KUALA LUMPUR, 12 April 2015 (Sun): Fortinet has announced that it has conceptualised and launched a new security framework that will help Malaysian enterprises tackle security challenges that are hindering their ability to innovate and transform their business. With immediate effect, Fortinet’s business and technical consultants will reference this framework in its customer engagements in Malaysia.
The Fortinet Business Aligned Security Framework was created to help local enterprises leverage advanced security technologies to meet business goals. Specifically, it will enable them respond faster to 3rd Platform technologies, such as cloud, mobile, social and big data. With this framework, the IT departments that Fortinet interacts with can connect with their Line of Business (LOB) owners to get innovative initiatives approved and moving, for the greater good of the company. Without an IT-LOB bridging tool of this kind, LOB decision makers are often reluctant to adopt business transforming technologies, due to real or imagined security concerns.
The Fortinet Business Aligned Security Framework first calls on the enterprise to take a close look at its customer base and figure out the customers’ expectations, particularly around the vendor-client experience. Following that, the enterprise has to examine its business value propositions and identify the ones most critical to meeting the above customer expectations. Next, the enterprise has to identify the business assets that power those critical business value propositions, and move to protect those business assets. They will need to acquire network visibility and threat intelligence, and deploy the right technologies to ensure that security compliance regulations are met. Lastly, the enterprise has to build a culture of security consciousness across the organisation, teaching staff how to recognise different online threats and react to them appropriately.
Many Malaysian companies now understand the benefits of 3rd platform technologies but have stopped short of adopting them because they are not confident that they can deal with the security issues that may arise. This framework aims to make the leap easier by helping each organisation identify its business critical assets and prioritise their protection.
“Since last year, Fortinet has been differentiating ourselves in the market by offering strategic consulting services that no other network security vendor can provide,” said Dato’ Seri George Chang, Fortinet’s VP for Southeast Asia & Hong Kong. “The unique framework we are launching today strengthens that consulting capability. We will continue to leverage new concepts, technologies and partners to help enterprises improve their security posture.”
“Many organisations struggle to find the balance point between security and their business,” said Simon Piff, Associate Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure Research, IDC Asia Pacific. “Most of them would look at compliance or risk-based use cases, but we see greater promise in this approach, which is tied to an organisation’s basic purpose − serving the customer.”
“Enterprises in Malaysia need to rethink their traditional approach to IT security,” said Dato’ Seri Chang. “This business-security alignment framework helps them do that. We will continue to serve our customers’ evolving needs with not just cutting edge solutions, but with strategic thinking that helps them maximise their security investments.”
