Fortinet Emergency Support: How PJ Networks Ensures Rapid Recovery
Introduction
It always comes at the most inconvenient time. A firewall fails, network traffic fizzles out and suddenly, every moment that it isn’t fixed is real, tangible money ticking away. That’s where we come in. At PJ Networks, we have honed our rapid-response methodology for cybersecurity over the years with particular attention to critical network infrastructure such as Fortinet rugged firewalls.
I’ve been doing this since the 90s, when Slammer infected unpatched SQL servers during the night. I learned this the hard way and that, security incidents do not come at one convenient time. Down time is ALWAYS a race against the clock. And this is why we designed our emergency support process to be as fast and seamless as it can be.
How does PJ Networks react to these emergencies? Let me walk you through it.
Emergency Scenarios
A couple of weeks ago, I was three cups of coffee deep when my phone lit up: Major Fortinet firewall failure at a manufacturer. Production lines were dead. IT team scrambling. That’s the type of call we get — and we take it personally.
- A couple of big commercial banks at mid-day—Firewall down, branch network disconnected, ATMs inoperable.
- Total blackout of a logistics company—Routing failed, which led to supply chain disruptions.
- Digital industrial sites stuck in the middle of nowhere with failed rough-and-tumble firewalls — No IT guys around, delivering a watered-down message that they can’t do shit.
In all of these instances, there is no other response than immediate action. Uptime is sacred — minimal, if any, downtime is non-negotiable.
Our Support Process
That’s the one thing — incident response is NOT troubleshooting. When you are in an emergency, you need solutions, not speculation. Needless to say, our three-step process is designed to diagnose and recover as quickly as possible.
1. We Answer Immediately
No ticket queues, no we’ll get back to you tomorrow. You call, we pick up. Period.
2. Instant Triage
- Using logs we have access to remotely within minutes to identify failure points.
- If it’s a misconfiguration or policy issue, we fix it live — on the call.
- In case of hardware failure, we send replacement firewalls the same day when possible.
3. Emergency Hot-Swap Deployment
We have pre-configured Fortinet units in stock ready to ship at a moment’s notice. If a firewall is dead, you’re not waiting for repairs — we overnight a replacement to get you back up and running ASAP.
4. Once You Recover, Review the Full System
Restoration is only half the equation; recovery is the other half. It’s about preventing it from happening again.
- We analyze log data to identify root cause.
- We adjust zero-trust policies, when needed, to prevent reoccurring breach.
- If out-of-date versions are problematic, we push firmware updates without delay.
Not every IT shop follows the last step. They fix, then walk away. That’s a mistake.
Pushing a Critical Network Back Online in 3 Hours: A Case Study
Thema real case I am going to tell about:
A mid-sized bank, which we will refer to as Bank A, experienced a failure with a Fortinet rugged firewall at a key processing site. It was 8:30 AM, just as branches were opening.
- Their internal team thought they had a hardware failure, but they didn’t have a backup unit already on-site.
- Processing power was declining by the minute. Transactions were timing out.
- They called us at 8:45.
Here’s what we did:
- Immediate access to logs: Within 10 minutes we determined the firewall was in a boot loop—common symptoms of corrupted firmware.
- Remote recovery attempt: We attempted to roll back to previously-known working config still failing. Dead hardware confirmed.
- Hot-Swap Deployment: Their firewall model was in stock—we shipped an identical pre-configured unit within the hour.
- Guided replacement: The IT team had the new unit set up by 11:30 AM, and we led them through a secure restore process over a direct line.
Their network was back up and running by 11:45 AM.
That’s 3 hours between the first call to the ambulance and being back to normal.
Conclusion
Emergency support isn’t all about fixing broken things—it’s about minimizing the impact on business when things break. Rugged Fortinet firewalls are built strong and tough, but no manufacturer is immune to a failure. The question is, how quick is your provider to get you back on your feet?
If your business depends on network uptime — if you’re managing any kind of industrial operations, financial systems or supply chain infrastructure — you need a rapid response plan.
And that’s precisely what we deliver.
Next time your network is crawling to a halt — make the call. We’ll handle it.