Sophos Central Reviews

My clients have 120 firewalls. They are all on Sophos Central. The tool can be used for firewall management.

I appreciate the fact that all my firewalls are in Sophos Central. Some of our customers do not have public static IPs. They're on DHCP through service providers, and I can manage and monitor my firewalls through it. It makes my life a lot easier. The tool enables me to see the security of my customers’ PCs at a glance.

The product must be made a little bit quicker. It sometimes takes me up to three to five minutes just to log in and see my dashboard. Once we’re in, it’s alright. The initial login is time-consuming.

I have been using the solution for more than five years.

The tool is very, very stable. We have had no issues.

The tool is very, very scalable. Our customers are medium to enterprise-level businesses.

We had a small language barrier with the support staff. The call center is in India. They have great knowledge, but they have very heavy accents. A lot of times, we struggle to understand what they are saying. Normally, I ask them to put it in an email to me and do my research about everything.

Positive

I have worked with Symantec. Broadcom and Veritas bought it. However, none of these solutions are anywhere near Sophos. When I used Symantec, I struggled to log in to the enterprise console in the cloud. Symantec used cookies to authenticate my browser.

Once, the cookies were changed and were not updated on my side. So, I had to re-authenticate and run through the whole process again to find the latest version of the software and download it. I had to physically log a support call just for them to point me in the correct direction of where I could download the latest software. It became a very tedious and time-consuming operation every single time I had to do an update.

The solution is very easy to install. One person can install the product in about five minutes. When I deploy the tool, I copy the initial setup file onto my server. I go through all the PCs and click on the setup. Upgrades and version updates are automatic. I don't have to worry about anything. When there's an alert on my email, I log in to Sophos Central and do some checks.

The tool is a little more expensive than other solutions. However, we get more value for money from Sophos. We pay an annual license fee for the tool. The monthly licensing option is more expensive than the annual license.

I would recommend the solution to others. Anyone who wants to do a trial with Sophos can engage with the software support people. The team will help do a case study, which will help convince the management to choose the product. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We use Sophos Central to ensure compliance activity.

Sophos Central is a user-friendly solution, and its configuration is very easy. The most valuable features of Sophos Central are total threat hunting and detection response.

Sophos Central must incorporate a diagrammatic graphical user interface for its practices and compliances.

I have been using Sophos Central for two years.

I rate Sophos Central a nine out of ten for stability.

Sophos Central is a scalable solution. Around 1,500 users are using the solution in our organization.

I rate Sophos Central a nine out of ten for scalability.

The solution’s technical support is very good.

Positive

The solution’s initial deployment is very easy.

One engineer can deploy the solution in around three days.

We have seen a return on investment with Sophos Central because its threat-hunting detection is very good. The solution has saved around 60% of our organization’s money.

Sophos Central is moderately priced. We have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate Sophos Central's pricing a six to seven out of ten.

Before choosing Sophos Central, we evaluated other options like SonicWall, Juniper, and WatchGuard. We chose Sophos Central because of the cost and better endpoint detection.

Sophos Central is deployed on-cloud in our organization. The solution’s maintenance is easy and can be done by one person.

As the endpoint and applications increase in an organization, Sophos Central can detect and protect from Trojans, viruses, and spyware.

Overall, I rate Sophos Central an eight out of ten.

My role is to bridge the gap between customer needs and my team's technical expertise. We collaborate to design and implement solutions that fit their specific requirements.

We cater to a wide range of organizations, from large enterprises in banking to small and medium businesses, call centers, and warehouses. Essentially, any company registered in Pakistan that requires endpoint security, next-generation firewalls, or other cybersecurity solutions can consider us.

The ransomware protection is exceptional, offering a strong defense against outsider attacks and viruses. This has proven extremely valuable to customers facing ransomware threats.

One significant advantage is its competitive dashboard compared to Trend Micro. 

I did encounter a limitation during a Proof of Concept with a large customer. The DLP (Data Loss Prevention) functionality wasn't fully functional when enabled in the central dashboard. I reported this to the distributor and technical team but couldn't get a definitive answer.

In future releases, I would like to see a complete XDR solution in Sophos. I want to see its capability. I want to understand how it works compared to Trend Micro, specifically its features and how it gears up.

Moreover, integration options with Trend Micro would be ideal, too.

I've been with Sophos Central for about three and a half years now, so I've been exposed to Sophos Central through customer interactions and team collaborations.

