Case Study: Leading Automotive Manufacturing Company achieves zero-trust IT/OT convergence and robust microsegmentation with Fortinet

Zero-Trust Security from Fortinet Enables IT/OT Convergence for Chinese Automotive Manufacturer

A major China-based automotive manufacturer with dispersed plants, offices and R&D centers faced rising OT security risks as it accelerated IT/OT convergence. Legacy controllers running outdated OS and firmware, increasing network complexity, and maintenance practices that exposed systems (USBs, laptops) left production vulnerable to cyberattacks and the potential for malware to spread across its global network.

The company deployed Fortinet solutions—FortiGate NGFWs, FortiManager, FortiSwitch and FortiAnalyzer—to implement microsegmentation and a zero‑trust architecture with horizontal and vertical isolation and protocol-aware monitoring. Benchmarks showed strong malware detection (about 80% out of the box, 95% when optimized), and the deployment delivered robust zoning, faster incident response, deeper anomaly detection across OT/IT, and a safer foundation for digital manufacturing innovation.