Achieving Better Visibility with the Fortinet Security Fabric | Customer Stories

This customer story features Kevin Morrison, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Driven Brands, discussing the organization's deployment of Fortinet security solutions to address challenges posed by its large, geographically dispersed footprint.

**Organization Overview** Driven Brands operates approximately 4,400 shops and locations worldwide as the largest aftermarket auto services company, owning brands including Midas, Take Five Oil, Take Five Car Wash, Auto Training Institute, and 1800 Radiator parts distributor. The company manages security for corporate-owned locations while franchise locations operate as independent, autonomous networks.

**Primary Security Concerns** Morrison identifies operational ransomware as the top cyber risk, consistent with threats facing most organizations. Third-party risk from supply chain dependencies ranks as a secondary concern—ransomware affecting manufacturers from whom Driven Brands sources parts could create downstream operational disruptions, affecting the company's ability to serve customers.

**Fortinet Adoption Strategy** Morrison considers Fortinet best-of-class, having encountered the technology early in his career as a network security engineer. Upon joining Driven Brands just over a year ago, he found the organization had already begun evaluating Fortinet, which he endorsed as a strategic long-term partnership. The primary motivation was consolidating and standardizing security controls across the company's geographically dispersed entities.

**Implementation Benefits** Fortinet's firewall serves as a key layer in a defense-in-depth strategy, positioned where risks primarily reside. Consolidation has provided significantly improved visibility around incoming threats, while standardization across locations enables consistent security controls. Morrison emphasizes that this unified approach allows the organization to maintain best-of-class security practices.

**Organizational Structure** Morrison's security team operates within IT, enabling close collaboration between security, infrastructure, applications, and corporate systems teams. This convergence between security and infrastructure ensures alignment on roadmaps and strategic direction, making the organization safer through coordinated decision-making.

**Future Direction** The company plans to leverage Fortinet's consolidated portfolio to reduce the total number of controls while maintaining security effectiveness, aiming to simplify operational burden for the security team without compromising protection.