Why is it important to utilize user groups in FortiGate?

Utilizing user groups in FortiGate is significant because it streamlines policy management by allowing administrators to apply rules to groups rather than individual users. This feature makes it more efficient and practical to enforce security policies across a large user base.

When rules are applied to user groups, any changes in user status or group composition automatically carry over to the policies without needing to modify each rule individually. This not only saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors but also promotes consistency in policy enforcement.

Although improving rule management does contribute to reducing the overall number of firewall rules, the primary advantage is the ease of managing policies at the group level, thus simplifying the entire administrative process in environments that handle numerous users.