This article provides information about the Sophos Network Communications Report. Applies to Sophos Endpoint Security and Control Information Visit the Enterprise Console page and then open either of the following: Enterprise Console Help HTML: Home Troubleshooting Connectivity and timeout problems. Sophos sells just one level of antivirus software: Sophos Home Premium, available in one-, two-, or three-year subscriptions, each of which protects up to 10 Windows or macOS PCs. Founded in 1985.

Sophos Group plc is a British security software and hardware company. Sophos develops products for communication endpoint, encryption, network security, email security, mobile security and unified threat management. Sophos is primarily focused on providing security software to 100- to 5,000-seat organizations. While not a primary focus, Sophos also protects home users, through free and paid antivirus solutions (Sophos Home/Home Premium) intended to demonstrate product functionality. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Thoma Bravo in February 2020.

History[edit]

Sophos was founded by Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer and began producing its first antivirus and encryption products in 1985.^[2] During the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Sophos primarily developed and sold a range of security technologies in the UK, including encryption tools available for most users (private or business). In the late 1990s, Sophos concentrated its efforts on the development and sale of antivirus technology, and embarked on a program of international expansion.^[3]

In 2003, Sophos acquired ActiveState, a North American software company that developed anti-spam software. At that time viruses were being spread primarily through email spam and this allowed Sophos to produce a combined anti-spam and antivirus solution.^[4] In 2006, Peter Gyenes and Steve Munford were named chairman and CEO of Sophos, respectively. Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer remain as members of the board of directors.^[5] In 2010, the majority interest of Sophos was sold to Apax.^[6] In 2010, Nick Bray, formerly Group CFO at Micro Focus International, was named CFO of Sophos.^[7]

In 2011, Utimaco Safeware AG (acquired by Sophos in 2008–9) were accused of supplying data monitoring and tracking software to partners that have sold to governments such as Syria: Sophos issued a statement of apology and confirmed that they had suspended their relationship with the partners in question and launched an investigation.^[8][9] In 2012, Kris Hagerman, formerly CEO at Corel Corporation, was named CEO of Sophos and joined the company's board. Former CEO Steve Munford became non-executive chairman of the board.^[10] In February 2014, Sophos announced that it had acquired Cyberoam Technologies, a provider of network security products.^[11] In June 2015, Sophos announced plans to raise $US100 million on the London Stock Exchange.^[12] Sophos was floated on the FTSE in September 2015.^[13]

On 14 October 2019 Sophos announced that Thoma Bravo, a US-based private equity firm, made an offer to acquire Sophos for US$7.40 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately $3.9 billion. The board of directors of Sophos stated their intention to unanimously recommend the offer to the company's shareholders.^[14] On 2 March 2020 Sophos announced the completion of the acquisition.^[15]

Acquisitions and partnerships[edit]

From September 2003 to February 2006, Sophos served as the parent company of ActiveState, a developer of programming tools for dynamic programming languages: in February 2006, ActiveState became an independent company when it was sold to Vancouver-based venture capitalist firm Pender Financial.^[16] In 2007, Sophos acquired ENDFORCE, a company based in Ohio, United States, which developed and sold security policy compliance and Network Access Control (NAC) software.^[17][18] In November 2016, Sophos acquired Barricade, a pioneering start-up with a powerful behavior-based analytics engine built on machine learning techniques,^[19] to strengthen synchronized security capabilities and next-generation network and endpoint protection. In February 2017, Sophos acquired Invincea, a software company that provides malware threat detection, prevention, and pre-breach forensic intelligence.^[20][21][22]

In March 2020, Thoma Bravo acquired Sophos for $3.9 billion.^[23]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcd'Annual Report 2018'(PDF). Sophos. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
2. ^'Sophos: the early years'. Naked Security.
3. ^'Exterminator Tools'. Windows IT Pro. 15 November 1999. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
4. ^'Sophos acquires anti-spam specialist ActiveState'. www.sophos.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
5. ^'Sophos Management Team | Global Leaders in IT Security'. sophos.com.
6. ^'Apax Partners to acquire majority stake in Sophos'.
7. ^'Board of Directors'.
8. ^'The Bureau Investigates article'. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011.
9. ^'Statement from Sophos on Recent Media Reports'.
10. ^'Sophos Board of Directors webpage'.
11. ^'Sophos Acquires Cyberoam to Boost Layered Defense Portfolio'. Infosecurity Magazine.
12. ^'Sophos Plans $100 Million London IPO'.
13. ^'Sophos joins the UK's top public companies in the FTSE 250'.
14. ^'Sophos founders exit before Thoma Bravo sale'. Global Capital. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
15. ^'Sophos opens new chapter with take-private acquisition'.
16. ^'ActiveState Acquired by Employees and Pender Financial Group; Company Renews Focus on Tools and Solutions for Dynamic Languages'. Business Wire. 22 February 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
17. ^'Sophos buys Endforce for network access control'. Network World. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
18. ^Wauters, Robin. 'Sophos beefs up on online security, acquires Dutch security software firm SurfRight for $31.8 million'. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
19. ^https://www.sophos.com/en-us/press-office/press-releases/2016/11/sophos-acquires-security-analytics-start-up-in-ireland.aspx
20. ^'Sophos Adds Advanced Machine Learning to Its Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio with Acquisition of Invincea'. Sophos. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
21. ^'Sophos grows anti-malware ensemble with Invincea'. Sophos. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017. One may ask, if you already have great next-generation technology, why do you need Invincea’s technology?...Think of Invincea as the superhero that takes our ensemble to the next level – the entity that adds neural network-based machine learning to the team.
22. ^'Sophos to Acquire Invincea to Add Industry Leading Machine Learning to its Next Generation Endpoint Protection Portfolio'. Invincea. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
23. ^'Thoma Bravo completes $3.9B Sophos acquisition'. TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 April 2020.

