Prior to the introduction of Sophos Intercept X Advanced, Sophos offered Central Endpoint. This was its primary endpoint protection solution. It doesn’t include deep learning AI, CryptoGuard, and many other protection features that make Intercept X so complete and effective.
Then came the whole Intercept X thing. The main things Sophos Intercept X added were Deep Learning Malware Detection, Exploit Prevention, Malicious Traffic Detection, Active Adversary Mitigations, and a few others. It is worth noting, however, that Central Endpoint does have features that the basic Intercept X does not. So Central Endpoint is still very much a viable product in it’s own right.
Sophos Intercept X Advanced
The Intercept X platform merges technologies such as deep learning, AI and endpoint detection and response to provide holistic endpoint security. It works for Mac and Windows personal computers (PCs) as well as servers, virtual machines, and cloud-based IT infrastructure. It also protects mobile devices using Android, iOS, and Chrome operating systems.
Intercept X Advanced has a very robust suite of preventative security features in all of it’s iterations. For example, you gat Application Control, Deep-Learning Malware Detection, DLP, IPS, Safe Browsing, Exploit Prevention, and so on. It is a very defensive, reactive feature set.
But wait, there’s more…
Over time, Intercept X has added other flavors, such as EDR (now XDR), and MTR. In a nutshell, Intercept X with EDR introduced several “Detect and Investigate” features. XDR now takes these capabilities even further. MTR (Mitigated Threat Response) has a managed service component. In other words, you have more outside expertise at your disposal. Things like 24/7 Lead-Driven Threat Hunting (which is really cool sounding), Threat Neutralization and Remediation, and Data Retention.
Back to Intercept X Advanced
The whole Intercept X family of products covers a wide range of medium-to-large business use cases. This is a serious product that offers a huge buffet line of features depending on your needs and your abilities to take advantage of them.
It offers fully integrated Endpoint Detection Response, good policy control, and excellent detection and anti-exploit functionality. It’s also capable of protecting both of the main desktop operating systems as well as mobile device platforms.
Features worth mentioning
One of the most useful features of Intercept X Advanced is root cause analysis. It’s great to say that your systems are protected, but it’s often more useful to know how and why an attack happened. This can help with not only protecting your systems in the future, but also educating users on what they should or shouldn’t do. For instance, if someone downloads an unsanctioned application that happens to have some ransomware hitching a ride, that can be brought to light in the next security meeting.
Aside from malware protection, Sophos Intercept X Advanced is also a great anti-ransomware tool. It brings an excellent combination of deep learning and exploit detection to this particular problem. As a result, it can quickly and easily figure out whether a piece of software is up to mischief. It also employs a feature called CryptoGuard to automatically recover any damaged files and protect against ransomware encryption attempts.
When you combine those capabilities with its root cause analysis, Intercept X can track what happens as a program it executes. So whatever it does can be rolled back later if necessary. Combined with a firewall that knows how to look for various kinds of hostile traffic, this is as a really good ransomware protection solution.
Great Threat Protection
Sophos Intercept X Advanced does a great job blending powerful threat protection with these advanced tools. This is a package that can serve any sized business very well, not just enterprises. Honestly, there’s a decent learning curve involved for its more advanced capabilities. But to offset this, the price is surprising for the power and granularity you get.
Expect Intercept X Advanced to be effective against known and unknown threats, ransomware, and exploit techniques. It also features application lockdown, web control, DLP, and signature-based malware detection (as well as signatureless).
All the different ‘flavors’ of Intercept X share the same clean, recognizable, easy-to-navigate Sophos Central cloud interface. And of course, Corporate Armor can answer any further questions you may have about any Sophos product, so please email us or call 877-449-0458 any time!