We work with a range of solutions, including Sophos XDR, Endpoint Protection (both cloud and on-prem), and Central. Additionally, we've sold the XG Firewall in the past.

The stability is almost a ten out of ten. We haven't encountered any issues.

The solution has been very stable. 

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. It is very good in terms of scalability.

We have around seven to eight customers using this solution.  We have large enterprises and small to medium enterprises as our customers.

The OEM support is excellent, and the second-level distributors like SoftStack and Avan Distribution have the technical expertise. 

As a partner, we also have sales and after-sales teams with expertise in troubleshooting and resolving customer issues. 

Positive

Setting it up is easy. Compared to Kaspersky or Trend Micro, it's no more difficult. Sophos is user-friendly. 

I would rate my experience with the setup a nine out of ten; one is difficult, and ten is easy. It is very easy; there's always room for improvement.

We have both cloud and on-premises deployment models. The cloud is a bit expensive compared to the on-premises version. The deployment model depends on the customers. 

We actually operate as a cloud solution provider ourselves. We have a sister company called CloudKind, and we offer various cloud environments through our own data centers. We deploy HCI solutions and complete cloud solutions and even offer VM solutions for customers. They can get Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service, Disaster Recovery as a Service... everything comes from our cloud, not AWS or any other external provider.

I focus on commercial aspects like pitching features and convincing customers. Once we receive a confirmed order and payment, we send it to our distributor, EZ Technology, which handles license key distribution and activation over email. The post-sales team then takes over, working with the customer to configure and manage the deployment based on their specific needs and devices.

The deployment usually takes around three to four weeks. It's safe to say three to four weeks. It depends on our team's workload and the customer's availability. Since customers are running live applications, they usually provide us access outside their working hours, like after 6:00 P.M. or 8:00 PM. That's why deploying the DDR and Central dashboard solution takes three to four weeks.

I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being the cheapest and ten being the most expensive. It is rather expensive. 

Compared to Kaspersky's EDR and centralized solution, which offers more discounts, Sophos Central seems a bit more expensive. That's our observation so far.

I always tailor my advice to the customer's specific needs. If their top priority is protection against ransomware and ICS/IDH attacks, I recommend Sophos. 

For complex networks with a large threat landscape, Trend Micro's XDR solution might be a better fit. Ultimately, I analyze the customer's network and requirements before suggesting the most suitable solution. I don't favor any specific brand like Trend Micro, IBM, or Kaspersky.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Sophos Central provides a unified security platform that simplifies the management of our firewall, EDR, XDR, endpoint security, email security, and access points. The synchronized collaboration among these components ensures a cohesive defense against cyber threats through a streamlined, centralized console. This integrated approach not only enhances security but also simplifies administration.

Our clients have found significant advantages in using Sophos extensively. One key benefit is its efficient use of bandwidth, especially in medium-sized organizations. In the Bangladesh market, where enterprise solutions are common, Sophos stands out for being cost-effective.

What I find most valuable in Sophos Central is its clear and detailed threat visibility on the dashboard. Unlike some other security products, Sophos shows every threat it catches and it makes it stand out in my analysis. In my monthly reports, Sophos consistently outperforms others, especially in inspecting and handling threats. This transparency is a big plus, especially when managing clients.

I would like to see improvements in the password recovery process within the Sophos Central solution. Currently, the process of recovering a forgotten password involves unnecessary complexity, and it takes a considerable amount of time, often up to 15 minutes or more. This aspect doesn't seem to be a security feature but rather a system-related issue.

I have been working with Sophos Central for four years.

The solution is very stable. A while back, some clients got hit by ransomware, so I installed Sophos Central on over four hundred PCs, and there haven't been any more ransomware issues since then.

Sophos Central is quite scalable. 

The initial setup was incredibly easy, more than easy. There is zero task provision support, making the process smooth and straightforward. Deploying Sophos Central to a customer's side is straightforward. I create an account using the client's email on Sophos Partner Central, manage their chosen products, and configure everything to fit the needs of each department. It is generally a speedy deployment.

The pricing structure of Sophos is notably lower compared to other security vendors, making the ROI percentage higher for our clients.

Unlike pricier and less customer-friendly alternatives, Sophos provides a robust solution at a reasonable price.

Sophos Central is great for syncing security across different tools and works well with Azure Cloud. However, some competitors, like Palo Alto, don't have the same level of security sync in the cloud dashboard. Sophos might be the better choice for streamlined security.

