Fortinet FortiAuthenticator vs Symantec Advanced Authentication comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiAuthenticator and Symantec Advanced Authentication based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Authentication Systems.
To learn more, read our detailed Authentication Systems Report (Updated: April 2024).
767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Enables easy integration, allowing for 2FA with our VPN.""It is very stable. We have never had any issues with this solution.""I appreciate its ability to provide multi-factor authentication, but it's primarily focused on this function.""We have not had issues with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator. It is stable.""The ease of use is really nice. Using Authenticator, I've been able to actually work better on my authentication due to the fact that I have a single fabric to authenticate control from my firewall and on my access points. Authentication takes place from this area.""The product is stable and reliable.""The first valuable feature is being able to see everything on one platform. This includes logs and authentication failure.""The product is good, cost-effective, and functionally efficient."

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"It tells us exactly what we want in terms of authentication to various applications and provides protection for users who access them.""One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it's a strong authentication solution that's able to integrate with applications.""Rules on Risk Authentication are very good.""One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability."

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Cons
"The integration with third-party tools must be better.""The solution could be more automated. It should be able to let me automate a lot of things so that what normally is done as a matter of manual processes can be handled quicker. Slow integrations can be taken up/out if there was more automation.""For improvement, Fortinet needs to ensure that they provide quick support to users...Fortinet sometimes needs to respond to users facing issues within an hour.""The hardware aspect of the solution could be improved. We are not really able to understand the hardware capabilities of the device.""There is a room for improvement. The log is a bit difficult to access, and searching the log codes is also a bit difficult. So it would be much better if, when we open a log, it could provide detailed information about errors, reasons for failure, and such.""FortiAuthenticator's interface could be better.""Lacks a simplified two-factor authentication process.""Other features that would improve the product are a single sign-on where people can use their Gmail ID to log-in, etc."

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"Advanced Authentication talks about the Device ID. But how the device ID is captured, I want to know more about that.""This solution could be improved with risk-based authentication. I think that this product has everything that most customers are looking for, but modern technology has people looking for security tools with risk-based authentication, which they have a separate tool for. If they could integrate this, it would improve Symantec Advanced Authentication. They have to look at what's newly trending and how things are moving forward, and then adapt and adopt those features. Symantec's technical support should also be improved, in terms of response time.""Urgent improvement is necessary to ensure that support responses are faster and more effective, aligning with the demands of MFA implementation.""We have seen quite a few issues with bugginess. It is indeed pretty buggy and we have had to install some fixes."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "I would start off with a VM including the base license and scale according to the number of users you need to authenticate."
  • "You can pay as you go with them. You purchase a base license and add to it as needed."
  • "The product could be more competitively priced."
  • "It costs more to license the high-availability option."
  • "The licensing structure is cost-effective for us compared to some of the other solutions that have recurring monthly costs."
  • "FAC is an affordable solution for Middle Range (200E/400E) and also needs a package of mobility agents (2,000) perpetual."
  • "The cost of the license could be less expensive. The license is paid on a yearly basis."
  • "We pay for licensing on a yearly basis."
  • More Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "There are eventually going to be implementation costs. Sometimes you're required to have custom code developments there, so that has to be part of the implementation price."
  • "The price is reasonable."
  • More Symantec Advanced Authentication Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The product's on-premise version doesn't have recurring costs.
    Top Answer:We pay a yearly support cost for the solution. It is very small. The cost of FortiToken is high. I rate the pricing a five out of ten.
    Top Answer:Fortinet FortiAuthenticator's initial setup process could be easier.
    Top Answer:One of the most valuable aspects is its remarkable stability.
    Top Answer:There has been a need for aggressive development to modernize the product and align it with contemporary security requirements. While the rebranding has been a step forward, further enhancements are… more »
    Ranking
    3rd
    Views
    7,674
    Comparisons
    5,358
    Reviews
    24
    Average Words per Review
    427
    Rating
    8.2
    19th
    Views
    326
    Comparisons
    197
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    770
    Rating
    7.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    FortiAuthenticator
    CA Advanced Authentication, CA Strong Authentication, CA Risk Authentication, Arcot WebFort, Arcot RiskFort
    Learn More
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is the primary secure point of approved access into the Fortinet network, authorizing users, reviewing access permissions, and relaying the information to all Fortigate devices for comparison with identity-based protocols. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is a top-ranked authorization and SSO solution.

