fortinet FortiGate 500E was recently ranked the best UTM solution in NSS Labs tests with a 99.3% security effectiveness rating and a 6753 Mbps performance score, beating all other firewalls tested. Thanks to its top-notch hardware, visibility and reporting features, granular control over SaaS applications, and WildFire sandboxing technology. In addition to their security, these NGFWs offer high-performance networking with low latency, so business networks can continue operating at full speed. They also include a secure VPN tunnel to prevent external attacks and limit the risk of breaches.

Security Analytics

The best firewalls provide a suite of security tools beyond basic firewall protection. These include unified threat management, intrusion prevention, anti-virus and a suite of sandboxing and other malware scanning options. Fortinet offers hardware and virtual NGFW solutions that analysts and users highly rate, as well as in independent testing. They provide a complete product portfolio to cover all network types and sizes. NGFWs offer full visibility and advanced threat protection, including the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are also highly stable, with centralized management and automation capabilities. They support the security fabric with a powerful platform integrating IPS, VPN, cloud-delivered security services and PAN-OS technology. NGFWs are often available in bundles with other FortiGuard security services that offer additional protection against new threats and breaches. These include anti-malware, anti-spam and a wide range of content filtering options. This helps to ensure that business data stays safe and secure from cybercriminals looking for opportunities to steal sensitive information. Fortinet also offers 24×7 FortiCare technical support.

Firewall Management

Managing firewalls is a critical aspect of network security. Firewalls must monitor and control all applications and data entering and leaving the network. They must also be capable of thwarting potential threats to the organization’s computers and devices. Palo Alto Networks has a robust portfolio of network security solutions for the enterprise. Their 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant leader firewall products offer complete visibility and threat protection for distributed network segments across increasingly complex network architectures. Palo Alto’s NGFW offerings include physical (PA-Series), virtual (VM-Series) and container firewalls that provide centralized policy management for SMBs up to large enterprise data centers. The company also offers a hyperscale solution with the SRX Series Gateways that enables administrators to protect virtual and cloud environments and SaaS, SD-WAN, and container traffic from a single vendor.