There’s a lot to learn about the new Sophos XGS 107, and we couldn’t wait to talk about it. First thing is, the Sophos XG series is now called, simply, Sophos Firewall. Secondly, they have dedicated Xstream Flow processors, and they’re really something. These multi-core processors just make everything faster. Including the heavy-lift security functions like….
TLS 1.3 Inspection
According to the latest statistics, approximately 90% of web traffic is encrypted.Problem is, encryption makes traffic invisible to most firewalls.
Sophos Firewall now removes the blind spots caused by encrypted traffic. The speedy new processors allow you to use SSL Inspection without sacrificing speed and efficiency.
Deep Packet Inspection
Sophos believes you shouldn’t have to choose betrween security and performance. So, Sophos Firewall includes a fast Deep Packet Inspection engine. It scans your traffic without using a proxy, which tends to slow things down. The inspection processing is completely offloaded to the DPI engine. This reduces latency. In other words, it speeds things up.
Application Acceleration
Of course, let’s not forget that a lot of your network traffic is important application traffic. Traffic that’s supposed to be there, headed for branch offices, remote users, and so on. This trusted traffic can now be directed to FastPath, which will optimize performance further. This provides extra capacity for intelligently scanning traffic that does need DPI for malware and other threats.
The Sophos XGS 107 and XGS 107W
And since we’ve talked this much about this whole, brand-new firewall family, let’s go ahead and start in with one of it’s smaller members, the XG 107 and 107W. It has some pretty advanced features like on-box reporting, dual AV scanning, WAF AV scanning and the email message transfer agent functionality. It’s a desktop appliance, but there will be a rack mount unit available. The XGS107 pushes 7 Gbps total firewall Throughput, and 2.0 Gbps Firewall IMIX. IPS Throughput is 1.355 Gbps, Threat Protection Throughput is 330 Mbps, and Xstream SSL/TLS Inspection is 420 Mbps. The wireless interface is 802.11ac.
New Licensing options
In addition to the basic firewall features, there are three bundle options. They are the Network Protection, Web Protection, and Zero-Day protection options. Plus, there’s Sophos Central Management and Sophos Central Orchestration options for additional features and support. These are a topic all their own. And although Sophos recommends the Xstream Protection bundle for the most thorough security, you can customize your protection if you like. All subscriptions a available for individual purchase.
