Fortinet Joins INTERPOL Operation Serengeti 2.0, Adds Quantum-Safe Encryption to FortiOS

Fortinet Joins INTERPOL Operation Serengeti 2.0, Adds Quantum-Safe Encryption to FortiOS

Fortinet has marked its 25th year in operation by releasing its 2025 Sustainability Report. For security leaders across the Gulf and wider MENA region, three developments in particular deserve attention, though each comes with context worth understanding before it shapes a procurement or strategy decision.

Disrupting Global Cybercrime at Scale

In 2025, Fortinet contributed to INTERPOL's Operation Serengeti 2.0, a coordinated global cybercrime disruption initiative that resulted in the takedown of more than 11,400 malicious infrastructures and over 1,200 cybercriminal arrests worldwide.

Fortinet's contribution came through threat intelligence sharing and active collaboration with law enforcement. Several other major vendors, including Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro, participate in similar INTERPOL and Europol-linked intelligence sharing programmes. Vendor collaboration with law enforcement is becoming an industry-wide expectation rather than a differentiator for any single company.

That said, the operational outcome matters for GCC security teams regardless of attribution. The ransomware and cybercrime networks that INTERPOL is dismantling globally operate without geographic boundaries. Disruption actions of this scale reduce the capacity of threat actors whose campaigns reach directly into financial services, government systems, and critical infrastructure across the Middle East.

Quantum-Safe Encryption Now in FortiOS

Fortinet has expanded quantum-safe capabilities within FortiOS, introducing post-quantum cryptography, hybrid encryption, and quantum key distribution into its operating system.

A realistic framing matters here. Most security experts, including those aligned with NIST, which finalised its first post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024, agree that a cryptographically relevant quantum computer capable of breaking today's encryption is still likely years away. The more immediate concern is the Harvest Now, Decrypt Later threat model, where adversaries collect encrypted data today intending to decrypt it once quantum capability matures.

For GCC enterprises managing long-lived sensitive data in financial services, healthcare, or government, that window is worth planning around now. Fortinet's integration of these protections into a widely deployed enterprise platform lowers the adoption barrier considerably.

Cisco and Palo Alto Networks have both published post-quantum roadmaps and are integrating similar protections across their platforms. The direction of travel across the enterprise security market is consistent. Fortinet is not alone in this space, but it is moving at a pace that matters for procurement timelines.

AI Governance Formalised

Fortinet established a dedicated AI Governance Committee in 2025 and published its principles for responsible AI use and development.

As AI-driven threat detection and response tooling becomes standard across enterprise security stacks, governance frameworks around how those models are trained, audited, and deployed are becoming a genuine procurement criterion. This is particularly true in regulated industries across the Gulf, where UAE and Saudi national cybersecurity frameworks are both moving toward requiring vendors to demonstrate structured AI governance rather than simply claiming it.

This is not unique to Fortinet. Most major security vendors now have some form of AI ethics or governance documentation. What matters for GCC procurement teams is whether those frameworks are independently auditable and aligned with local regulatory expectations, not just published as policy statements.

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability

Fortinet reports up to a 62% reduction in energy consumption for select products compared with the previous generation.

The company also became the first cybersecurity vendor to publish Environmental Product Declarations for its networking and security products, providing independently verified environmental data across product lifecycles. For GCC enterprises managing ESG reporting obligations, particularly those operating under Saudi Vision 2030's green economy targets or the UAE Net Zero 2050 commitment, the environmental footprint of security infrastructure is an increasingly relevant procurement filter.

Workforce Development: The Regional Reality

Since 2022, Fortinet has trained over 914,800 people in cybersecurity globally, working toward a target of one million by end of 2026.

One important caveat for MENA readers: the report does not break down training figures by region. The global number is significant, but how much of that capacity building is actually reaching the Gulf market is not specified. For a region where the cybersecurity skills shortage is one of the most consistently cited operational constraints facing enterprise security teams, the local impact of vendor training programmes matters more than the headline global figure.

Fortinet has an established MEA presence through its partner and training networks, and its Fortinet Training Institute offers certifications that are recognised across the region. The real question for GCC security leaders is whether their teams are actively accessing those programmes, not just whether the programmes exist.

The Bottom Line

Fortinet's 2025 report covers ground that is genuinely relevant to GCC enterprise security strategy, from post-quantum readiness and AI governance to law enforcement collaboration and sustainability credentials.

Read it as a vendor's account of its own progress, which it is, and use it as one data point among several when evaluating the broader market. The themes it highlights, quantum-safe cryptography, AI governance, and OT security, are ones that every major security vendor is now competing on. The value for GCC security leaders is less about Fortinet specifically and more about what the industry as a whole is signalling as its current priorities.