Vocus & Fortinet launch Secure Shield for AI oversight

Vocus and Fortinet have launched Secure Shield, a managed connectivity and security service for Australian organisations grappling with unmonitored employee use of generative artificial intelligence tools.

The service combines connectivity and security in a managed Unified Secure Access Service Edge platform. It is designed to give employers greater visibility into how staff use services such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. The product was developed in response to concerns from enterprise and government customers about sensitive information being entered into public AI tools without oversight.

Research cited by the companies suggests the issue is widespread. Jobs and Skills Australia has estimated that 21 to 27% of white-collar workers use generative AI without their employer's knowledge, while EY's 2025 Australian AI Workforce Blueprint found that 26% are not permitted to use AI by their employer and 42% have no clear guidance.

The launch comes amid broader concern over cyber risk in Australia. More than 500 notifiable data breaches were reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in the first half of 2025, with malicious or criminal attacks the leading cause.

Secure Shield combines Fortinet's security tools with the Vocus network, including fibre, mobile and satellite connections, in a single managed service. The platform is intended to help organisations monitor application use and set controls around what data can move through those systems.

"Australian businesses have a Shadow AI problem, and most don't yet realise the scale of it," said Tom Sykes, General Manager Products and Marketing at Vocus.

"Employees are using AI. The question isn't whether to allow it, but whether you have visibility into what they're feeding these tools and can put sensible guardrails in place."

Sykes said demand had come from both enterprise and government customers seeking more detailed oversight of AI use, rather than broad bans that can be bypassed. He said the service was built to provide that visibility as part of a managed network and security package.

"We are seeing strong demand from enterprise and government customers for a service like Secure Shield," he said. "CIOs and CISOs want visibility into what people are doing with AI, not another blocking policy that's simply worked around. Secure Shield brings together Fortinet's AI-driven cybersecurity platform with the Vocus national network - fibre, mobile and satellite - as a fully managed service."

Long partnership

Secure Shield builds on a 19-year partnership between the companies. Vocus said it already manages about 10,000 Fortinet devices and customer endpoints across Australian customer environments, making it one of the larger managed Fortinet estates in the country.

The product is also the first major managed security launch from the enlarged Vocus business following the integration of TPG Telecom's fibre assets and fixed-line enterprise operations. That integration added security engineering and deployment automation resources to the group.

Fortinet said the need for visibility reflects a broader shift in how organisations approach staff use of generative AI. Rather than trying to ban individual tools, security teams increasingly want to understand which applications employees are using and what information is being shared through them.

"You cannot block your way out of this problem," said Dale Nachman, senior regional director, ANZ, at Fortinet. "The only durable answer is deep visibility into what applications your staff are actually using and what data is moving through them, combined with policy-based guardrails that coach users toward good decisions rather than just slamming a door in their face."

According to the companies, Secure Shield uses application-level monitoring to identify not just which AI service a worker has opened, but how it is being used. Built-in data loss prevention measures can flag or block sensitive information before it is submitted to a public language model.

Network design

The companies said the service differs from cloud-only SASE products that route traffic through a third-party cloud environment. Instead, customer traffic connects over the Vocus private network into Fortinet's Australian SASE infrastructure through direct peering, a design they said reduces reliance on the public internet.

Vocus is also seeking to extend its existing Metro Ethernet Forum 3.0 certification to cover SASE. If approved, it expects the certification to be an Australian first.

Another part of the launch is automated deployment. Fortinet SD-WAN or SD-Branch devices can be shipped pre-configured and self-provision over 5G once connected, reducing the time needed to bring new sites online compared with traditional SD-WAN roll-outs.

Secure Shield is now available to enterprise, government and wholesale customers across Australia.