Case Study: Romain Attanasio achieves secure, reliable onboard connectivity for the Vendée Globe with Fortinet

Fortinet Secures Romain Attanasio’s Boat on the Journey to the Vendée Globe 2024

Skipper Romain Attanasio partnered with Fortinet to bring enterprise‑grade cybersecurity to his 18m foiling IMOCA as he prepares for the 2024 Vendée Globe. The challenge was to deliver reliable, secure communications and full visibility for critical performance, weather and safety data during solo, long‑distance ocean racing while coping with harsh marine conditions, strict weight and energy limits, and limited satellite bandwidth.

For the Route du Rhum first phase the team installed a FortiAP wireless access point and a fanless, ruggedized FortiGate Next‑Generation Firewall to provide boat‑wide Wi‑Fi, 24/7 scanning, BLE support and energy‑efficient durability. The FortiGate initially ran in monitoring mode to learn traffic patterns and avoid blocking vital messages; the deployment improved connectivity and data visibility, and ongoing sea trials and log analysis will guide incremental tightening of security ahead of the Vendée Globe.

Romain Attanasio

Romain Attanasio

Skipper