Sophos Firewall Unleashes Xstream Power for Distributed and Enterprise Edge Computing

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, introduced new Sophos Firewall capabilities to better meet the complex and demanding needs of distributed and enterprise edge computing. Sophos Firewall now delivers performance enhancements that accelerate encrypted traffic inspection, dynamic traffic routing for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), added resiliency with software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) load balancing and high-availability enhancements, and seamless integration with Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

“One of the key benefits of the Xstream architecture and Flow Processors is that they are programmable. This means that while other firewalls get slower over time, we can increase performance, even when we add new features and capabilities,” said Daniel Cole, vice president of network security product management at Sophos. “Our design ensures customers’ investment in Sophos Firewall is future-proofed and enables seamless transition to a cloud-enabled world. SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) demand a more efficient platform, which is not only resilient but also makes day-to-day management easier and faster than ever.”

The effective and reliable assessment of network traffic is critical in protecting against threat actors, as evidenced in Sophos’ 2023 Threat Report that published today. Distributed offices, remote workforces, cloud workloads, custom-built legacy apps, and a growing reliance on global software-as-a-service providers create a configuration and risk management headache for network security managers.

Sophos Firewall now provides the performance, protection and resiliency that distributed enterprises require, while simplifying the management of complex networks. Benefits include:

• Advanced performance and protection: A new high-performance dynamic routing engine and Xstream Transport Layer Security (TLS) FastPath acceleration improves encrypted traffic inspection while also adding headroom for traffic that requires deep-packet inspection; the asymmetric cryptographic capabilities within Xstream Flow Processors – included in every XGS Series appliance – enable TLS inspection on even the most demanding networks
• Added resiliency and peace of mind: New SD-WAN load balancing for performance and reliability in the event of an internet service providers’ (ISP) outage along with enhancements to high-availability clusters ensure maximum business continuity and uptime for mission critical networks
• Improved ease of management: Managing network security is easier than ever with new Microsoft Azure Active Directory integration for seamless administrator single sign-on and new host and service object search

Sophos Firewall integrates with Sophos ZTNA (zero trust network access) under one unified management plane and is a key pillar of Sophos’ SASE strategy, providing a more simplified, scalable and secure solution over traditional remote-access virtual private networks (VPN). The network solution is also part of the Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem, which integrates Sophos’ entire portfolio of products, services and Sophos X-Ops threat intelligence for faster and more contextual and synchronized detection, protection and response.

Availability

Sophos Firewall is available for immediate purchase exclusively through Sophos’ global channel of partners and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). It is easily managed in the cloud-native Sophos Central platform alongside other solutions, where users can oversee installations, respond to alerts and track licenses and upcoming renewal dates via a single, intuitive interface, or by Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).

“With their latest firewall release, Sophos has leveraged the flexibility of their Xstream architecture to deliver improvements in performance for VPN throughput and more efficient handling of TLS encrypted traffic, which is vitally important in today’s encrypted world,” said Christopher Rodriguez, research director of IDC’s Security & Trust practice. “They’ve also completed the build-out of their networking feature set to provide an integrated SD-WAN solution. Combined with other recent enhancements to their secure access portfolio like ZTNA as a Service, they’re positioning to provide the features and capabilities that larger distributed enterprise organizations demand, while also building out a SASE strategy that will appeal to organizations of all sizes.”

“The new Sophos Firewall version has multiple features that are of enterprise grade,” said Vishvas Chitale, Head of IT Security at Chitale Group. “Many of the features added, have been designed to address the challenges that larger organizations like us face in implementing SD-WAN, optimising performance and scaling our network. We feel SDWAN features of this new Sophos Firewall are nicely done and the load balance is like icing on the cake. The High Availability feature is also very intuitive and cool. Overall, the new Firewall provides greater insight into network risks mitigation”

“The new Sophos Firewall software has multiple advantages for all of our customers,” said Marc Hurrelmann, chief executive officer at Midland IT. “Many of the features added have been designed to address the challenges that larger organizations are facing with implementing SD-WAN, optimizing performance, scaling their network, improving resiliency and up-time, and enhancing management efficiency.​ Smaller organizations will benefit from all the added value packed into Sophos Firewall with better performance, protection, networking, and management.”