Client: Conservation & Land Management Authority
Location: Ontario, Canada
Duration: 6 weeks
Team Size: 4 Senior Network & Security Engineers
🧩 Project Scope
TechBison was engaged to completely modernize the network infrastructure for the Conservation & Land Management Authority. The existing environment, consisting of legacy Cisco firewalls and unmanaged switches, lacked segmentation, remote access, and visibility. The client needed a future-ready, scalable solution supporting secure access for 250+ users across multiple departments and field locations.
Solution Highlights
Firewall & Perimeter Security
- Deployed FortiGate 400F in an active-passive HA cluster for high availability.
- Dual internet providers connected using advanced SD-WAN load balancing and failover, prioritizing real-time applications like VoIP and Microsoft 365.
- Implemented IPsec Remote Access VPN with MFA (FortiToken + Entra ID) for field staff and GIS contractors.
- Hardened policies using application control, SSL inspection, geo-blocking, and deep packet inspection.
Switching Infrastructure
- Replaced unmanaged switches with stacked FortiSwitch 424E units across MDF and IDFs.
- Configured using FortiLink in switch-controller mode from FortiGate for unified management.
- Segmented the network into 8 VLANs: Admin, Finance, GIS, Field Ops, Guest Wi-Fi, IoT, Printers, and VoIP.
- Enabled 802.1X port authentication using Entra ID integration for secure endpoint onboarding.
Monitoring, Logging & Analytics
- Deployed FortiAnalyzer for centralized logging, compliance-ready reports, and SOC integration.
- Built custom dashboards to monitor firewall events, switch performance, and VPN access logs.
- Created automated alerting for high-severity threat detections and WAN failover events.
Cloud Integration & Identity-Aware Access
- Integrated Microsoft Defender and Intune policies for endpoint compliance.
- Enforced role-based access controls by mapping firewall policies to Entra ID groups.
- Designed infrastructure to support future deployment of FortiAP Wi-Fi and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).
Impact & Outcomes
- Secure connectivity for over 250 users, including remote field teams.
- Full east-west and north-south traffic visibility with centralized threat correlation.
- Enhanced operational uptime with dynamic failover and high-availability routing.
- Positioned for scalable growth, including cloud security extensions and IoT segmentation.
- Achieved compliance readiness and audit trails aligned with provincial government standards.