External links[edit]

When we speak to educational institutes, we often hear different requirements for their security products which comes from different roles.

• Safeguard officer – Student safety is paramount, we need tools to protect the students.
• IT manager – We have to ensure our network is secure from external threats.

What if I told you we can satisfy both requirements with the products available in the Sophos toolkit?

Securing the network

The guidelines around safeguarding can often be left open to interpretation, especially around prevention. Policies can differ between schools, counties, and boards so a clear perspective of what is required from the safeguarding policy is key. However, not everyone is aware of the capabilities of the Sophos XG and how it can help prevent and meet safeguarding policies alongside Intercept X and Mobile Control.

Danger, danger! Let’s not forget network security. As technology evolves network security is becoming more and more important in protecting the network for the latest vulnerabilities, especially the zero day threats. Sophos deep learning is a quantum leap beyond basic machine learning, capable of identifying known threats and unknown threats. It is continually learning and creating a safer network. Check out the Sophos Products YouTube channel to get an overview of each product and how your network can be protected.

This short video highlights the importance to network security.

The Sophos XG Unified Thread Management (UTM) has a strong feature set offering a hard line of defense. As with any other firewall, it is able to lock down traffic between zones such as LAN, WAN, DMZ, and more while allowing the required traffic through with firewall and NAT rules. But all firewalls do that, right? Well, we go above and beyond with intrusion prevention, advanced threat control, web Filtering, application filtering and more. We won’t list every feature here, but all these features will work with the firewall rules.

Protecting end users

So, your network is protected, but what about the students themselves? Application filtering and web filtering are two of the best features to aid in prevention for safeguarding.

Web filtering policies can be configured on a granular level and applied to different security groups. This means you can have more than just student and staff policies. It can be broken down by department, subject, or whatever the requirements may be. They can also be configured with time criteria, where some categories may be allowed outside of normal work/school hours; or there can be quotas to allow a maximum amount of time allowed on categories per day.

As mentioned in our previous video, you can also configure safe search per policy, along with user overrides enabling teachers to create temporary codes to unblock certain categories and websites for educational purposes. This coincides perfectly with the custom block pages that can be setup when a user may be looking at content that is high on the safe guarding radar. This block page could offer support for the student rather simply blocking their access.

Network Security Ppt

How many websites these days have their own applications? This means blocking a website just does not cut it out completely anymore. Application filtering is another great way to block unwanted internet behavior and prevent students from accessing content they shouldn’t. This can especially be useful for BYOD devices without a certificate installed for SSL inspection.

Sophos Network Security Reviews

Know what works with reports and alerts

The network is protected, and we are working to prevent students from accessing content they shouldn’t – but how do you know it’s working? Sophos XG reporting has built-in reports that can be set up for regular alerts, and the ability to set up custom reports to target any safeguarding concerns. Additionally, there is also the ability to connect a syslog server for even more reporting capabilities. On top of this, on the main Sophos XG dashboard you’ll see alerts such as user threat quotient (UTQ) that will provide a simple-to-use report and a graph highlighting the riskiest users.

Combine Sophos Intercept X with EDR and Synchronized Security with a Sophos XG, and network and endpoint infrastructure will be protected from known and unknown attacks. Additionally, the Sophos Synchronized Security concept means that authentication information can be forwarded for the endpoint to the Sophos XG, ensuring the most reliable information is available for reporting and the correct filtering is applied.

Add Sophos Mobile to the mix with Sophos Intercept X for Mobile, and now you can protect and add additional layers of security and prevention to BYOD devices.

This can all be managed in one single pane of glass: Sophos Central.

Sophos Network Security Free

Secure, scalable, simple.