Why should signatures be regularly updated in a FortiGate device?

Regularly updating signatures in a FortiGate device is crucial for maintaining effective security against emerging threats. Signatures are essentially patterns or codes used to identify known malware, exploits, or vulnerabilities within network traffic. The landscape of cybersecurity is constantly evolving, with new threats emerging at a rapid pace. By updating signatures, the FortiGate device can recognize and respond to these new threats, ensuring that the network remains fortified against attacks that may exploit recent vulnerabilities.

This proactive approach helps organizations to not only defend against existing threats but also to stay ahead of cybercriminals who are continually developing new tactics. Failure to update signatures would leave the device vulnerable to attacks that use novel techniques or methods that were not known at the time of the last signature update.

In contrast, options focused on performance improvement, log management, or user access capabilities do not address the primary goal of signature updates, which is to enhance the device's ability to combat the latest cybersecurity threats. Thus, ensuring protection against the latest known threats and vulnerabilities is the most critical reason for keeping signatures up to date.