Fortinet Federal’s Bob Fortna: Agencies Should Establish Security Protocols to Enable Digital Transformation

Bob Fortna, president of Fortinet’s federal business, said agencies seeking to advance digital transformation should build up cybersecurity by implementing security protocols meant to safeguard connected physical platforms from threat actors.

“This includes segmenting physical devices connected to an IP network, baselining and whitelisting behaviors and setting alerts and quarantines that are automatically triggered when behaviors change,” Fortna wrote in a GCN article published Tuesday.

He suggested security and networking strategies that agencies could adopt to pursue digital transformation, such as adaptation to edge-to-edge hybrid systems that combine new strategies and technologies with traditional security functionality and implementation of intentional interoperability that facilitates data sharing to replace “accidental architecture” of disparate security platforms.

Fortna called on agencies to implement common operating systems and open standards to expedite the adoption of digital transformation platforms and strategies and integrate security platforms to address potential threats associated with digital transformation.

“At the same time, ensuring the growing performance and interconnectivity requirements of today's digital society also requires a holistic security architecture that can leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence and automation to accelerating decision-making and close the gap between detection and mitigation,” he added.