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Fortinet Forticlient security and safery on MAC

How it is with the security of Fortinet Forticlient


This product is not in AppStore.


I am afraid that instalation of this client compromise MAC OS security and malware protection

It is necessary for installation to add option install from known developer applications request full disk access and to Keystore and so on.


Do you Have somebody's information if this application was chacked for safety and security by apple team or an independent auditor? (For examle something like CIS benchmark)



Thank you


Jiři

Posted on Nov 11, 2022 1:22 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 13, 2022 2:16 PM

Fortinet is a third party security company that provides enterprise security products to businesses like Firewall appliances. If you are looking to install their software to use for work, then your employer is trusting Fortinet to protect their entire network from the outside world. While you may be able to use some other VPN software, it will need to be able to utilize the protocols & security features which the Fortinet firewall VPN requires by the employer (you would most likely need to figure out how to configure it on your own). Chances are the Fortinet Client should be safe to use and is likely the only option your employer will support for you if you have issues connecting. If you need to connect to a Fortinet VPN, then you may not have many options.


For what its worth, the FortiClient software is safe to use if you need to connect to a Fortinet VPN. I haven't personally installed the FortiClient app, but I would imagine Fortinet may be part of the Apple developer program so their app may install without any manual approval needed.


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 13, 2022 2:16 PM in response to JiriJIF

Fortinet is a third party security company that provides enterprise security products to businesses like Firewall appliances. If you are looking to install their software to use for work, then your employer is trusting Fortinet to protect their entire network from the outside world. While you may be able to use some other VPN software, it will need to be able to utilize the protocols & security features which the Fortinet firewall VPN requires by the employer (you would most likely need to figure out how to configure it on your own). Chances are the Fortinet Client should be safe to use and is likely the only option your employer will support for you if you have issues connecting. If you need to connect to a Fortinet VPN, then you may not have many options.


For what its worth, the FortiClient software is safe to use if you need to connect to a Fortinet VPN. I haven't personally installed the FortiClient app, but I would imagine Fortinet may be part of the Apple developer program so their app may install without any manual approval needed.


Nov 13, 2022 3:27 PM in response to JiriJIF

My only experience with the "Fortinet" product is memorialized in this Discussion: malware removal - Apple Community


From the limited perspective of one and only one data point it would appear it did absolutely nothing to prevent that particular Mac user from installing malware.


Do you Have somebody's information if this application was chacked for safety and security by apple team or an independent auditor? (For examle something like CIS benchmark)


There are few (if any) truly independent and unbiased sources of reliable information. Apple Support Communities is probably as close as you can get, since its participants are strictly prohibited from deriving any gain from its use, financial or otherwise.

Nov 13, 2022 6:05 PM in response to JiriJIF

For information on macOS platform support, including an overview of the read-only file system, and the built-in malware scanning tools:


https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf


XProtect and the recently-arrived XProtect Remediator are the scanning and malware-removal tools.


It appears these same Apple security changes are also preventing one of the other add-on anti-malware tools from rendering macOS corrupted too, due to an apparent mis-detection—a false positive—arising within the third-party add-on anti-malware tool.

Nov 13, 2022 5:55 PM in response to John Galt

FYI, the FortiClient app just contains the Fortinet VPN software. Fortinet also has an app which provides an anti-virus app bundled with the VPN software (I forget the name of the app bundle). Using just the FortiClient app should be Ok.


Edit: I do agree that no anti-virus software should not be used on a Mac. Of course some organizations may have hard fast rules requiring it especially if a personal device is being used to access a business network.


Edit#2: Actually I may have remembered it incorrectly or Fortinet changed the names. However, Fortinet does provide a VPN only app of the FortiClient software. This is the app the OP should be using as the other app bundles include anti-virus software (not needed) and other proprietary Fortinet software (also not needed for most users).

https://www.fortinet.com/support/product-downloads


Fortinet Forticlient security and safery on MAC

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