Fortinet | Application Control to Prevent Data Breaches

Introduction

Nowadays, since businesses are very dependent on technology for their day-to-day work. Along with growing reliance on big data comes greater vulnerability to cyber threats, not only as the catalyst for data breaches that can open up giant financial and reputational liabilities. Here high-performance organizations are looking for hardened architectures to protect their sensitive data, they find Fortinet’s Application Control as important. This is especially true when it comes to companies planning to rent firewalls, servers, and routers because Application Control meets the need for data security against unauthorized access.

What is Application Control

Application control is an important building block for contemporary cyber security strategies. It essentially means monitoring and controlling the use of applications that are in a network. This is especially true since applications are often a vector to breach the system unnecessarily.

Application Control in Fortinet: A wide-ranging database of applications and their behaviors. It recognizes and classifies thousands of applications using deep packet inspection (DPI) with probing technology designs for evasive, encrypted apps. This ensures IT administrators can enforce their own custom policies, allowing or preventing specific applications to function from a security and business enablement perspective.

By integrating FortiApplication Control, your Fortinet firewall rental assures that a more controlled and monitored environment for application usage is implemented which allows an organization to bolster its security measures tenfold.

Advantages for Breach Preventions

Benefits of using Application Control is a method to reduce the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access.

1. Fine Grained Application Controls

It is a powerful feature that empowers administrators to tighten policies at the granular level. The only option is to allow, deny, or completely block specific applications. As a result, organizations can better contain risk from other software by controlling how applications are used.

2. Holistic Observability and Monitoring

In contrast, Fortinet’s Application Control provides a comprehensive view of application traffic. This knowledge allows IT teams to recognize anomalous activity that might signal a security risk. It enables quick detection and response to anomalous behavior by identifying which applications are running — and how they communicate with the network.

3. Reduced Attack Surface

With the ability to control applications that may run on your network, you will need eventually few points of trashing within which an invader can be able to initiate his or her attacks. This helps reduce the attack surface area which means harder for attackers to find bugs in your system.

4. Compliance and Data Protection

Data security compliance requirements will vary significantly with different industries. Application control helps in this regulatory compliance by allowing only those applications which are compliant and necessary to be running on the network so that sensitive data is protected from getting exposed or breached.

5. Prevent Data Exfiltration

Use Application Control to identify and then prevent the unauthorized applications used for data exfiltration. And this is very important to reduce, if not prevent, the data leakage out of the organization without authorization.

Configuration Guide

Configuring Application Control in Fortinet involves Several steps as given below: The following comprehensive guide written specifically for companies that rent Fortinet firewalls will explain how to configure and generate the desired Application Control settings.

Step 1: Access the Fortinet Firewall Interface

Go to the management console of Fortinet firewall and log in. It is usually available via a web browser interface, and administrative credentials are needed.

Step 2: Navigate to Security Profiles

After signing in, go to the Security Profiles tab. You will find a few security options here, including Application Control.

Step 3: Create or Edit an Application Control Profile

Click on Application Control to see current profiles — or to create a new profile. Click Create New if you are setting up a new profile. Specify the profile name for easy reorganization.

Step 4: Customizing Application Control Settings

• You then start adding applications or categories to allow, block, or monitor within the profile.
• Search and select applications from the rich database offered by Fortinet. You can filter the results by category (Web Application, Social Media, P2P, etc.)

Step 5: Setting Action for Applications

• Allow: Lets the app run without any limits
• Block: Which means blocking access and usage of the application inside the network
• Monitor: This permits the application to function, but it logs its actions for further study

Step 6: Applying the Profile to a Policy

After you have tailored the Application Control profile then it is time to apply this in a firewall policy. This way you can ensure that the controls are being actively enforced:

• Go to the section Policy & Objects.
• Choosing the policy to apply the application control profile or optionally create new policies.

Step 7: Testing and Monitoring

Finally, once the Application Control profile is in effect make sure everything works fine by viewing how well it works in a network. Fortinet logging and reporting tools view any applications being blocked, probe the logs for strange cases.

Step 8: Regular Updates and Review

• Periodically review and update the Application Control profile to support new applications and address critical threats.
• Always keep Fortinet firewall and the Application Control database updated to stay protected.

Conclusion

For organizations, Application Control is an important weapon in the constantly changing armory needed to protect themselves against data breaches and access by attackers acting within or on behalf of cyber adversaries. With granular control over application usage, they can better secure the organization’s applications and reduce their attack surface and compliance with industry regulations.

Businesses that lease firewalls, servers, and routers can benefit hugely from the addition of Fortinet Application Control. Through these steps and continuously updating control profiles, the firm could keep a strong defense against modern cyber threats. Lastly, keep in mind that security and resiliency of IT infrastructure boils down to proactive management.