The Olympic Games are back this year, showcasing daily displays of sporting excellence and hard-won success that inspire us all. Just as in sports, commitment, a drive to achieve, and hard work are essential for success in both cybersecurity and business and crucial to all of us here at Sophos.
Our latest releases further extend our market-leading competitive advantages and create new sales opportunities. Be sure to check out this month’s newsletter for the full set of updates, including new sales resources and industry awards.
Jump to a section:
- What’s New: Latest products and services releases
- Sales Resources: Including special pricing for Kaspersky displacements and XG to XGS Series hardware migration
- Awards + Recognition: Accolades from Gartner and G2
WHAT’S NEW
Sophos MDR: Service Insights reporting
The Sophos Central MDR dashboard now highlights the extensive human effort the Sophos MDR team undertakes on behalf of customers, helping drive new MDR sales and secure renewals.
- Three new data ‘widgets’ have been added to the MDR dashboard and are available for use on custom dashboards: MDR case summary, Threat hunting and intel effort, and MDR analyst coverage
- Enhanced threat activity reports and event pipeline visualizations further demonstrate the value of the service
- New 1-page PDF you can share with customers, partners and prospects to provide an overview of Sophos MDR service insights and reporting.
Sophos XDR/MDR: New third-party integrations
July has been a busy month on the integration front, expanding sales opportunities with:
- Four brand-new third-party integrations live: Acronis (Backup and Recovery), Cisco ISE (Identity), Barracuda (Firewall), Zscaler (Network)
- Vectra (Network) integration in public beta
- A new version of Microsoft Graph Security API integration released Get details
- v2.0 of the Mimecast (Email) integration released Get details
Integration packs enable customers to elevate their defenses by using telemetry from existing non-Sophos solutions to accelerate threat detection and response … and boost your ARR and customer stickiness! To help you sell the value, we have created individual solution briefs for each of our eight integration packs
Secure by Design
To accelerate the adoption of a security-first approach to software development, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) launched a Secure by Design pledge. Secure by Design is fully aligned to the Sophos philosophy and Sophos was one of the very first organizations to commit to the pledge. This month we have openly shared our individual pledges and progress – part of our effort to make Sophos the world’s most trusted cybersecurity vendor.
Sophos Firewall is a great example of how we deliver ‘Secure by Design’ in practice, elevating the protection of our 300,000 firewall customers around the globe. Learn more.
Sophos ZTNA: v2.1 Expanding sales with on-premises Microsoft AD Support
Sophos ZTNA v2.1 is now available, delivering a host of enhancements including support for on-premises Microsoft Active Directory, zero downtime, and seamless failover between cloud points-of-presence. The release opens lucrative new sales opportunities with organizations that have on-premises AD infrastructure. More info.
Sophos MSP: Enhanced PSA integrations
Extending our MSP support, we’ve enhanced our Datto Autotask and ConnectWise PSA integrations to reduce the operational burden of alert management for MSPs. New capabilities include automatic service ticket creation, bi-directional synchronization, and deep links in PSA tickets direct to Device Details pages in Sophos Central. Learn more.
Additionally, new ConnectWise Automate and Kaseya VSA 9 plugins are now available, allowing you to Save time with enhanced customer onboarding, improved deployment management, and Mac device support. Discover More
Sophos Firewall v20 MR2 now available
Sophos Firewall v20 MR2 offers significant enhancements, including a new backup and restore assistant that simplifies firewall configuration backups to be easily restored on a different firewall appliance. Additional enhancements include improvements to Active Directory single-sign-on and Web Protection. This update is available for all licensed customers and ensures their firewall is equipped with the latest security, reliability, and performance features. Learn more.
Sophos X-Ops: Protection enhancement
May through July saw further improvement in core protection. Firstly, we successfully rolled out the latest version of our Portable Executable Machine Learning (PE ML) model to all Sophos Endpoint (Intercept X) customers via controlled, staged updates. This model targets malware in executables files, and v4.0 further extends our industry-leading detection for customers. At the same time, we released five new behavioral protection rule sets.
Sophos X-Ops Intelix: Global infrastructure uplift
We continue to invest in our core threat intelligence infrastructure. Following the deployment of our fifth Intelix lookup (SXL) region in Frankfurt in Q1, this month we deployed the first of many “hyper” instances in Miami. This ongoing expansion is improving availability and responsiveness of Intelix SXL across all Sophos products and services.
