Fortinet has announced the release of FortiOS 8.0, an upgrade to the operating system powering its Security Fabric, at the Fortinet Accelerate 2026 event.
This latest iteration introduces advanced AI-driven security features, next-generation Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) capabilities, and quantum-safe technology. Designed to simplify security structures, FortiOS 8.0 aims to provide consistent protection across various digital environments.
"FortiOS 8.0 reflects more than 25 years of continued innovation at the intersection of networking and security. As organizations embrace AI, cloud, and increasingly encrypted environments, a unified operating system is essential to reduce complexity, improve visibility, and ensure security can scale without slowing the business." Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet
Unified Platform for Secure Networking
In response to the challenges faced by security teams amidst digital transformation, including the adoption of generative AI, hybrid work models, and cloud-first strategies, FortiOS 8.0 introduces innovations across AI-driven security, SASE enhancements, and quantum-safe measures. This unified approach is designed to improve network visibility, control, and security preparedness.
Enhancing AI Security
With the rapid adoption of generative AI and autonomous technology, FortiOS 8.0 adds capabilities to manage and secure AI usage within organizational networks. New features include:
- FortiView for AI, which offers real-time insights into AI application and usage, distinguishing between sanctioned and unsanctioned tools.
- AI-aware application control, ensuring safe use of GenAI tools by blocking actions that might expose sensitive data.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-to-agent visibility to uncover hidden AI activity and prevent potential data mishandling.
- Enhanced data loss prevention (DLP) using optical character recognition (OCR) to identify sensitive data hidden in images and scans.
- AI agents across the Fortinet Security Fabric to streamline configuration and troubleshooting for firewall and SD-WAN systems.
Advancing Next-Generation SASE
FortiOS 8.0 strengthens SASE capabilities to meet the demands of performance-critical environments. This includes:
- SASE Outpost for deploying SASE points of presence (POPs) closer to users, maintaining centralized cloud management.
- Sovereign SASE options that offer data sovereignty controls, accommodating varied privacy and residency requirements.
- Unified SD-WAN bundles for enhanced connectivity and simplified management.
- Multipath IPsec tunnels to boost application performance and site resiliency.
Quantum-Safe Security Measures
Furthering preparations for a post-quantum era, FortiOS 8.0 integrates quantum-safe cryptography across its solutions:
- Quantum-resilient cryptographic controls secure management paths and VPN connectivity using Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC).
- Strengthened SSL deep inspection to detect threats in encrypted traffic without compromising end-to-end encryption.
- Quantum-safe SASE enhancements for securing critical access paths and managing encrypted traffic inspections.
By continuing to align with its Secure Networking vision, Fortinet's FortiOS 8.0 aims to reduce complexity and enhance efficiency while providing scalable security that supports digital transformation and long-term resilience in facing evolving cyber threats.
Fortinet, the global cybersecurity pioneer driving the convergence of networking and security, announced FortiOS 8.0, the latest release of the operating system that powers the Fortinet Security Fabric. Introduced as part of Fortinet’s Secure Networking innovation at Fortinet Accelerate 2026, FortiOS 8.0 delivers powerful new AI-driven security, next-generation SASE, and quantum-safe capabilities to help organizations simplify their security architectures while delivering consistent protection and performance across the entire digital infrastructure.
"FortiOS 8.0 reflects more than 25 years of continued innovation at the intersection of networking and security. As organizations embrace AI, cloud, and increasingly encrypted environments, a unified operating system is essential to reduce complexity, improve visibility, and ensure security can scale without slowing the business.” Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet
A unified platform for the future of secure networking
As organizations accelerate digital transformation initiatives, including generative AI (GenAI) adoption, hybrid work, and cloud-first strategies, security teams face growing pressure to scale protection without increasing complexity. FortiOS 8.0 addresses these challenges by advancing Secure Networking through a unified operating system that provides deeper visibility, stronger control, and future-ready security across the network edge, cloud, and data center.
