We use it to centralize, manage, and upgrade our security infrastructure. This includes applying policies, revoking access, and working within established guidelines, all without the need for physical access.
- "The primary benefits include complete control over hardware devices and the valuable assistance provided in log shipment."
- "There were challenges we faced with generating reports for the physical firewall in certain instances."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
It streamlines our operations, allowing us to remotely handle tasks, saving time and eliminating the need for running around to different locations.
What is most valuable?
The primary benefits include complete control over hardware devices and the valuable assistance provided in log shipment. Additionally, the analytics tools proved instrumental in effectively utilizing and interpreting data related to these aspects.
What needs improvement?
There were challenges we faced with generating reports for the physical firewall in certain instances. Despite escalating the issue through tickets, we haven't received a fully satisfactory resolution. Additionally, accessing user logs on the central platform is not as straightforward as we'd prefer.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for approximately five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't encountered any significant downtime while working, ensuring a stable experience.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate its scalability capabilities nine out of ten. Currently, there are five individuals responsible for overseeing and managing approximately twenty-five to twenty-eight firewalls.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support in India is somewhat slow. They often require a considerable amount of time, and contacting them sometimes involves odd hours, which can be challenging, especially when it falls outside regular business hours.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We collaborate with two other vendors, Fortinet and Palo Alto. We recently adopted Palo Alto about a year ago, and while they make promising claims, we are still in the process of familiarizing ourselves with their offerings. Fortinet, on the other hand, has been part of our operations for the past two years, with our team gaining experience and expertise. Among the three, Sophos is the longest-standing partner.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and user-friendly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It offers the most competitive pricing compared to other vendors. When considering security effectiveness, Sophos stands out as a cost-effective choice, especially in comparison to other prominent solutions available in the Indian market. It provides a comprehensive package that includes most features, making it more scalable and accessible for security needs in smaller organizations like ours. I would rate it one out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
- "Sophos Central is good. It's also free for all those firewalls because, from Sophos Central, we manage the firewalls and push the policies to the firewall."
- "It's not well-marketed, so many customers don't know about this feature."
What is our primary use case?
We are a vendor. In the last company, we were a platinum partner of Sophos. So we provided services to other businesses, like corporate businesses or many businesses.
I have deployed it in many scenarios. Many customer days come to us, and they're migrating their services, like, services to Sophos, like the other firewall to Sophos. They deploy a new one. So we tried different scenarios, like an active firewall with central services, central with active-active firewall, and the support central endpoint services. There are so many scenarios.
What is most valuable?
Sophos Central is good. It's also free for all those firewalls because, from Sophos Central, we manage the firewalls and push the policies to the firewall.
Also, we manage the Endpoint with the endpoint and firewall, with Sophos Central in view, monitoring all the policies, logs, and various features in the Sophos Central orchestration features.
We can push templates to all the firewalls, and they are updated automatically with the Central. It syncs automatically, and all the firewalls appear in Sophos firewall in our environment. So we can manage all firewalls, push policies, log our endpoint to endpoints, and update endpoints. Also, see the protection policy and all the various features.
What needs improvement?
There are areas of improvement because there are license restrictions.
In future releases, I would like to see more awareness about this product. Most customers don't know about Sophos Central. Sometimes, I have to ask customers to use Sophos Central because they don't know it exists.
It's not well-marketed, so many customers don't know about this feature. Many vendors use firewalls, but they don't use Sophos Central. For example, if you have five firewalls, the reporting limit might be reached. So, many customers don't know about Sophos Central, and I sometimes have to force them to use it.
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Sophos Central is generally good. Sometimes, issues arise due to server distribution, particularly from my region in Pakistan. There are two data centers, which can cause browsing delays. Overall, most of the time, it functions well, but there are occasional lapses due to these data center issues. Overall, I would rate the stability as seven out of ten.
I've noticed regional difficulties, such as high latency from the vendor's server. Generally, it's about eighty percent effective, but there are times when it's problematic.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate its scalability an eight out of ten. As a partner, we handle multiple scenarios. Sometimes it's hundreds of end users, sometimes thousands, and sometimes it's even more. The number of end users varies from time to time.
