The U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF) is in the process of rolling out FortiGate NextGen Firewalls (NGFW) to several vessels.

FortiGate firewalls can manage both north-south (traffic between the internal network and external sources like the internet) and east-west traffic (traffic between devices or systems within the internal network). These firewalls provide advanced threat protection, intrusion prevention, and content filtering, ensuring that data flows securely between the ship’s internal networks and external systems, including shore-based research facilities. Onboard, FortiGate firewalls can manage the internal traffic between critical systems such as scientific instruments, navigation systems, and crew communication networks, enforcing segmentation and security policies.

Useful Documentation