Cyber Insurance: Cysurance partnership in Australia
Following tremendous success in the U.S., we have extended our Cysurance partnership to Australia, facilitating access to coverage and discounted premiums for Sophos MDR and Endpoint customers. Next stop Canada and the UK. Learn more.
SALES RESOURCES
Migrate Your XG Series Customers to Sophos XGS Series Hardware
With the end of life for XG Series appliances coming up on March 31 next year, many of you are taking advantage of our exclusive offers to upgrade your customers to the XGS Series. They not only get unbeatable savings but also benefit from the latest Xstream architecture with significant performance gains, improved TLS inspection, and expanded connectivity options.
To ensure you have a seamless upgrade experience, we’ve recently introduced new tools you can use to make this upgrade quick and easy:
- Sales Resources
- Sales Promotions
- XG to XGS Migration Explained
- Partner Training – Coming soon! Watch this blog for an update.
PS: While we’re translating these resources, please toggle the language filter to English in the Asset Library to see the latest versions.
Kaspersky Displacement: Smooth Transition and Special Pricing
The U.S. government recently announced that it is banning the sale of Kaspersky antivirus products due to national security concerns. After September 29, 2024, Kaspersky users in the U.S. will no longer receive updates or support. The ban is also prompting Kaspersky customers outside the U.S. to re-evaluate their endpoint provision. We have a set of resources to help you win new business with Kaspersky users:
- Blog post on migrating from Kaspersky to Sophos
- Sophos Endpoint overview video
- Kaspersky to Sophos SKU comparison chart
- Kaspersky displacement promo flier
Promos: 25% off Sophos MDR
To help accelerate MDR business this year, the global promo that provides 25% off Sophos MDR has been extended through to the end March 2024 for all organizations. More info
Sophos MDR for Microsoft Defender: New sales resources
Over 12,00 Sophos XDR and Sophos MDR customers have integrated their Microsoft stack with Sophos Central. To help you sell Sophos MDR to Microsoft users, we’ve expanded our MDR for Microsoft collateral with:
After the Global Outage: Insights for Evaluating Vendor Risk
Following the global IT outage that occurred on July 19, 2024, many organizations are now re-evaluating their third-party risk management strategy, IT outage response procedures, and business continuity plans. The underlying question for many of these organizations is, “How can I minimize the risk of disruptions caused by third party vendors?”
For information on Sophos’ approach to robust and secure digital infrastructure, please follow the links below:
- On-Demand Webinar with Sophos CISO Ross McKerchar
- Sophos Trust Center
- Sophos Penetration Testing Program
- How to Run a Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercise
- Sophos Central Endpoint: Release and Development Principles (contains how you can configure updates)
- The Kernel Drivers in Sophos Intercept X Advanced
- Sophos Commits to CISA’s Secure By Design Initiative
- The Significance of Bug Bounty Programs (on-demand webinar)
Sophos Managed Risk: Proof point stat
70% of Sophos Managed Risk customers have previously unknown external exposures that are identified by the service. Use this stat to demonstrate why organizations need this service and the caliber of our offering.
Leveraging insurance savings to fund Sophos MDR
We’ve published a public article explaining how organizations can re-direct savings from their cyber insurance to help fund their MDR investments. Most carriers recognize and reward MDR investments with lower premiums and easier access to coverage – a great tool to support MDR sales. Get article
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
Sophos recognized as a Gartner Customers’ Choice for Endpoint – for the third year running!
Following hot on the heels of our recognition as a Gartner Customers’ Choice for Firewall, we’ve also been recognized for Endpoint. This independent, Gartner-verified customer feedback is tremendous validation of the superior performance and day-in, day-out usability of our solutions. Learn more.
G2 Names Sophos a Leader for Endpoint Protection, EDR, XDR, Firewall, and MDR
G2 just released their Summer 2024 Reports, and Sophos is the only cybersecurity provider named a Leader across the G2 Grid® Reports for Endpoint, EDR, XDR, Firewall and MDR! Once again, G2 users also rated Sophos as the #1 overall Firewall solution – the sixth G2 seasonal report in a row for this distinction. Learn more