Transform Your Network Security with ZTNA SD-WAN and Fortinet

If you’re adding ZTNA SD-WAN to your technology stack, your network security architecture is on its way to being transformed. When you integrate Zero Trust Network Access with Fortinet SD-WAN, security and performance are maximized. Let’s examine how you can implement Zero Trust principles in your SD-WAN overlay to suit your business — in a simple way that makes sense.

ZTNA Basics

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) means not trusting anybody by default, whether inside or outside your network. Instead, it needs persistent confirmation before offering access. That may sound stringent, but that’s really what’s going to protect your business from today’s cyber threats that are coming in through remote work/telecommuting, cloud apps, and IoT.

Here is what you need to know about ZTNA:

• Zero implicit trust: Every user, every device and every session is verified.
• Least privilege access: Users are granted access to only what they absolutely need.
• Micro-segmentation: Segments divide the network into smaller secure areas.
• Constant vigilance: The work of authentication and authorization does not end at login.

What if the same was true of your network? Guarding every door and checking the ID in the door before allowing in? And watching every hallway inside? That roughly describes a ZTNA.

SD-WAN Integration

So how is it that you apply these Zero Trust tenets on top of your SD-WAN? Fortinet SD-WAN is designed with security baked in, so it’s simple to overlay ZTNA controls directly onto your current environment.

This is where Fortinet SD-WAN can make a big difference:

• Inbuilt Zero Trust firewall: Serves as a guardian at all branch and cloud connections.
• Dynamic path selection: Safely routes user traffic over the best path to the network.
• Cloud-enabled SASE architecture: Converges networking and security.

You can use the following steps to implement ZTNA on your SD-WAN overlay:

1. Evaluate your existing network: Understand where your users, devices and applications live.
2. Segment your SD-WAN traffic: Employ micro-segmentation to restrict access by user and device.
3. Implement Zero Trust firewall policies on all the SD-WAN edge devices.
4. Combine Fortinet SASE services with cloud-driven security.

That includes no longer backhauling all traffic to a central data center for inspection. With Fortinet SD-WAN, your security is closer to the user — in more ways than one.

Identity Policies

Zero Trust has identity at its core. You can’t simply depend on IP addresses anymore. You need to make sure who and what is attempting to get onto your network each and every time. This is why identity policies are so important.

Consider the following elements as you set identity policies:

• Authentication of the user: Protect the user’s identity with multi-factor authentication (MFA) so compromised passwords become worthless.
• Device posture assessment: Make sure devices are secure before allowing access.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): Provide specific permissions based on job responsibilities.
• SSO (Single Sign-On) integration: Streamline processes without sacrificing security.

Fortinet SD-WAN natively supports these policies allowing enforcement of identity rules at your edge.

What this does for you:

• Protects against unauthorized access.
• Deploys consistent policies across the board — whether in branch offices or cloud apps.
• Provides dynamic access control considering current context.

Continuous Validation

Zero Trust isn’t something you do once and forget about. Validation over time means your network is trying to keep checking if it still trusts the user or device, all the time.

So, now let us tell you how you can apply continuous validation on your Fortinet SD-WAN:

• Traffic inspection in real time: Utilize Fortinet’s Security Fabric to inspect sessions in real time.
• Behavioral analytics: Identify when something is abnormal, such as when data is flowing out or someone is logging in at odd hours.
• Automated remediation: Block or quarantine risky sessions automatically.
• Automated policy update: Adapt policies dynamically to changing risk levels.

In other words, your network becomes like the guard dog who not only checks I.D.s at the door but remains on the lookout and checks in every so often the entire time someone hangs out inside.

Wrapping It Up

Implementing Zero Trust Network Access across your SD-WAN overlay—particularly with Fortinet SD-WAN and its Zero Trust firewall—revolutionizes the cybersecurity landscape for your company. You have granular control, smart routing, and powerful protection all from a single interface.

To recap:

• Know and use the fundamentals of ZTNA: zero trust without verification.
• Combine Zero Trust firewall policies with the Fortinet SD-WAN overlay.
• Implement and enforce identity policies for each user and device securely.
• Keep The Guard Up: Session-based validations will keep your apps safe.

With Fortinet SASE and your SD-WAN in place, you are ready to connect everything the network is a perfect incarnation of Zero Trust, keeping threats where they belong, and the business running well. Ready to make the switch? The next-generation security networking future with ZTNA SD-WAN is coming.