External Publication

Fortinet’s AI-driven defense for a machine-speed era

Network World [Unofficial] March 18, 2026

At the Fortinet Accelerate 2026 user conference in Las Vegas, the keynote speeches focused on the need to transform security as the traditional boundaries of the enterprise are dissolving. As organizations rush to embrace generative AI, hybrid work, and cloud-first strategies, they are inadvertently expanding an attack surface that is now being exploited by agentic AI in the hands of threat actors.

Fortinet’s response to this shift has been its Security Fabric. At the event, the company announced the launch of FortiOS 8.0 and the expansion of its Security Operations Platform.

Why security must evolve

For decades, the industry followed a best-of-breed procurement model, resulting in organizations managing an average of 43 different security solutions. Pedro Paixao, general manager and senior vice president of America sales for Fortinet, noted that this created a fundamental asymmetry: Economically, it is cheaper to attack than to defend. And technically, attackers use unified systems with full context, while defenders are bogged down by fragmented silos and blind spots.

As attackers weaponize AI to accelerate reconnaissance and social engineering, security must function with the same coordination. This is no longer “human vs. machine” but “machine vs. machine,” requiring an evolution from interactive AI copilots to autonomous, agentic AI that can detect and respond without constant human intervention.

FortiOS 8.0 unified operating system for secure networking

Fortinet introduced FortiOS 8.0, the latest version of the operating system powering the Fortinet Security Fabric. This release focuses on three core areas: securing AI adoption, expanding SASE, and preparing for a post-quantum world.

1. Securing the shadow AI surface

With 98% of genAI apps currently unsanctioned within enterprises, FortiOS 8.0 introduces FortiView for AI. This tool provides real-time visibility into AI usage, distinguishing sanctioned tools from risky shadow AI.

AI-aware controls: Security teams can now allow approved tools while blocking specific risky actions that might expose IP or customer data.
Deep DLP: Enhanced data loss prevention (DLP) now utilizes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to find sensitive data hidden in images or screenshots, closing a common loophole for data exfiltration.

2. Next-generation SASE and sovereignty

To support regulated industries, Fortinet expanded its SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) options:

SASE Outpost: Extends enforcement to customer-controlled locations like private data centers while maintaining cloud management.
Sovereign SASE: Provides granular control over log retention and data residency, critical for national security requirements.

3. Quantum-safe protection

Fortinet recognized the future threat of quantum computing early and embedded post-quantum cryptography (PQC) in its fabric in 2021. With FortiOS 8.0, they have advanced these capabilities and extended them to Fortinet Unified SASE. This ensures that today’s encrypted data remains secure against future “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks.

Modernizing SecOps with agentic AI and FortiSOC

The second major announcement focused on the Fortinet Security Operations Platform, aimed at solving the chronic problem of alert fatigue and the global shortage of 4 million cyber professionals.

Fortinet is previewing FortiSOC, a cloud-delivered service that unifies FortiAnalyzer, FortiSIEM, and FortiSOAR into a single console. It uses a unified data model to ingest telemetry from both Fortinet and third-party environments, accelerating investigations without requiring an operational rebuild.

Also, Fortinet has had chatbots for SecOps but is now introducing agentic workflows. New dedicated agents automate alert triage, threat hunting, and investigation. By supporting the Model Context Protocol (MCP), these agents maintain shared context across detection and response, ensuring that when an attacker pivots, the AI agent follows.

Strategic resilience: Insights from the global stage

A few speakers at the Fortinet Accelerate conference highlighted the urgency of these innovations.

Giulia Moschetta, research and analysis specialist at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Centre for Cybersecurity, noted that 87% of leaders now see AI-driven vulnerabilities as a critical concern. Solving this requires better visibility and reducing complexity— an observation that was echoed by customers at the event.

James Erwin of Lowes, a Fortinet customer, shared how unifying the company’s architecture on Fortinet has moved it away from the “Wild West” of fragmented tools. He emphasized the shift from features to partnership: “When we were looking at a replacement, it wasn’t really about feature sets. It was more focused on ‘Can we trust who we’re partnering with, and will they be there when we need them?’”

Another Fortinet customer, Brian Obendorfer of Waste Management, talked about the value of visibility across massive operational technology (OT) environments: “By being able to align those standardizations, we’re able to move everybody out of the Wild West into a civilized network”.

While the customer panels and WEF sessions were separate events, they aligned with my takeaways from WEF’s Davos 2026 event. AI has the power to change the world, but threat actors are using it now to find new ways of breaching organizations. Organizations are looking to simplify their cybersecurity by consolidating the number of vendors they use, and trust has become a significant contributor to purchasing decisions.

Fortinet is a well-established security company that is highly trusted because of its large install base, its industry validation, and its transparency with CVEs. Its platform advantage comes from all its products being built on its own common silicon, the Security Processing Unit, as well as having a single operating system that spans its products.

Conclusion: Intelligence by design

As Fortinet CEO Ken Xie (pictured below) noted, 2026 marks a turning point where security is no longer just a “checkbox” but a core function of the AI-driven enterprise. By integrating AI natively across its single operating system—rather than through fragmented acquisitions—Fortinet is attempting to flip the economics of cybercrime.

Through FortiOS 8.0 and the FortiSOC preview, Fortinet is providing a scalable foundation for “intelligent security by design”—a system that anticipates risks and stops threats at machine speed.

Zeus Kerravala

Why security must evolve

FortiOS 8.0 unified operating system for secure networking

Modernizing SecOps with agentic AI and FortiSOC

Strategic resilience: Insights from the global stage

Conclusion: Intelligence by design

Discussion in the ATmosphere