My advice to new users would be to focus on Sophos XDR and EDR, as they have proven to be excellent products in my experience. While Sophos Central is not a standalone product, the XDR and EDR services offer robust cybersecurity solutions. However, I have encountered some issues with Sophos firewall, particularly related to firmware updates causing productivity disruptions. To avoid these challenges, I suggest prioritizing Sophos EDR, XDR, and MDR services, as they consistently deliver reliable performance in the Sophos portfolio. Overall, I would rate the solution as a seven out of ten.

I use the solution in my company to manage client firewalls. It is also used to manage all the endpoints.

The solution's most valuable feature is the ease with which admins can monitor and troubleshoot issues related to any emails coming into our environment with malware or viruses. The malware and viruses get blocked with the antivirus endpoint functions offered by Sophos.

I am okay with the product. I don't need any more features in the solution since it is already too large of a system.

The solution has new services that are a big improvement from Sophos and Tron, but my company hasn't utilized them because we don't need them. There are no customizations that we need to deal with in the product. My company is satisfied with the current features offered by the tool.

Compared to GFI KerioControl, Sophos Firewall can be made much faster at setting up VPN clients and site-to-site VPNs.

I have been using Sophos Central since 2017. My company operates as a reseller of the product. My company has a partnership with Sophos.

It is a very stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

There is no need to scale up the product since it is a robust tool.

My company works mostly with e-commerce businesses, retailers, and accounting professionals.

There is no limit if we want to increase the use of the product since all we need to do is just add desktops or new computers for each customer every time they acquire a new device.

The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

My company has used only two products, GFI KerioControl and Sophos. We only use Sophos for the endpoints. If we talk about firewall products, there are two different computations in GFI KerioControl and Sophos Firewall. Both the tools are easy to maintain, but compared to Sophos Firewall, GFI KerioControl is much faster at setting up VPN clients and site-to-site VPNs. Both the tools are pretty good for protecting offices with site-to-site connectivity.

The product's initial setup phase is straightforward. If ten were the easiest, I would rate the setup phase as a ten on a scale of one to ten.

Once you have the endpoint software through Splashtop SOS on the client's desktop, install and download the program. In less than five minutes, it can be installed and protected.

Only one person is required to deploy the product through Splashtop SOS.

The product does not require maintenance since it is not an automatically managed process.

The solution is deployed using the cloud services offered by Sophos.

In terms of ROI, the tool pays off within a few months. The tool has big clients with good businesses that are maintained on the tool, so the firewalls are not that much for them.

There is a one-time fee for the hardware and an annual subscription fee, which is pretty good because we can get free updates.

In terms of the product's integration capabilities with other security tools, I would say that they are centralized and easy to manage. You just click on the customer and launch that customer, and you will see everything from that customer, including all the endpoints and firewalls that are being monitored.

I don't know whether the product offers any AI features.

I am not really keen to find out if the product offers features like predictive analytics or automated responses.

As an admin, it will give you a feeling of ease since your endpoints are protected, meaning the real computers are protected from viruses and malware.

I rate the tool a ten out of ten.

Regarding use cases, our main focus with the solution is on endpoints and endpoint security. We've acquired around a hundred licenses and deployed them to our employees to ensure comprehensive security and avoid any potential security risks.

The user interface of Sophos Central is excellent. One standout feature is the ease of identifying endpoints. If you have the serial number, that's sufficient to fetch the relevant endpoint. For instance, if you want to identify devices with the solution, you can easily do so using the serial number. Another noteworthy aspect is the real-time visibility into malware threats. In the malware alerts, you can precisely see the issue, where it occurred, and the recommended actions for IT personnel. This real-time insight is incredibly valuable.

Integration with third party applications should be improved.

I used the solution for around three years but last used it in September 2022, about a year ago.

The solution is stable.

We have had 100 people using the solution in our organization.

I contacted them two or three times, and they responded promptly each time. They addressed my queries and concerns quickly.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward.

The product's pricing was somewhat high. We paid Rs. 1500 INR per license, approximately equivalent to 20 USD.

Users can check out other solutions like CrowdStrike too.

The Central manager oversees multiple client sites, with one of them being located in Colombo. Once accessed, this entry point enables management of both virtual and physical environments across all three sites from a single interface.

