Fortinet Channel Chief: A New Wave Of Security Technology Is Needed For Today's Threats

As threats continue to rise, the security technologies of yesterday just aren't going to cut it.

Instead, partners need to help their customers transform to the next wave of security technologies, Fortinet Vice President of Americas Channels and Enhanced Technologies Joe Sykora said at XChange 2017 in Orlando, Fla. on Monday.

Sykora said Fortinet sees threats on the rise in mobile, IoT, and ransomware. Those new threats compound the risks posed by existing security liabilities, which he said still account for more than 86 percent of all vulnerabilities.

[Related: XChange 2017: 10 Ways One Security VAR Found Success Doing Things Differently]

"Cybersecurity is becoming really important," Sykora said.

To combat these threats, old and new, Sykora said partners need to move beyond the UTM and next-generation firewall solutions of the past. He said the "third generation" of security – which Fortinet calls the Security Fabric – needs to include visibility across both network and security, coverage across the full spectrum of a company's environment and a flexible and open ecosystem that integrates with third-party vendors.

Sykora said partners could add on top of this platform with capabilities around automation and threat intelligence, which Fortinet offers from its FortiLabs. He said Fortinet will further enhance its platform at the end of this year and early next with the launch of "intent-based security," which takes business language and transforms it into security policy.

Allen Falcon, CEO of Westborough, Mass.-based Cumulus Global, said he also sees the same need from customers to revamp their approach, shifting from a physical-centric security model to a data-centric and human-centric approach. "It's a different set of tools and it’s a multi-dimensional approach," Falcon said.

Falcon said partners play a key role in educating customers on how to get to this new model. He said partners can help customers evolve to the next-generation of security, taking their current tools that still work and supplementing and ultimately replacing them with a new wave of more sophisticated security technologies, particularly around identity management.

"It's more important to make sure each data element itself is protected. That's where I see the market underserved," Falcon said.