Fortinet is a globally important security vendor, generating $6.8 billion in revenue in 2025 and entered 2026 with quarterly growth accelerating by 20%, reflecting the growing demand triggered by increasingly sophisticated AI-driven threats. The Belgium and Luxembourg markets are important, but for different reasons. Belgium is a much bigger market, but Luxembourg provides a way for the firm to engage with the global investment fund sector, Banking and European institutions, areas that Fortinet is keen to grow in. The BeLux Fortinet team, recently held an event in Luxembourg to share their views on how AI is now transforming both cyber defence and cyberattacks. It therefore is the ideal moment to follow up with their new Country Manager BeLux, Caroline Van Cleemput.

From your perspective, are organisations in Belgium and Luxembourg genuinely prepared for this new AI-driven threat landscape?

Unfortunately, I am tempted to say no, not really. We currently face an “AI asymmetry” where the attackers are already leveraging automated, AI based attacks while the victims are still  defending themselves with limited resources. They are also facing the risk to expand their attack surface by adopting AI without having it secured by default. We, as industry, are doing our best to close this gap.

The priorities are different between the jurisdictions, Luxembourg is a strong financial marketplace and therefore highly regulated. The much-discussed DORA regulations and PSF status have been around for a while and this has caused the market to not just be concentrated on repelling hackers, but on the wider issue of resilience. 

Resilience includes concepts, of “what to do when…” an attack happens and how to get the business back up and running as quickly as possible. This is especially relevant for banks that have a strong digital interface with their clients.

What specific nuances do you see in the Belgian market?

In Belgium there is a priority to address threats to Operational Technology (OT). The nation faces a shortage in cyber experts. The Belgium Manufacturing sector accounts for roughly 10–11% of GDP and employs around 500,0001 people.Pharmaceuticals, automotive, chemicals and logistics, many of Europe’s largest actors are present and for whom security is essential.

Are you still receiving many requests regarding NIS2 in BE?

Yes, especially in healthcare. I am happy you have asked me this because, regarding NIS2 I think it is good for policy makers to take these actions, but they can create a false sense of safety as regulatory compliance does not equal true resilience and security. CISOs do not want to be overwhelmed by excessive reporting to reduce the amount of time they use for real protection. For example, our solution FortiAnalyzer2 takes away the burden of proof from CISOs.

They can, in real time, generate an audit ready report which includes data on how threats are mitigated, how resiliency is tested and how the data is insulated.

For example, for industrial groups, if one of your sites comes under attack, the CISO needs to be able to know in real time if other sites have been compromised or what other steps need to be taken. Our system provides an embedded checklist giving the user a real time view whenever they need it.

« The question is no longer whether organizations will be attacked, but how quickly they can respond when they are.” »

For large organisations the amount of data a CISO has to process in very short time frames can be overwhelming. How can Fortinet enable CISOs to make the right call at the right time?

There is no golden bullet. The reality is that CISOs are not struggling with the lack of data but are drowning in it. Previously there were hours to respond to an exploited system, but this has now become minutes or seconds. While the CISOs need a platform with all relevant information and a complete overview of the situation at any time, operational teams must be able to take actions in real time; this is where automation brings an incredible added value. Using extensively but wisely AI and automation in our solutions, you no longer have to ask a question, it actively performs automated triage and takes steps to identify the root cause, and further remediations based on validated playbooks. By removing the human factor risk, the system can act on your behalf optimizing the amount of data for you to analyse and saving you and your teams the most precious commodity of time.

What about for organisations with more than one site?

We have a unified platform, meaning whether your data comes from a remote branch in Luxembourg or a manufacturing site here in Antwerp, where I sit today, or a cloud instance, it’s displayed in one single screen generating a real time executive risk score, thus allowing users to see how threats are impacting their minimum viable business.

Over the years, Cybersecurity has adopted a data centric approach: we follow the data! Our Fortinet Security Fabric ensures that security policies handle and secure the data in a unified way, enabling CISOs to maintain centralized control. The encrypted keys and management stay local, which means that for Luxembourg users, Governance remains within Luxembourg.

Are we right to blame security risks for why Luxembourg has been slower to adopt the cloud than other countries in Europe?

Adoption of cloud has to do with regulation and compliancy, we have seen since the early days of “The Cloud” that, in fact, there are many possibilities: public, private, hybrid, disconnected. Fortinet solutions can be deployed and integrated in all these scenarios while being compliant and following the regulations. Cloud carries certain security risks, but every kind of architecture has some! Even for small companies, having the central pane of glass is crucial especially with AI adoption. There should not be a choice between innovation and regulation because with Fortinet you can do both. Public Cloud data can be as secure as having data in your own private data centre with the security layer Fortinet provides.

Fortinet has been through many changes in the Luxembourg office in the last 12 months. Why is that and what is the strategy going forward?

We recognise the importance of the Luxembourg jurisdiction and  have doubled the number of people who are employed locally to provide support. We never actually left but we are more back than ever.

1 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act__custom_20726041
2 https://www.fortinet.com/products/management/fortianalyzer