Sophos introduced the first synchronized security protection against today’s sophisticated threats with the Sophos Security Heartbeat capability of the Sophos XG series of next-generation firewalls and UTMs.
As per Sophos, this new technology directly links next-generation firewalls and UTMs with next-generation endpoint security to share threat intelligence that enables faster detection of threats, automatic isolation of infected devices, and more immediate and targeted response and resolution. With Security Heartbeat, organizations of any size can advance their defenses against increasingly coordinated and stealthy attacks and drive a dramatic reduction in the time and resources required to investigate and address security incidents.
The Security Heartbeat pulses continuous, real-time information about suspicious behavior or malicious activity between endpoints and the network firewall or UTM. By giving these traditionally independent products the ability to directly share intelligence, the Security Heartbeat can instantly trigger a response to stop or help control a malware outbreak or data breach. The Sophos XG Firewall uses data provided by Sophos endpoint protection to isolate and restrict access to and from the affected device, and in parallel, the endpoint protection can remediate the attack.
IT organizations can benefit from advanced threat protection capabilities without requiring additional agents, layers of complex management tools, logging and analysis tools, or expense. The Security Heartbeat is fully enabled and included as part of the Sophos XG Firewall and Sophos Cloud-managed endpoint protection.
Commenting on the launch, the CEO for Sophos, Kris Hagerman stated, “Today Sophos has taken the next big step in next-generation security. Organizations of every size know they need endpoint security and network security – they are two foundational pillars of any IT security strategy. But for too long, these two product segments simply didn’t communicate with each other – they were independent and isolated silos, which limited their effectiveness and their manageability. Only Sophos links leading network security technology with leading endpoint security technology together in a coordinated and integrated approach. This is synchronized security that delivers both better protection – and better manageability – for organizations of any size.”
The key features for the Sophos XG Firewall include Network Security Control Center, Unified Policy Model, User and App Risk Analysis, User Threat Quotient and Sophos Firewall Manager.
The new firewall is also equipped to offer Centralized cloud management functionality that is useful especially for Sophos partners and MSPs can manage multiple Sophos XG Firewall installations from the cloud, using the new Sophos Cloud Firewall Manager.
Security Heartbeat, Hardware and Deployment flexibility are few other plus points that Sophos XG Firewall offers. The available models range from a desktop appliance with integrated Wi-Fi to rack-mount appliances for the data center.