Utilizing Sophos Central for endpoint security management for our customers, we've installed it for a client with three sites. Within this client, there are four companies under the same group. With Sophos Central, we can seamlessly communicate between the separate locations of these companies, such as Company 1, Company 2, and so forth.

Sophos Central has enhanced our client's organization's threat detection and response capabilities significantly. The solution requires minimal resources, with very low data usage, ensuring minimal impact on daily operations. It swiftly identifies advanced threats, with zero data loss during testing, and enables easy deduction of other potential threats.\

The Central interface greatly simplifies the management of our security policies and procedures. It's remarkably straightforward and intuitive, making it easy to understand and navigate quickly. I've personally noticed this simplicity reflected in the ease with which others grasp it. Once guided through the initial steps, users can comfortably navigate and continue managing tasks with little to no difficulty.

I find the biggest advantage of Sophos Central is the absence of physical hardware requirements, which alleviates the headache associated with managing server rooms, PCs, and other hardware. This eliminates any potential issues related to maintenance and upkeep. Additionally, in terms of cost, Sophos Central is competitively priced compared to alternatives like CrowdStrike and SandBlast by Checkpoint.

Sophos Central Reporting and Analytics are highly effective in delivering quick and valuable insights. However, one area that requires improvement is in addressing the increasing frequency of yearly attacks. Apart from that, the signature detection methods and other aspects function seamlessly.

There's no need for any upfront hardware costs with Sophos Central. By leveraging cloud-based solutions, we can significantly reduce expenses.

One of the most valuable features of Sophos Central for maintaining our cybersecurity posture is its ease of use. In my experience, managing Central is simple and can be done from anywhere, at any time. This accessibility is crucial for administrators, as it facilitates seamless communication and control.

In terms of improvement, there are several areas to focus on. Firstly, addressing market perception issues is crucial. From a technical perspective, one key area for improvement is strengthening its defense against zero-day attacks. Having and option for endpoint security on mobile devices, it would be advantageous.

I have been working with it for three years.

It provides good stability capabilities.

It is scalable.

Regarding technical support in my region, there are two separate entities, one being Indian-based. Unfortunately, the quality of support from the Indian region is lacking, although I have worked with other providers such as Check Point. In comparison, the support provided by Check Point surpasses that of the Indian-based support. Locally, we have two distributors available, but we currently only collaborate with one. While we generally find satisfaction with their services at the local level, there are occasions when issues arise that they cannot resolve on their own, particularly with Sophos Central. During these times, we encounter significant challenges, often experiencing prolonged wait times for responses and resolution. I would rate it four out of ten.

Neutral

We used CheckPoint. When comparing Sophos with other solutions, one significant advantage is that they offer similar features for the same price.

The initial setup is straightforward.

Initially, we begin with a Proof of Concept phase, followed by a one-month trial period using the free license. If the results are satisfactory, we proceed to purchase the EDR solution from the distributor. Once purchased, we simply update the license using the provided link. Deployment time varies depending on the size of the company. For instance, in a company with a thousand users spread across three locations, deployment typically takes less than two hours if there are no issues with endpoint communication and the network has a high bandwidth internet connection. Maintenance is straightforward.

Our customers find Sophos Central to offer excellent value for money, and they are highly satisfied with the service it provides.

The price is reasonable.

Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

We use the product to protect endpoints and emails. 

Sophos Central provides reports on downloads. It alerts the admin when users use their personal computers. The product is also flexible. 

The tool needs to improve its pricing. 

I have been using the product for one and a half years. 

Sophos Central is stable. It never breaks down. 

My company has 170 users for the product. 

The technical team is very flexible and responds fast. I encountered an issue when my CEO wanted me to have admin access with a simple, one-time, secure code. They needed to repair my account and provide a new secure code to achieve this. I contacted Sophos support in the UK, and they responded promptly. The entire process was completed within two hours. 

Sophos Central's deployment is easy. When you sign in with your domain, you create a user associated with your domain name. The license package is then purchased from Sophos under your domain name. If you install the application on your laptop, the organization can access it because the domain is for the organization.

The product is expensive. However, you can get discounts for over 100 users. 

For anyone looking to use the solution, I would first ask the desired level of security. Do you want high control over your users and employees, monitoring their downloads and internet access, or are you simply looking to scan files for malware? Depending on their security needs, I would recommend Sophos Central, especially if they want security, including email protection software.

I rate it a ten out of ten.