• 02 June, 2025
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Cybersecurity Rhythms: Insights from a Network Admin Since 1993

Cybersecurity also has a rhythm to it — a rhythm that has been slowly changing since I started playing with this stuff as a network admin in 1993. Way back when network administration meant slogging through PSTN muxes for voice and data and wow was it a jolt to watch the Slammer worm go to town through the systems with my own eyes for anyone in the field. Three decades on, I own and operate PJ Networks Pvt Ltd and support clients in being one step ahead of the near endless barrage of threats, including via our exciting partnership with Fortinet. Now, on my third coffee of the morning, I want to tell you why this duo is a game changer for the delivery of your SOC and NOC services.

When It Comes to Cybersecurity, the Power of Partnership

And here’s the thing — cybersecurity is no longer a solo sport. It’s a team game. And not just within your own organization but among vendors and service providers. The partnership of PJ Networks and Fortinet brings together years of experience and the latest in technology to create something that is strong on every side.

Back in my day, circa the late 90s, the separation between the NOC and SOC was not only clear but almost siloed. Today? If you’re still having your NOC and SOC tools sit in separate silos, you’re doing it wrong. Threats have loosed that distinction. Fortinet’s Security Fabric provides the answer with integrated coverage and support from operations to security. It’s a napes e digs platform for getting everybody on board.

Why does this matter?

• Unified dashboards so your team isn’t bouncing between 5 consoles trying to figure out what’s normal and what’s an emergency.
• Sharing threat intelligence between NOC and SOC tools accelerates turnaround times around detection and response.
• Automated workflows cut down on human error and give your specialist time to tackle the big problems.

Welcome Fortinet: A Leader in Secure Networking

I sound like a fanboy, but I’ve earned it – Fortinet has been leading the way in secure networking for over a decade. If you recall the days of standalone firewalls that were more like a sieve than protection — Fortinet FLIPPED that story. They created an ecosystem of security that’s not simply a bunch of products that are stitched together, but a textile.

If you treat your network like a high-speed car, Fortinet is more like the mechanic under the hood: a supplier of the horsepower (in the form of firewalls, switches, and routers) but also of the traffic management, telemetry, and safety mechanisms that keep you on the road.

Their solutions aren’t only for blocking traffic or alerts; it’s collapsible intelligence that allows you to view everything — from the server room to cloud and whatever feeds and data channels are between the two places.

How Fortinet’s Security Fabric Enhances The Performance Of The NOC

Now let’s drill into the NOC, the beating heart of network uptime. I’ve done networks where you get a huge avalanche of alerts, which are mostly white noise. Dealing with that felt a little bit like searching for your car keys in the dark — a frustrating and often fruitless endeavor.

Enter Fortinet’s Security Fabric and everything changes in a big, big way:

• Increased visibility It fabricates data from devices and sensors inside your network, which helps you troubleshoot and see anomalies.
• Automation: Think of it as autopilot for all the things you need to do every day; configuration changes, firmware updates, and half a dozen performance baselines freeing up your team to focus on innovation instead of catching up to your work.
• Predictive analytics: Fortinet’s tech anticipates and looks for patterns before things start falling apart, which in turn can reduce downtime and improve the user experience.

Here’s a quickie: While helping three banks migrate to a new zero-trust architecture (we’ll save that for later), we saw integrated dashboards from Fortinet that enable NOC teams to immediately spot which network segments were under duress — and react before users see anything.

What does Fortinet bring to the SOC: ATP

SOC teams can sometimes be on the short end — all that data to go through and not enough context. Fortinet’s Security Fabric provides that holistic view – automatically correlating and coordinating threat intelligence across the endpoint, network, and cloud.

You avail of a gastronomic control tower across all of your cyber scape. Fortinet enables:

• Correlation in real-time of events across systems so there are no alerts just noise.
• Automated threat response workflows that work as soon as a breach is detected.
• Threat intelligence updated around the clock for the most current intel on the latest tactics of attackers from around the world.

(And yes, I’m still buzzing from it.) While here at DefCon’s hardware hacking village last week, I was reminded of how attackers move fast and think outside the box (sometimes, even literally). It’s no coincidence that Fortinet’s own internal systems and tools are automated and integrated to maximize efficiency and so too is your association with the fabric. moments hackers love.

But a mini-rant here: No solution is perfect and yeah, my skepticism around AI-powered security holds up. Machines help, sure, but they won’t replace human judgment and discernment — particularly from people like us who have seen Slammer and every worm since. Trust but verify, that’s what I always say.

The PJ Networks Difference: Deploying and Supporting Fortinet Solutions is our Speciality

So you get the tech, but can you use it well? And that’s where P.J. Networks excels. With my experience cutting my teeth as a network guy since the early 2000s and now driving my own security consulting firm, I’ve struggled to learn that tools without experience are just expensive doorstops.

Lately, we’ve assisted three banks establish zero-trust architectures with Fortinet’s package. These were multi-site, multi-layer security needs and complex projects but we just love that they’re based on top the Fortinet Security Fabric that it integrates sooo well and we never have to bring in consultants to help us do a deployment thanks to our deep domain expertise.

Here’s what we’re serving up at your table:

• Custom consulting that considers not only cyber threats, but your individual business processes.
• Seamless roll-out with no network disruption.
• Ongoing tuning and updating as you change your security posture.

Choosing Fortinet gear is like purchasing a premium car — although you still want a pro driver who knows the track.
Creative ghans can be woven back-to-back to form reversible fabric.

At the end of the day, The collaboration between PJ Networks and Fortinet is all about integration without friction. Tool fatigue — too many systems, too little harmony — is among the biggest headaches for I.T. and security today. In Fortinet’s model, this equates to enabling a single fabric dynamically ad-hoc to operate act in harmony to act and as one organism.

• Consolidated dashboards reduce context switching.
• Shared threat intelligence benefits both NOC and SOC operations teams.
• Auto-remediation workflows shorten incident response time and minimize manual toil.

Here’s how I describe it to business leaders: It’s like having two chefs in a kitchen — your NOC and SOC are your chefs — who are using the same equipment but different recipes and ingredients for dinner. But when they have the same pantry and are communicating, the meal is just right, every time.

Quick Take

• Fortinet Security Fabric provides integrated visibility and control across the entire enterprise attack surface.
• PJ Networks has decades of real-world experience in deploying and managing Fortinet solutions—so you can minimize risk and maximize performance.
• Repeatable workflows and centralized dashboards = quicker, smarter responses without alert fatigue.
• Collaborative threat intelligence helps make your posture defensible as a whole.
• Together we turn your SOC and NOC from being silos to becoming a powerhouse of continuous security greatness.

Final thoughts? It’s obviously not only about better software or more products though, it’s about a relationship, reducing complexity and offering security that’s as dynamic as the challenges that you face. And yeah — I firmly believe this is what the future of integrated cyber defense will look like.

Now, back to that coffee. Never stop learning, and certainly don’t stop sharing.