    Appropriate secure access is fundamental to every role in an enterprise ecosystem. It is an integral function of every organization to ensure that every access and privilege is secure and to mitigate any possible risk to an organization. Approved users should only have access to the necessary information when they need it, from the appropriate location(s) to safeguard an organization's security at all times.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is available as an appliance, virtual machine, or in the cloud.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator Methods

    • FSSO: FortiAuthenticator Single sign-on user will easily identify users and assign role or group access based on preset identity-based protocols. FortiAuthenticator integrates well with third-party LDAP or active directories, is very flexible, and combines these methods to provide effective security.

    • Active Directory Polling: Active directory access is securely identified by consistent polling of domain controllers. As users log in, username, IP address, and other details are logged into the database and can be shared across devices as directed by FortiAuthenticator protocols.

    • FortiAuthenticator Portal and Widgets: If a user system does not support AP polling, or for other reasons it is not feasible, FortiAuthenticator offers a unique secure authentication portal. Users can be manually authenticated and, to diminish the effect of numerous logins, an intuitive set of widgets is available to integrate into an organization's ecosystem that will automatically grant access to users when they access the organization's intranet homepage.

    • RADIUS Accounting Login: For organizations that use RADIUS authentication, RADIUS Accounting is available for user identification. This process will prompt user access information (IP and group, etc.) and eliminate the need for multiple levels of authentication.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Ernesto C., Presales Engineer at a comms service provider, shares,

    ”Key Features and Benefits

    1. Two-factor/OTP Authentication with FortiToken: Enforce user-based policies. Fortitoken is available in soft and hard versions for flexible usage. Most Valuable in Mobile Phones App for OTP.
    2. Integration with LDAP and AD: This solution integrates with existing enterprise systems and technologies from diverse vendors of user information management systems.
    3. LPAD/AD/RADIUS/SYSLOG/KERBEROS/REST API/FSSO and Web Portals: There is flexible integration with these services.
    4. It is usable in network, WAN, wireless, and VPN Scenarios.
    5. The domain and guest-users support are good.”

    Ibrahim M., Senior Network & Security Engineer at a tech services company, relates, "The initial setup is a valuable point on Fortinet products. Most of the time, putting the theory into practice on the devices is quite friendly and straightforward. As long as you can read English you can find your way around the solution and make it work. This is a high value point on Fortinet - the way everything is laid out in the web UI is user-friendly and quite straightforward. The UI is quite simple."




    CA Advanced Authentication provides a secure, user-convenient and cost-effective way to protect online and mobile applications. The solution consists of two components:  CA Risk Authentication allows the enterprise to silently and transparently collect data and assess risk based on device identification, location and user behavior, among other factors, and CA Strong Authentication provides a wide variety of software-based, two-factor authentication credentials and technology to make passwords more secure.  Together they enable an intelligent, layered security approach to protect user identities and organizational data.

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    Sample Customers
    Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
    Global bank, Large Filipino Bank and SK Infosec
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company28%
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Healthcare Company8%
    Computer Retailer4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm26%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Real Estate/Law Firm13%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business57%
    Midsize Enterprise26%
    Large Enterprise17%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business22%
    Large Enterprise78%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise6%
    Large Enterprise67%
    Buyer's Guide
    Authentication Systems
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Cisco, Fortinet and others in Authentication Systems. Updated: April 2024.
    767,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is ranked 3rd in Authentication Systems with 52 reviews while Symantec Advanced Authentication is ranked 19th in Authentication Systems with 9 reviews. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is rated 8.0, while Symantec Advanced Authentication is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator writes "A reasonably priced solution that can be scaled toward different functionalities and offers flexible SMS messaging". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Advanced Authentication writes "Ensures robust security features and ease of deployment, although it may lack some of the more modern authentication options ". Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is most compared with Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), Fortinet FortiToken, Fortinet FortiNAC, Microsoft Entra ID and Cisco Duo, whereas Symantec Advanced Authentication is most compared with OneSpan DIGIPASS, Thales Authenticators and Symantec VIP Access Manager.

    See our list of best Authentication Systems vendors.

    We monitor all Authentication Systems reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.