Don’t you just hate it when, as soon as Halloween ends, an explosion of premature Christmas spirit takes over the rest of the year? Well, this year Sophos wants to change your mind on the matter, so they intercepted your letter to Santa and got you everything on your firewall wish list. Sophos took the top customer-requested features and crammed them all into one comprehensive update: Sophos XG Firewalls v17.
Keep reading and you will learn how keyword content filtering, synchronized app control, and streamlined policy management makes monitoring and reporting the activity of your firewall easier than ever before.
#1 – Synchronized App Control
An average 60% of application traffic arrives in firewall management portals as unidentified. Synchronized App Control automatically identifies unknown applications, allowing you to block unwanted applications and prioritize mission-critical apps.
Synchronized App Control is an XG exclusive. You will not find this feature with any other firewall option, so if you’re looking for a reason to switch over to Sophos, this is your big talking point.
#2 – Policy Test Simulator
If only there was a simple, straightforward way to test out your new NAT policies! Well, now there is. No more guesswork. No more “fingers crossed.” Just answers.
The Sophos XG Firewalls Policy Test Simulator is located right on your rules screen so you have the power to experiment with what works, what doesn’t, and why.
#3 – Web Keyword Content Filtering & PUAs
With web surfers striking out in every direction imaginable, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the wave as a network administrator. At times the task seems Sisyphean: we block websites, users find a new haven to flee to, we block the new sites, they move on to the next. But no more. Sophos XG v17 includes a handy feature that allows administrators to block Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs). Don’t waste your days catching up to the problem. Get out ahead of it.
#4 – Intrusion Prevention & Email Got Smarter
In recent tests by NSS Labs, Sophos XG Firewalls earned top-of-class marks for price-performance ratio and effectiveness against evasion techniques. Now this intrusion prevention has grown more powerful with the addition of Smart Filters. This hands-off approach allows administrators to rely on filters to do the legwork of preventing breaches.
Likewise, Smart Host capabilities allow you to route email traffic intended for applications like Office 365 through your firewall. This means that emails are being scanned and scrubbed long before they’re a potential problem.
#5 – Firewall Rule Management
Do you have too many firewall rules? Too few? Are some redundant? Which rules aren’t really doing anything? Sophos XG Rule Activity Monitoring takes the guesswork out of creating a set of comprehensive, efficient firewall rules. XG Firewalls make it easy to manage all your network security in one screen, including everything from user-based rules to web application protections and more. Powerful new reports help you decide whether your rules are champs or chumps.
What’s In It For Me?
The Fastest Administrator on Earth: In the Justice League Comic Mini-Series “Kingdom Come,” the superhero Flash (the fastest man alive) has stopped stopping altogether. This version of the Flash is in constant motion around his hometown of Keystone City, preventing crimes in the split-second before they start. Now your network administrator can be the Flash: an unstoppable, dynamic blur of justice that shuts down cybercrime before it ever begins.
Direct Traffic, Don’t Chase It: When a major sporting event lets out, police don’t wait around for traffic to gridlock before trying to untangle a congested intersection. Instead, roadblocks are set up to guide traffic through desired routes and prevent unrelated traffic from exacerbating the problem. Keyword content filtering, synchronized app control, and blocking PUAs means traffic flows exactly as planned.
Save Your Poor Mouse Button: You’ll be clicking around your reports far less often since network activity is succinctly visualized right on one convenient screen. That means you’ll save a few click, click, clicks and maybe a few headaches along the way.
Sophos XG Firewalls are drawing massive attention and praise. Sophos has a clear vision of the path towards a safer cyber security future and you can trust that they understand the pain points that network administrators struggle with. If you’re rooting for innovation and common sense solutions, it may be time to jump over to Team Sophos. Worried about navigating through new features? Our certified engineers and network architects are here to help you migrate to a safer, faster future.
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