Sophos XG Reviews

This solution is implemented for medium and large enterprises to protect their network from attacks and to filter the web traffic through web protection and application protection modules.

This solution includes Email protection, IPS, Antivirus gateway, ATP, Reporting, VPN, Sophos Wireless controller, load balancer, WAF, and traffic shaping.

1. It's protecting our networks from threats.
2. Block URLs and web applications based on business needs.
3. Not expensive when compared to other vendors, with a great added value.
4. Impressive synchronized security with its endpoint solution.

All of the features are amazing, especially Sandstorm, which prevents bad traffic or downloaded files from reaching our customers' and partners' networks.

Network security is in need of improvement.

We use the solution mainly as a firewall.

The solution improves security.

It's easy to use, but it's harder to configure when you want detailed settings. They need to make it easier to access advanced features.

The solution seems pretty stable. We've had no issues so far.

We haven't had to scale anything so far, so I'm unsure about the scalability of the solution.

I've never had to deal directly with technical support.

We did not previously use a different solution.

Implementation is straightforward. The only thing that was difficult was that we had some special cases and we had to dig in a lot to find the information for accessing very specific features. Deployment took about a week, however, we did about 6 months of research beforehand. You can deploy the solution with maybe one or two people, but we used five. We only need one person for ongoing maintenance.

We handled the implementation ourselves.

We don't have any costs above the licensing of the solution itself.

We are using the on-premises deployment model.

The solution is easy to implement, however, if you do decide on this solution, I would make sure that you have someone that has experience with this kind of solution or to hire someone to implement the solution properly. It will make everything much easier in the long run.

I would rate the solution 9.5 out of ten.

The endpoint protection plan is the most valuable feature of the solution. 

The filtering is very easy to do. You can segment and create profiles for usage very easily.

The UTM itself needs improvement. When you're navigating it seems like it takes forever to load anything. The hardware is okay. It's just the software that could be more responsive. 

We do updates periodically, but the solution is very stable. We haven't had to go back to the site to reconfigure it or anything like that.

At the moment, we haven't had a reason to contact technical support.

The initial setup is very straightforward.

We implemented the solution ourselves.

We tend to go for the bundle because it's pricing is competitive. If a unit comes out and they bundle the hardware with the software, it seems to work for us. I've seen that with future upgrades coming up, that features like this will be taken away. The option to get a combo with hardware means the software portion is mostly free, and then you pay upfront for the three-year license for everything.

However, with the changes, I don't think that's going to be available anymore. It might sway our clients away from Sophos. Maybe there's something that can be worked out. Other than that, we've been happy with the price. It's competitive if you compare it to the competition, from a price point of view.

We use a variety of deployment models, including public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises.

For what we are using the solution for, its practically perfect. We don't need other features added. The solution offers exactly what we need.

I would rate the solution seven out of ten.

We use this solution for connecting site-to-site and client-to-site VPN for two protocols, IPsec and SSL VPN. We use encrypted tunnels to achieve fully secure connectivity between sites and clients.

It gives me a very good, stable connection in all tunnels.

Of course, it improves my organization to achieve fully secure connectivity between sites and clients.

It has a good web filtering database and a good application control database in addition to intrusion prevention. Together, these give me confidence in our security.

All of the features in this solution are good. The most valuable is the IPsec VPN tunneling and SSL VPN tunneling, both site-to-site and client-to-site.

The log viewer is extremely helpful for analyzing all incoming and outgoing traffic.

I would like to have remote access to clients using a static IP for a certain period of time. This would allow me to log in to any client, remotely, with a known and fixed IP address.

This is the first solution that we implemented.

It's a suitable price and license.

We did not evaluate other options before choosing this solution.

We use it for VPN connectivity with remote sites, as well as general IPS and IDS.

It's a satisfactory solution so far, no problems. It's very easy to use, and we have technical support for any issues, so it's quite good.

It's cost-effective. We are not that big a company. It gives us the features that we need.

• The ease of setting up the VPN connection. 
• The fact they have the cloud management option, I can manage it on a cloud platform. So anywhere I am, I can always manage the firewall.
• The user interface is very user-friendly, so it's very easy for the administrator to make any policy changes.

I would like the update process to be easier, to update the firmware of the boxes. I think it's much better automatically than having to do it manually: Download the file, do network discovery. If they can make the update process much more automatic that would help.

The stability, so far, is actually quite good. I think the only issue we have had is some flapping on the connection, but it was a bug. The support is quite good, so the issue was resolved in no time at all. We have not had many issues at all. It's been working fine.

I don't think this applies in our own case because we just bought the medium-range box, so it's adequate for our needs.

It's very good, very responsive, and they resolve our issues in no time at all.

We were previously using a different solution, a Cisco ASA firewall, but it was not a next-generation of firewall, next-generation meaning it can do unified threat management. We wanted a new solution that would also give us next-generation features, like anti-malware and end-point management and the like. That informed our choice of Sophos.

