I ran into a gap recently while trying to stop sensitive data from leaving through AI chatbots. ChatGPT and Gemini chats run over plain HTTPS, so FortiGate’s DLP scanning already catches them without me touching a single setting. Copilot doesn’t play by the same rules — it talks to its backend over WebSocket, and until … Read more
Meraki Black Belt CTF Stage 3 I opened the Meraki Black Belt Stage 3 CTF thinking it’d be a quick refresher. Thirteen flags in, I realized it was testing something else entirely — not whether I knew the tools, but whether I’d reach for the right one under pressure. Every scenario reads like a real … Read more
Cisco IKEv1 Debug Commands and States — A Real Troubleshooting Reference This is Part 1 of a 3-part series on Cisco IKE debugging. Part 2 covers IKEv2 states and commands. Part 3 is a side-by-side IKEv1 vs IKEv2 state comparison. Let me tell you exactly how this article came to exist. I was working a … Read more
Published: July 2026 · Category: Automation · Author: Network Troves · Applies to: FortiGate (FortiOS 7.x/8.x), Python 3.x FortiGate static route with REST API automation is what I set up today instead of clicking through the GUI or hand-typing CLI commands. If you’re managing more than a handful of firewalls, this is one of the … Read more
FortiSwitch SNMPv3 Configuration Today I configured FortiSwitch SNMPv3 across 26 FortiLink-managed switches in a live production environment — core, distribution, and access layers included. The goal was simple on paper: get two SNMPv3 users (one for NAC polling, one for our monitoring poller) working consistently on every switch. In practice, it took a small workaround … Read more
Published: June 18, 2026 | Category: FortiGate | Author: Bhardwaj VishnuApplies to: FortiGate (all CLI/GUI-capable models) · FortiOS 6.x / 7.x / 8.0.0 If you’ve spent any real time in FortiGate troubleshooting, you already know diagnose debug flow is the single most useful diagnostic tool on the platform — and also one of the most … Read more
Published: June 17, 2026 | Category: FortiGate | Author: Bhardwaj Vishnu Applies to: FortiGate (all models) · FortiOS 6.x / 7.x · Method: Manual License Restore via TFTP FortiGate license Most FortiGate licensing guides assume one thing: that your firewall has internet access. In the real world, that’s not always true. You might be staging … Read more
Published: June 11, 2026 | Category: Palo Alto / Cisco | Author: Bhardwaj Vishnu Applies to: Cisco IOS-XE (ISR 1000, 4000 series) · PAN-OS 10.x / 11.x · Tunnel type: IKEv2 IPsec Site-to-Site Cisco to Palo Alto IKEv2 VPN Configuring an IKEv2 IPsec tunnel between a Cisco ISR and a Palo Alto firewall is one … Read more
Note: The commands, concepts, and debug workflows detailed in this guide are verified for modern FortiOS firmware (v7.0, v7.2, and v7.4). However, the core netlink and lacpd commands remain applicable across legacy versions as well. FortiGate LACP troubleshooting When designing high-throughput, resilient enterprise networks, relying on a single physical cable between your core switch and … Read more
Published: June 11, 2026 | Updated: October 29, 2026 | Affects: PAN-OS GlobalProtect portal and gateway, Prisma Access | CVSS v4: 7.8 (High) | CISA KEV: added May 29, 2026, ransomware use “Known” CVE-2026-0257 lets an unauthenticated attacker open a GlobalProtect VPN connection by presenting a forged authentication override cookie. This page is a working … Read more