Fortinet Launches New Security Awareness and Training Service to Enhance Workforce Cyber Awareness and Mitigate Threats

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet
“Fortinet is committed to keeping organizations secure through our industry-leading technology and award-winning training and certifications curriculum. Designed by the Fortinet Training Institute, today we’re introducing the new Security Awareness and Training service, offering any organization the ability to further protect their critical digital assets from cyber threats by building employee cybersecurity awareness. This service uniquely is informed by Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence so that employees are learning and keeping up with the latest evolving cyberattack methods.”

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —

News Summary
Fortinet®, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced the availability of its Security Awareness and Training service for companies to further protect their security posture by advancing their employees’ cybersecurity skillsets and knowledge. A Fortinet survey found that 73 percent of organizations had at least one intrusion or breach that can be partially attributed to a gap in cybersecurity skills. This new service benefits any company seeking to reduce threats through employee cybersecurity awareness and training by providing:

• Curriculum from award-winning Fortinet Training Institute: The service is designed by the Fortinet Training Institute which provides cybersecurity certification and training through its various programs. The Fortinet Training Institute has received multiple industry awards for the caliber of its content and programs. Building on the award-winning curriculum, the new service will help organizations educate users globally on the importance of vigilance against increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats and how to recognize and avoid falling victim to cyberattacks.
• Alignment to NIST 800-50 and NIST 800-16 guidelines: The service is aligned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines – NIST 800-50 and NIST 800-16 – providing training and awareness that is engaging and relevant on topics such as information security, data privacy, physical security, password protection and internet security.
• Intelligence-driven training: Leveraging FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence, the Security Awareness and Training service provides training informed by developments observed across the threat landscape. Coursework incorporates insights to further train employees on today’s threats, preventing them from falling victim to the latest potential cyberattacks.

Employees Increasingly Become Targets for Cyber Attackers
Employees can be a strong line of defense at their organizations, but at the same time if they aren’t aware of the methods threat actors use, they can introduce risks and make their organization vulnerable to attacks. A robust security architecture is only part of a company’s security strategy. Employees also need to be cyber aware to truly protect a company’s valuable digital assets. This is especially critical as Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs observed a 10.7 times increase in ransomware attacks in 2021. Additionally, in a global ransomware survey conducted by Fortinet, 67% of organizations report suffering a ransomware attack. And according to the 2021 Gartner Market Report, “people directly affect security outcomes more than technology, policies or processes. In the last 12 months, the “human element” has been involved in 85% of breaches, and in nearly half of them (36%) phishing was the primary mode of attack.¹  

As threat sophistication only continues to rise, it is especially crucial that employees have a good understanding of cybersecurity best practices. With attack methods changing constantly, employees’ education and awareness of the threat landscape needs to keep up.

Advancing Cybersecurity Skillsets Through Fortinet’s Security Awareness and Training Service
Fortinet has designed its new service to address security, IT and compliance leaders’ growing concerns around threats and their workforce maintaining proper cyber hygiene. The Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service reduces the likelihood of a breach caused by an employee falling for a phishing email, clicking on a malicious link or becoming the victim of a social engineering attempt. For compliance-sensitive organizations, the service also helps leaders satisfy regulatory or industry compliance training requirements.

Building on its existing awareness training, Fortinet Security Awareness and Training service is very affordable while being simple to create, launch and manage ongoing awareness campaigns across employees and users.

Additional Resources

• Read our blog for more information about the new service.
• Learn more about Fortinet’s free cybersecurity training initiative for security professionals, which includes broad cyber awareness and product training. As part of the Fortinet Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), the Fortinet Training Institute also provides training and certification through the Network Security Expert (NSE) Certification, Academic Partner, and Education Outreach programs.
• Watch how Fortinet makes possible a digital world you can always trust, and view how the Fortinet Security Fabric platform delivers broad, integrated, and automated protection across an organization’s entire digital infrastructure.
• Read more about how Fortinet customers are securing their organizations.
• Learn more about FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence and research or Outbreak Alerts, which provide timely steps to mitigate breaking cybersecurity attacks. Read more about Fortinet’s FortiGuard security services portfolio.
• Engage in the Fortinet User Community (Fuse). Share ideas and feedback, learn more about our products and technology, and connect with peers.
• Follow Fortinet on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Subscribe to Fortinet on YouTube.

About Fortinet
Fortinet makes possible a digital world that we can always trust through its mission to protect people, devices, and data everywhere. This is why the world’s largest enterprises, service providers, and government organizations choose Fortinet to securely accelerate their digital journey. The Fortinet Security Fabric platform delivers broad, integrated, and automated protections across the entire digital attack surface, securing critical devices, data, applications, and connections from the data center to the cloud to the home office. Ranking #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide, more than 565,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. And the Fortinet NSE Training Institute, an initiative of Fortinet’s Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), provides one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry to make cyber training and new career opportunities available to everyone. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.

Copyright © 2022 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and common law trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, the Fortinet logo, FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiGuard, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiASIC, FortiClient, FortiCloud, FortiCore, FortiMail, FortiSandbox, FortiADC, FortiAI, FortiAP, FortiAppEngine, FortiAppMonitor, FortiAuthenticator, FortiBalancer, FortiBIOS, FortiBridge, FortiCache, FortiCall, FortiCam, FortiCamera, FortiCarrier, FortiCASB, FortiCenter, FortiCentral, FortiConnect, FortiController, FortiConverter, FortiCWP, FortiDB, FortiDDoS, FortiDeceptor, FortiDirector, FortiDNS, FortiEDR, FortiExplorer, FortiExtender, FortiFirewall, FortiFone, FortiGSLB, FortiHypervisor, FortiInsight, FortiIsolator, FortiLocator, FortiLog, FortiMeter, FortiMoM, FortiMonitor, FortiNAC, FortiPartner, FortiPenTest, FortiPhish, FortiPortal, FortiPresence , FortiProtect, FortiProxy, FortiRecorder, FortiReporter, FortiSASE, FortiScan, FortiSDNConnector, FortiSIEM, FortiSDWAN, FortiSMS, FortiSOAR, FortiSwitch, FortiTester, FortiToken, FortiTrust, FortiVoice, FortiVoIP, FortiWAN, FortiWeb, FortiWiFi, FortiWLC, FortiWLCOS and FortiWLM.

Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, contract, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet or any indication of intent related to a binding commitment, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments. This news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve uncertainties and assumptions, such as statements regarding technology releases among others. Changes of circumstances, product release delays, or other risks as stated in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, located at www.sec.gov, may cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this press release. If the uncertainties materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Fortinet assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, and expressly disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

¹ “Gartner®, Market Guide for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training, Richard Addiscott, Claude Mandy, William Candrick, 26 July 2021” GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.