The pace of malware development is increasing and relying on signature-based protection is no longer enough in the modern threat landscape and the next-generation features of Intercept should really be considered to be the table-stakes basics of protection. In order to reflect this reality, we have made the decision to withdraw from sale our Central Endpoint Protection (CEP) and Central Server Protection (SVRC) licenses effective on 1st July 2021. Renewals will be possible until the completion of the license migration which is targeted for completion in September or October. Customers who are already on this license level will have their license upgraded to Intercept X Advanced/Intercept X Advanced for Server for the remainder of their term. At the end of the term, they have the option to pay for Intercept X Advanced/Intercept X Advanced for Server, or a higher service, like our EDR solution. The migration to Intercept X will provide Sophos’ best protection functionality, including capabilities such as anti-ransomware, deep learning AI and many other features that were not present in Central Endpoint Protection/Central Server Protection and consequently will equip the customer to better prepared for new and unknown threats. We also strongly recommend that customers deploy and enable the anti-ransomware features of Intercept X Advanced/Intercept X Advanced for Server as soon as possible.

At the same time we have taken the opportunity to introduce a new entry-level product range, namely Intercept X Essentials (CIXE) and Intercept X Essentials for Server (SVRCIXE). These two new products are ideal for small organisations that want to have the very best levels of protection, but are able to function with a single overall policy and can accept reduced management capabilities. Whilst we anticipate that most end users will prefer the extra features offered in Intercept X Advanced and Intercept X advanced for Server, the essentials option exists for customers when they reach the point of renewal and for new contracts.

Which capabilities are not included in Intercept X Essentials / Intercept X Essentials for Server?

• Multiple Policies
  Customers must use the base policy.
• Peripheral Control
  Customers cannot restrict what devices users plug in.
• Controlled Updates
  Customers cannot delay updates and choose when to deploy them.
• Web Control
  Customers cannot block users from accessing inappropriate websites.
• Application Control
  Customers cannot control which types of applications can be installed and run.
• Threat Cases
  Customers don’t have access to threat cases which show what happened during an incident.
• File Integrity Monitoring (FIM)
  Customers cannot monitor critical files on their servers for attempts at tampering.
• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
  Customers cannot see their wider cloud environment such as serverless functions and databases.
• Server Lockdown
  Customers cannot lock down their servers to a baseline setup.

For more information, please review the relevant knowledge base article or this partner blog post.