Sophos has announced that NSS Labs has rated the Sophos XG Firewall as one of the highest performing firewalls in the industry in its most recent Next-Generation Firewall Group Test Report . The NSS Labs evaluation included 11 market leading next-generation firewalls which were rated for security effectiveness, performance, stability and reliability, and total cost of ownership (TCO). The Sophos XG Firewall out-performed many other market-leading products across the stringent test criteria, placing it amongst the top-ranks of the seven products that also earned the NSS Labs ‘Recommended’ rating.
“Sophos is committed to developing the most effective and easy to manage security products for organizations of all sizes. We are proud that this NSS Labs test validates the XG Firewall as a leader in the industry for protection, performance, and value. We continue to invest heavily in our next-generation firewall platform as we enhance our synchronized security strategy. As proven by the recent WannaCry outbreak, effective network protection prevents the spread of sophisticated, fast moving attacks and will remain a critical component of any comprehensive security strategy for years to come,” explained Dan Schiappa, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Enduser and Network Security groups at Sophos.
The latest version of the Sophos XG Firewall added significant new features including:
- Sophos Sandstorm – Blocks evasive zero-day threats like ransomware, disguised as executables, PDFs and Microsoft Office documents – sending them to its cloud-sandbox to be detonated and observed in a safe environment
- Synchronized Security – Extends Security Heartbeat by adding missing heartbeat detection and destination Heartbeat protection. Control access to endpoints and servers based on the status of their heartbeat, restricting potentially compromised systems until they are completely safe. In addition, the XG Firewall can determine the application responsible for generating unknown traffic on your network
- Enterprise-Grade Secure Web Gateway (SWG) – New inheritance-based policy building tool enables multiple user and group based web control policies. Plug a full web policy into a single firewall rule for enforcement – dramatically reducing rule count
- Microsoft Azure Support – Available as a preconfigured virtual machine within the Azure Marketplace, IT managers can deploy seamlessly using Azure Resource Manager templates or customize deployment according to their needs. Sophos XG Firewall provides detailed, out-of-the-box reports that are generated and stored locally, giving them a view of exactly what their users are doing
- Streamlined User Experience – XG Firewall makes managing network security easier than ever with all-new navigation with a logically organized menu and tabs for click access to anywhere. Streamlined firewall rule screen makes it easier and more intuitive to build sophisticated rules
The Sophos XG Firewall is available on-premise as a hardware appliance or for all the major virtualization platforms as well as through the Microsoft Azure marketplace for securing infrastructure-as-a-service deployments in the cloud. Available models range from a desktop appliance with integrated Wi-Fi to rack-mount appliances purpose built for the data center. Pricing is available from authorized Sophos partners worldwide.