FortiOS 8.0 introduces advancements across three core areas of innovation, AI-driven security, next-generation SASE, and quantum-safe protection, helping organizations securely support modern connectivity models while preparing for what comes next.
Securing AI usage with deep visibility and AI-aware controls
As organizations rapidly adopt GenAI and autonomous agents, FortiOS 8.0 introduces new capabilities to help them understand, govern, and secure AI usage across the network. Key AI-driven enhancements include:
- FortiView for AI attack surface and shadow AI, providing real-time visibility into how AI applications and services are used across the organization and distinguishing sanctioned from unsanctioned tools, enabling security teams quickly identify risky or unknown AI usage, reduce compliance exposure, and enable safe AI adoption without reacting after an incident.
- AI-aware application control, allowing approved GenAI tools while blocking risky actions that could expose sensitive data, so employees benefit from AI-driven productivity while protecting intellectual property, customer data, and regulated information.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-to-agent (A2A) visibility, revealing hidden AI activity and interactions between applications, agents, and tools, reducing blind spots where data could be mishandled or exfiltrated and giving security teams greater control over how information flows across systems.
- Enhanced data loss prevention (DLP) with optical character recognition (OCR), detecting sensitive data embedded in images, scans, and screenshots that bypass traditional text-based inspection, closing a common data exfiltration loophole and helps organizations avoid breaches, fines, and reputational damage.
- AI agents across the Fortinet Security Fabric, simplifying troubleshooting and configuration through guided, conversational workflows for firewall and SD-WAN environments, reducing the operational burden on IT teams, shortening response times, and minimizing configuration errors that can lead to outages or security gaps.
Advancing the edge with next-generation SASE
FortiOS 8.0 strengthens Fortinet’s next-generation SASE capabilities to support performance-sensitive, regulated, and mission-critical environments. New and enhanced SASE capabilities include:
- SASE Outpost, extending SASE enforcement closer to users and applications by deploying a SASE POP in customer-controlled locations, such as on-premises, private data centers, or co-location, while maintaining centralized cloud management. Users can maintain local enforcement where needed without building separate stacks.
- Sovereign SASE deployment options, offering a multilayer data sovereignty model for granular control over regional log retention, control-plane residency, sovereign points of presence (POPs), and fully sovereign deployments within customer data centers. This flexibility is increasingly essential as privacy, residency, and national security requirements expand across global markets.
- Unified SD-WAN bundles, including integrated overlay and underlay connectivity, centralized management, and reporting for improved availability and traffic optimization as well as simplified procurement and support.
- Multipath IPsec tunnels, improving resiliency, availability, and performance across distributed environments for improved application performance, and stronger resiliency for critical sites.
Extending quantum-safe security
FortiOS 8.0 continues Fortinet's leadership in preparing organizations for a post-quantum future by expanding quantum-safe cryptography across products and protocols. Quantum-safe enhancements include:
- Quantum-resilient cryptographic controls, securing critical management access paths, including agentless VPN connectivity, using Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) certificates such as ML-DSA for authentication and key establishment.
- Enhanced SSL deep inspection strengthened by hybrid key exchange and post-quantum-safe cryptography, revealing threats concealed within encrypted traffic while maintaining strong end-to-end encryption without silently downgrading connections.
- Quantum-safe SASE capabilities, exposing threats hidden in encrypted traffic through enhanced SSL deep inspection with hybrid key exchange and post-quantum-safe cryptography, while protecting critical access paths, including management access and agentless VPN, with quantum-resilient security delivered directly through Fortinet firewalls.
Enabling secure growth today and tomorrow
With FortiOS 8.0, Fortinet continues to advance its Secure Networking vision by delivering a unified platform that evolves with the business.
By reducing complexity, improving operational efficiency, and embedding future-ready security directly into the network, FortiOS 8.0 provides organizations with a scalable foundation to support digital transformation, AI adoption, and long-term resilience in an increasingly dynamic threat landscape.
