Recently, a critical vulnerability affecting Fortinet’s FortiOS and FortiProxy systems has grabbed headlines. This flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-55591, has a staggering severity score of 9.6/10 and allows attackers to gain exploit super-admin privileges. Such vulnerabilities are not just theoretical risks—Arctic Wolf researchers have already observed concerning patterns of exploitation. For businesses relying on Fortinet, this should ring serious alarm bells about the integrity of their network defenses.
But the issues with Fortinet are not new. Over recent years, Fortinet has faced multiple instances of vulnerabilities, leaving organizations scrambling to patch and secure their systems before damage is done. The reality is clear—your business cannot afford to gamble on solutions that fail to consistently uphold robust security standards.
Fortunately, there’s a superior alternative that not only solves Fortinet's shortcomings but also accelerates network access and security into the future. Enter Cloudbrink Personal SASE, a high-performance Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) platform built for the modern hybrid workforce.
Fortinet’s Weaknesses in the Spotlight
The latest security flaw in Fortinet’s VPN solutions highlights deep-rooted issues in its architecture and approach to network security. A few key challenges with Fortinet’s infrastructure include:
- Repeated Security Vulnerabilities
The persistence of high-severity vulnerabilities—such as authentication bypass exploits—shows a systemic issue with Fortinet’s ability to maintain secure systems. These vulnerabilities are often targeted because VPNs act as the “front doors” to critical business systems. - Patch Dependency
Fortinet’s approach relies on rapid patching to mitigate risks. While patches are necessary, the constant urgency to apply updates disrupts business continuity and risks leaving organizations exposed if the patches are delayed or overlooked. The sole responsibility of applying patches is on customers and thereby keeping the IT teams always on lookout for new patches and applying them ASAP, adding additional burden on these teams. - Complexity of support
The complexity of managing both hardware and software adds significant strain to already overburdened IT support teams. Without regular maintenance, updates, and fine-tuning, critical tasks can be neglected, creating vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit. - Performance Bottlenecks
Traditional VPN concentrator architectures, like Fortinet’s, introduce latency by routing traffic through centralized gateways. This negatively impacts performance, particularly for modern hybrid workforces that rely on fast and seamless app access. This latency is further compounded by packet loss that can reduce a 1 gig connection to a few mega bytes. - System Complexity
Fortinet’s licensing, configuration, and VPN failures often demand significant IT intervention, making management unnecessarily complex for already burdened teams.
The Cloudbrink Advantage With Personal SASE
Cloudbrink’s Personal SASE solution emerges as a groundbreaking alternative designed to solve Fortinet’s failings while meeting the needs of hybrid workforces. Here’s why you should consider making the switch:
1. Best-in-Class Zero Trust Security
Unlike Fortinet, Cloudbrink employs state-of-the-art encryption technologies like TLS 1.3 with Mutual TLS (MTLS), offering significantly improved security. Cloudbrink also sets itself apart by rotating certificates every eight hours, preventing attackers from exploiting long-duration certificates.
Additionally, Cloudbrink eliminates the need to open firewall ports in data centers with its dark-cloud deployment architecture, reducing the attack surface to near zero. Since there is no inbound connection allowed, there is no chance of an attacker connecting to the Cloudbrink systems at all.
Continuous device posture assessments every 30 minutes ensure that only compliant devices maintain access.
Since Cloudbrink maintains the control plane infrastructure and provides it as-a-service model, all the necessary patches are applied by Cloudbrink and customers are completely relieved from this overhead.
2. Lightning-Fast Performance
Cloudbrink’s FAST Edges, its globally distributed dynamic points of presence (PoPs), create ultra-low latency access for users. The system ensures a consistent performance upgrade of up to 30x over traditional VPN solutions, including Fortinet. Businesses report measurably smoother operations with real-time applications, faster file transfers, and reduced app delay.
3. Simplified Management and Scalability
Fortinet’s solutions require capacity expansions through hardware upgrades and additional licensing—processes that are costly and time-consuming. Cloudbrink’s software-only infrastructure, in contrast, scales almost instantaneously with just a few clicks. It’s tailored for agile businesses that demand flexibility without the overhead of hardware.
4. User-Centric Design
Cloudbrink prioritizes quality of experience by resolving last-mile issues effectively. The Brink Quality Index offers real-time visibility into performance metrics, enabling IT teams to quickly identify and address issues before they affect users. Fortinet’s systems lack such insights, leaving IT teams in the dark.
5. Unified Solution for the Work-From-Anywhere generation
With Cloudbrink’s Personal SASE, hybrid workers can access public, SaaS, and private apps—all with a single, unified policy. Unlike Fortinet, which struggles to provide seamless multi-cloud connectivity, Cloudbrink’s solution simplifies operations by allowing users to work across multiple environments effortlessly.
Why Wait? Replace Fortinet with Cloudbrink
While Fortinet was once considered a reliable solution, its repeated vulnerabilities and dated infrastructure are misaligned with the needs of today’s remote-first businesses. Cloudbrink offers a future-proof platform that not only addresses Fortinet’s shortcomings but redefines secure, high-performance connectivity for enterprises.
Stop settling for lagging performance, complexity, and insecure gateways. Take the smarter step today. Switch to Cloudbrink Personal SASE for an innovative, secure, and efficient solution that prioritizes both user and business needs.
Contact Cloudbrink to learn more or request a demo or free trial today!