How are customer service and support?
The support is good. Initially, they escalate issues through the L1 and L2 engines. Often, the first few emails or days can be less productive, but after that, the L2 team becomes more engaged. For partners, I suggest a different support channel, which should allow direct quality reporting.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We worked with Kaspersky and other key solutions. Each has its strengths, but for robust security and support features, Sophos Central is preferable. I find its antivirus software and firewall solutions to be highly effective.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. It's very user-friendly. We can push policies through the GUI, like threat protection and file protection. Scanning protection begins with the GUI. It's no problem.
But for deployment, it's difficult, just like deployment purposes. If you're going to deploy the endpoint, it is difficult to deploy the central. We can go through the systems or through the active directory or something, but there are no other features like this.
What about the implementation team?
There's no need to deploy. It's on the cloud. We have to create an account and sync our antivirus. It takes about three to five minutes to sync.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very competitive. When compared to other vendors like Fortinet, Sophos stands out, especially in terms of firewall and endpoint pricing. It's more affordable than other American brands, and while not as cheap as Chinese brands, the quality and pricing balance is excellent.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale, I would rate it a ten out of ten. I would emphasize the range of features like DLP, file label protection, and user policies that align with your organizational needs. Sophos Central offers comprehensive protection and a variety of policy-based solutions that are highly beneficial for any organization.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
- "The advantage of central management, particularly in antivirus management, is that I don't need to go to each user individually."
- "The initial setup was moderately straightforward, around six or seven out of ten on the complexity scale. While it wasn't overly complicated, the multifactor authentication posed a challenge initially."
What is our primary use case?
We oversee the management of our wireless deployment through Sophos Central. Additionally, we handle the deployment of antivirus software for servers, users, and other devices.
What is most valuable?
The advantage of central management, particularly in antivirus management, is that I don't need to go to each user individually. Instead, I can handle everything from a single console, making it a unified and streamlined process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It provides impressive stability capabilities. I would rate it nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We never scaled it up.
How are customer service and support?
We never submitted any tickets or reached out to technical support. The documentation proved to be helpful, enabling us to set everything up without external assistance.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was moderately straightforward, around six or seven out of ten on the complexity scale. While it wasn't overly complicated, the multifactor authentication posed a challenge initially.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment, I received an email containing a link with step-by-step instructions to follow. That's all there was to it, and it was successfully completed by two individuals.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is highly affordable, with no additional costs. We renewed our annual license for the wireless component. I would rate it one out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
- "Sophos Central is a good and easy-to-manage product."
- "Whenever a customer installs a Sophos Central agent on the end-user system, their system becomes slow."
What is our primary use case?
We use Sophos Central for endpoint solutions for our customers. We deploy the endpoint on all end machines and manage everything from Sophos Central.
What is most valuable?
Sophos Central is a good and easy-to-manage product. It is compatible with all the versions, like iOS and MacBook. Whenever we configure any kind of policy we are setting, it immediately takes effect on all end user's devices. Sophos Central is an easy-to-use and easy-to-deploy solution.
What needs improvement?
Whenever a customer installs a Sophos Central agent on the end-user system, their system becomes slow.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos Central for more than four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Sophos Central a six out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I work with many customers and have deployed Sophos Central for 10 to 15 customers.
I rate Sophos Central a seven or eight out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Other than Sophos Central, I work with other solutions like Kaspersky and McAfee.
How was the initial setup?
The solution’s initial setup is very easy.
What about the implementation team?
The solution was deployed within ten days for 3,000 users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sophos Central is an affordable solution that any mid-level customer can buy.
What other advice do I have?
Sophos Central is deployed on the cloud infrastructure provided by Sophos.
Overall, I rate Sophos Central an eight out of ten.
- "The most important feature is definitely the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) tool. It allows us to track malware and other incidents in our environment."
- "Maybe the license pricing could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
For me, it's a great solution for endpoint management features like responding to threats and monitoring.
How has it helped my organization?
