A firewall is often treated as a box you buy once and forget. In practice, it's the single device deciding what traffic is allowed in and out of your office network — and a firewall with default or overly-permissive rules protects almost nothing, regardless of the brand.
What the firewall is actually doing
- Rules — each rule says which traffic (by source, destination, port, protocol) is allowed or blocked. A well-configured firewall only allows exactly what the business needs, nothing more.
- VPN — lets remote staff or branch offices connect into the internal network securely over the internet, as if they were plugged in on-site.
- FortiAP integration — Fortinet firewalls can centrally manage wireless access points, so Wi-Fi security policy stays consistent with the wired network instead of being a separate, forgotten system.
Where I've used this in practice
Managing a Fortinet firewall for 100+ users across a transport company meant setting up VPN access for staff and remote offices in Thailand, Jakarta, and Indonesia — each connecting securely into the main network without exposing internal systems directly to the internet. Separately, at a wealth advisory firm, Fortinet handled VPN IDs, basic rule management, and FortiAP access points across two office locations.
Common misconfigurations that quietly defeat the firewall
- VPN accounts left active for employees who've left the company
- Rules opened temporarily for testing, never closed afterward
- Firmware not updated — firewall vendors patch real vulnerabilities regularly, and an outdated firewall OS is itself a risk
- Default admin credentials never changed
A simple health check
Every 6 months, review: which VPN accounts are actually active and still needed, whether any rule allows more than it should, and whether firmware is current. This alone catches most of the drift that accumulates on a firewall that's otherwise "just working."