Prior to the introduction of Sophos Intercept X, Sophos offered Central Endpoint as its primary endpoint protection solution. As an older product, it doesn’t include deep learning AI, CryptoGuard, and many other protection features that make Intercept X such complete and effective security.
Then came the whole Intercept X thing. The main differences between Intercept X and Sophos Central Endpoint is the addition of Deep Learning Malware Detection, Exploit Prevention, Malicious Traffic Detection, Active Adversary Mitigations, and a few other things. 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.
A primer on Endpoint Protection
Endpoint security, also known as endpoint protection, refers to the protection of internet-connected devices such as PCs, workstations, servers and smartphones from cyber threats. Endpoints are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks. This means they are commonly targeted by criminals. It is an integrated security solution that detects and blocks threats at device level. Typically this includes antivirus, anti-malware, data encryption, personal firewalls, intrusion prevention and data loss prevention.
Traditional Endpoint Protection is inherently preventative. Also, most of its approaches are signature-based. That is, they identify threats based on known file signatures for newly discovered threats. However, the latest Endpoint Protection has evolved to include a broader range of detection techniques.
Features of Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Protection
Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Protection is capable of protecting both of the main desktop operating systems as well as mobile device platforms.
One of the most useful features 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 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
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).
Don’t take our word for it
Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Protection is uniformly highly-regarded in the industry. As a matter of fact, it is a PC Mag Editor’s Choice selection. And it’s even better this year. Its’ Sophos Central dashboard is even more intuitive than before. But it now has better customization and an end-to-end security view that’s easy to understand out of the box. It also has excellent threat detection and powerful new threat analysis capabilities.
About those Russians
The war in Ukraine has really heightened the need and demand for beefed up security postures, especially in larger, enterprise-level organizations. These will be the primary targets of Russian cyber-offensives, whether government-run or rogue, pro-Russia ‘freelancers.’ But that isn’t to say that smaller organizations aren’t at risk, especially to spillover effects of Russian (or Ukrainian) cyber-activity. We live in a connected world, after all.
The war has involved comprehensive cybersecurity attacks, both military in origin as well as activist-oriented. These attacks have had significant success including:
-Complete disruption of internet service for large regions
-Compromise and unavailability of websites and communication systems
-Breach of corporate and banking concerns
-Compromise of logistics and supply chain companies
-Threatened attack on sympathetic organizations on an international scale
U.S. systems could be primary targets. But in addition, untargeted entities could end up in the middle of this cyber-attack scenario. Especially international organizations, those doing business with Ukraine or Russia, and those with supply chain requirements in Ukraine or Russia. Or anyone connected with any such.
At the very least, you should be sure…
-All of your systems are patched and up-to-date.
-Your firewalls (protecting your internal network from the external world), are managed and monitored. This means you know who can access them and they are able to respond to concerns quickly.
-Computers are running up-to-date malware and antivirus protection. Even better than that, they are protected by advanced Endpoint Protection tools.
There’s a lot of Endpoint Protection options out there, and Sophos is among the most highly-regarded. Plus, they have many different options within the Intercept X family that should cover just about any use case. 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!
Cool stuff about Sophos Intercept X Endpoint Protection
| Protects both the main desktop operating systems and mobile devices |
| Highly-regarded in the industry |
| Great at blending powerful threat protection with other advanced tools |
| A great anti-ransomware tool |
| Deep Learning Technology |