When I worked with large call centers, the most important thing was the device control feature. It provided reports on which devices were being used in the company area, and it prevented unauthorized devices from connecting to the computers. This was especially helpful because certain devices could be dangerous.
What is most valuable?
The most important feature is definitely the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) tool. It allows us to track malware and other incidents in our environment.
The product feels very complete in terms of providing information and functionality.
What needs improvement?
Maybe the license pricing could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
I started with the on-premise version, then I switched to the cloud version when it became available. I've been using the cloud version for a year and a half now, and I much prefer it.
The cloud version is definitely easier to set up. The documentation online is also helpful, so we didn't have any trouble getting it up and running.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
It was my first product tested in terms of antivirus and firewall.
What other advice do I have?
I strongly recommend the usage of this product. Have proper licenses in place. Sophos XG Firewall and Sophos Central because those are good products to use.
Overall, I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
- "It's highly valuable as it ensures that no unauthorized installations occur without the IT team's permission, maintaining a secure environment."
- "Vulnerability protection and monitoring any changes are crucial aspects that require attention."
What is our primary use case?
We incorporate it into our demo for its cloud-based security solution, similar to Trend Micro Logistics, ensuring robust security for both client machines and servers. The inclusion of features enhances the user experience, providing a friendly and intuitive interface.
What is most valuable?
It's highly valuable as it ensures that no unauthorized installations occur without the IT team's permission, maintaining a secure environment. This allows for precise application of security measures, similar to a firewall, where connectivity and application definitions are meticulously managed. The protection and enterprise-level features are commendable, offering robust control and firewall management for designated machines. Additionally, encryption can be applied seamlessly through the support center, providing comprehensive control over all aspects of security. The backend protection further enhances the overall security posture.
What needs improvement?
Vulnerability protection and monitoring any changes are crucial aspects that require attention. Considering the specific requirements of the banking sector where constant internet usage may not be permissible, it might be worthwhile for the company to reconsider offering an on-premises solution. This would cater to users who prefer or require an in-house solution due to security and permission concerns associated with internet networks. The DLP feature is present, but it may not be considered a comprehensive DLP solution and it should be improved.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate its stability capabilities seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It caters to a wide range of customers, including small and medium enterprises. It is versatile and adaptable, working effectively in various scenarios and meeting the diverse needs of its user base, regardless of the size or type of business.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate its customer service and support eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup posed some complexities in the process.
What about the implementation team?
Being a cloud solution eliminates the need to set up client-server arrangements for databases as everything is readily available. You just need to create a login account, sign in, download or deploy the agent on servers, and apply policies. However, a lightweight agent is essential to prevent any adverse impact on machine performance during evaluation. The deployment process can be completed in five minutes.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is relatively affordable. When compared to other vendors, it is a more cost-effective option. I would rate it six out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
If you're focused on client security, I recommend opting for Sophos Central. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
- "It is easy to manage and configure."
- "There could be more integration included in the product."
What is our primary use case?
We use Sophos Central to manage Sophos Endpoint integration and Sophos Firewall.
What is most valuable?
The platform provides smart integration between Sophos Endpoint and Firewall. It is easy to manage and configure. We do not require any technical assistance for integration. We can execute the process with the help of activation code.
What needs improvement?
There could be more integration included in the product.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Sophos Central's stability a ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Sophos has a helpful support team. However, we have never contacted them.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup process of the cloud solution is easy. It is a two to three-step implementation and takes an hour to complete.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Sophos Central a ten out of ten. I recommend it to others as it enables users to work with Sophos Endpoint and Firewall. We can manage the operation through one dashboard.
- "One of the most valuable features of Sophos Central for maintaining our cybersecurity posture is its ease of use."
- "Having and option for endpoint security on mobile devices, it would be advantageous."
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It provides good stability capabilities.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
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.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used CheckPoint. When comparing Sophos with other solutions, one significant advantage is that they offer similar features for the same price.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What was our ROI?
Our customers find Sophos Central to offer excellent value for money, and they are highly satisfied with the service it provides.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.