Sophos Firewall SoftwareCan Now Use Third-party Threat Intelligence Feeds forExtended ProtectionAgainst Cyberattacks
Sophos today introduced nine new XGSSeries desktop firewall appliances for midmarket and smaller-sized businesses, as well as branch offices of larger organizations. The newXGS appliances featurea streamlined architecture to deliver double the performance of previousmodels, but with 50% lower energy consumption. Allof the new Sophos XGS appliancesare available withmultiple high-speed connectivity options, and fourmodels are fanless, making them ideal for noise-sensitive environments.
Sophos has also announcedupdatedSophosFirewall software thatprovides enhanced protection against cyberattacks, including the ability tointegrate third-party threat intelligence feeds. This allows organizationswith specific regional or vertical market requirements to customize and apply additional informationtostrengthentheir firewall security.The new software also enhancesdistributed network scalability and provides a seamless transition for customers on legacy firewalls to upgrade to the latest Sophos XGS appliances.By leveraging the improved acceleration capabilities of the virtual FastPath in the new Sophos Firewall software, along with the new streamlined architecture, the new Sophos XGS firewall appliances can deliver up to three times the performance in IPsec VPN throughput compared to previous models.
“We’re innovating and advancing how organizations should use firewall technology to defend against persistent, modern-day cyberattackstargetingthe midmarket and smaller businesses.”
Dan Cole, senior vice president, Network and Content Security at Sophos
“The new Sophos XGS appliances and Sophos Firewall software launches are all about providing users with world-class ‘performance and protection’ at competitive pricing. We’re innovating and advancing how organizations should use firewall technology to defend against persistent, modern-day cyberattackstargetingthe midmarket and smaller businesses,” said Dan Cole, senior vice president, Network and Content Security at Sophos. “This includes designingour firewallsoftware to now also leverage threat intelligence feedsfrom third-party sources, in addition to Sophos’native threat intelligence, for faster, real-time response toa broader scope of suspicious activity. The support also gives defenders greater control over their risk profile.”
Specifically, users can now configure Sophos Firewall software to ingestpaid and free feeds published by security vendors,Managed Service Providers (MSPs), specific industry consortiums and Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), or other threat intelligence platforms. The third-party data augments Sophos’ proprietary threat intelligence, whichderives fromSophos X-Ops andincludes telemetry fromSophosLabs, Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Sophos Extended Detection and Response (XDR) technology. In conjunction with SophosActive Threat Response, a feature built intoSophos-managed endpointsand the intelligence feeds, Sophos Firewall softwarewillinitiate a synchronized response that automatically walls off potential attacks, giving defenders critical time to assess, respond and remediate.
Additional Sophos Firewall software enhancements include:
- Enhanced performance and scalability:Triple the IPsec VPN performance boost on the new XGS Series desktop appliances, as well as faster authentication burst performance and optimizations to reduce downtime and increase resiliency during failovers for SD-RED tunnels, dynamic routes and Active Directory interactions for distributed enterprise environments
- Streamlined management:Refreshed user experiences; support for Let’s Encrypt certificates; integrated support for Google Workspace authentication; and expanded network object visibility that simplifies firewall management
- Seamless device upgrades: A new configuration backup assistant and port mapping support, backed by free license overlap for Sophos XG firewall customers,that enables added flexibility and easy upgrading from previous hardware generations
“This release of new desktop models as part of the Sophos XGS Series of hardware appliances sets a new high bar for performance and efficiency. The update enhances value at every price-point, with a three-fold increase in IPsec VPN throughput and up to two times better overall performance, all while cutting energy consumption in half,” said Christopher Rodriguez, research director for Security and Trust at IDC. “Combined with enhancements in protection, scalability and ease-of-use from their latest OS release, Sophos Firewall provides significant value to organizations of all sizes, without raising its prices.”
“Sophos makes firewall deployment, integrationand management straightforward,” said Benjamin Schwarzbauer, team lead, Network and Security at Luithle + Luithle, a Sophos partner in Germany. “Its tight integration with the broader Sophos ecosystem allows us to efficiently manage security for our customers. The firewall’s comprehensive features not only strengthen security, but also ensure reliable performance and regulatory compliance. This allows our customers to focus on their business.”
