March 18, 2008 12:00 ET

Direct Insurance Secures Internal Network With Fortinet Solutions

Leading Israeli Insurance Company Chooses FortiGate High-End Security Appliances for High Performance Firewall and IPS

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - March 18, 2008) - Fortinet® -- the pioneer and leading provider of multi-threat security solutions -- today announced that Direct Insurance, a leading insurance company in Israel, has selected Fortinet's FortiGate™-5020 security appliances to help protect its internal network against Internet threats based on the devices' high performance, scalability and advanced intrusion prevention (IPS) functionalities. Fortinet's chassis-based appliances are used for firewall and IPS to clean the internal traffic from viruses and other malware as well as block potential inside threats.

Back in September 2006, the Israeli government enforced a new regulation on data protection, compelling insurance companies and banks to clearly separate their internal network from the external one they use to conduct business with clients. To meet this new requirement, Direct Insurance, which already had a firewall solution in place at the perimeter network, looked at implementing another security solution on its internal network to provide a second level of protection. Being an online insurance company with a complex network infrastructure that includes 800 workstations and more than 100 servers, it was critical for Direct Insurance to choose a robust security solution that would not slow down its high-speed network performance and would be able to scale with the evolving security needs of the rapidly growing company.

Based on those requirements, the IT department at Direct Insurance looked for a robust network security solution that would provide high-performance firewall and IPS. Working with Taldor Communication, Fortinet's Gold partner in Israel, and after evaluating various security solutions, including those from Check Point and Juniper, Direct Insurance opted for Fortinet's FortiGate-5020 chassis. On top of offering multi-gigabit firewall performance and advanced IPS functionalities, the chassis-based appliance would allow Direct Insurance to benefit from a modular software and hardware architecture that allows the company to easily increase the performance level or add new security functions as needed.

"With our entire business being done online, it is paramount for us to protect our employees and data from external and internal threats while, at the same time, making sure that our network throughput is not impacted," said Yuval Benjamin CTO at Direct Insurance. "We chose Fortinet's chassis-based security systems because they proved to offer superior performance and security functions, IPS in particular."

Direct Insurance deployed two FortiGate-5020 appliances to help provide high performance with modules that can be clustered to provide any desired level of redundancy and ensure high availability. The company also purchased FortiAnalyzer™-800 logging, reporting and analysis appliance to easily aggregate, analyze and report on nation-wide log data and deliver detailed network reports and information on network usage. Fortinet's reporting device centralizes the collection and analysis of log and event data from the FortiGate-5020 appliances.

"We're very pleased to see another key account choose Fortinet for its advanced IPS technology," said Andre Stewart Vice President for EMEA. "Thanks to the reliability, scalability and high throughput capabilities of our high-end FortiGate-5000 chassis, telecommunication carriers, MSSPs and large enterprises can keep their network fast and secure."

Fortinet's FortiGate-5000 Series of modular, chassis-based multi-threat security systems are the industry's first security solutions to comply with the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard for next-generation carrier-grade communications equipment. Mobile operators, telecommunication carriers, service providers and large enterprise customers can configure FortiGate-5000 Series systems in a variety of ways to benefit from multi-gigabit antivirus, antispyware, firewall, VPN and intrusion prevention system (IPS) performance and scalability.

About Direct Insurance (www.yashir.co.il)

The Direct Insurance brand by IDI, pioneer of direct insurance in Israel, is the largest leading company of its kind. Direct Insurance commenced operations in 1994 as Israel's first direct-marketing insurance company working directly with clients without the mediation of insurance agents. Direct Insurance operations account for 23% of the insurance market in Israel. Direct Insurance commands the largest share (9%) in the direct marketing sector.

Direct Insurance is a break-through brand that incessantly surges forward, driven to innovate, develop and provide ever more affordable and convenient services. The company's track record attests to its achievements: In 1999, Direct Insurance initiated the sales of life insurance and health insurance policies directly to clients and in 2002 was the first insurance provider to offer a 12-installment payment plan. In 2007, the company launched Israel's first website where clients can purchase motor insurance entirely online.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)

Fortinet is the pioneer and leading provider of ASIC-accelerated unified threat management, or UTM, security systems, which are used by enterprises and service providers to increase their security while reducing total operating costs. Fortinet solutions were built from the ground up to integrate multiple levels of security protection -- including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, VPN, spyware prevention and anti-spam -- designed to help customers protect against network and content level threats. Leveraging a custom ASIC and unified interface, Fortinet solutions offer advanced security functionality that scales from remote office to chassis-based solutions with integrated management and reporting. Fortinet solutions have won multiple awards around the world and are the only security products that are certified in six programs by ICSA Labs: (Firewall, Antivirus, IPSec, SSL, Network IPS, and Anti-Spyware). Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.

Copyright © 2008 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. Fortinet is a registered trademark of Fortinet, Inc. FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiAnalyzer, FortiASIC, FortiCare, FortiManager, FortiWiFi, FortiGuard, FortiClient, FortiReporter and other names are trademarks of Fortinet, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.