When selecting a vendor, the stability of the solution and then the technical support are very important. Also, the cost-to-reward ratio, the value we get from the product compared to what we pay for it. In addition, ease of management; how easy is it to manage? If it's too complex to manage it's a problem because you don't want to spend too much time managing it.

It was completely straightforward, but our internal network is not that complex.

We evaluated Sophos vs Fortinet and Sophos vs Cisco. 

The cost of Sophos was more competitive compared to the rest. We also considered the management and it was easier to manage than the rest. That's how we came to our conclusion.

I would rate it an eight out of 10. I don't rate it "perfect" because it can always improve. But the features that come along with Sophos are very, very extensive. It gives me so many options, the ability to remotely manage my firewall from anywhere, given the cloud portal. The solution hasn't given us too many problems at all, and even when we did have an issue, it was resolved.

My advice is to take advantage of the trials, they have a trial on their website where you can see how the cloud management works; you can have a free account for one month and play around with it and see how easy it is to manage. That way you can know if it can handle the services you are going to require. Take advantage of training on their website as well. Check the industry ratings, they are pretty highly rated.

The most valuable feature, according to the setup we have at our work place here, is the flexibility of the system or the firmware that's running the appliance. It's so flexible, performing multiple rules with different configurations. According to the set up here, we need to implement several firewalls with different access levels, because we have a variety of users. For this requirement, it's very flexible and very easy to use.

It is performing well. However, the only challenges that we are facing are the effectiveness with blocking the proxy and tuneling applications, aside from  proxy and similar applications. So the application filter on the product is not really performing 100%. Every now and then there are some updates that are happening on such applications, and it takes time until it gets the appropriate updates and becomes capable of capturing such applications and blocking them.

A new feature I would really like to see would be some sort of an enhanced application filter with greater efficiency when it comes to the applications that can bypass firewall policies. These applications are really a nightmare. Once they are on the network and not detected, or the appliance is not really successful in capturing them and unblocking them, the bandwidth gets wasted all the time.

It's stable. So far we haven't experienced any instability issues with. 

As for scalability, I think it is a bit limited. We did a sizing exercise before the purchase. But that was just to fit our current needs. There was no room for having an option to upgrade the device. The only option that we have if we are grow in the near future, is to go for another model with higher specs, which is actually more expensive. In other words it doesn't have that modularity feature. 

From time to time I use technical support provided by the seller and sometimes I use the online support, but not that much actually. It has only been for a very few issues. And the support I have received is not bad.

Before Sophos there was mix of various legacy solutions that were not really considered firewall grade. The only specific thing that was used was a software-based firewall, but it was used on a very limited scale and only temporarily.

It was very straightforward. 

The other vendors on the list were Fortinet and Palo Alto. Although it was really great with outstanding features, Palo Alto was far beyond our budget. And as for Fortinet, I was not really happy with the ease of use of the firewall and the features that were coming with it. Sophos was better compared to Fortinet.

When it comes to selecting a vendor I think the most important thing would be the level of support and how fast they can respond in critical cases.

I would rate Sophos at eight out of 10. I cannot give it the best rating because there are the issues that I mentioned, and I believe there are other products on the market that are much better, like Palo Alto. And there is another product that I've come across recently, which is called Clavister. It's a Swedish product, if I'm not mistaken. They are current with features and have more stability. So for Sophos, it would be the appropriate rating for the time being, unless they come up with some new features and add some enhancements.

There is no straightforward advice in this case because there are many factors that may limit the person who wants the solution. Budget is an issue. If you don't have any budget limitations I would recommend going for Palo Alto. If not, consider Sophos or Clavister.

My clients gain efficiency in protecting against attacks from malware such as ransomware and hacker attacks. It also provides them efficient internet access control, and full visibility of ports, applications, and websites.

• IPS
• Very efficient
• Web Filter
• Captive Portal with Voucher and Application Control.

It could offer other important functions such as a DNS Filter for blocking botnet networks.

No stability issues.

No scalability issues.

Satisfactory.

I still use Fortigate, also Sophos UTM. As I'm a solution consultant, I have different clients where each solution fits the environment.

Simple and easy.

Excellent product, meets most of the security needs of companies of various sizes. You can buy it without fear.

1. Internet security, where we have one single point of console; where I can manage my endpoint and my gateway. 
2. Any messages coming in, I am getting the intermission immediately. 
3. If my endpoint is getting infected, I get to know. 
4. If my file is getting infected, I get to know from a single pane point of view.

The product has been upgraded, and one of the features we were looking for has been incorporated into the newer version. It has allowed me to customize for my needs as well.

The past six months.

Nothing. No issues. It is quite stable.

This is a little bit of a challenge. Scalability is one issue with the hardware device and hardware files. Any kind of hardware file which has been delivered has been a challenge.

Sophos is being preferred only because of their technical support. The tech support there is very good. It is a five-star support system that they have there.

Our previous solution was Check Point. I switched to Sophos just because of the pricing issue.

It is very user-friendly to set up. Very straightforward.

Pricing is very competitive in the market.

Only Check Point. That was the one product which I evaluated.

The support is awesome. QA is very simple, and the administration is very straightforward.