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IT security and data protection company Sophos announced the latest version of its endpoint security solution, Patch Assessment, which identifies, prioritizes and scans for critical threat-related security patches. Patch Assessment also enables scanning for Microsoft and third-party patches from vendors such as Adobe, Apple, Citrix, Skype and others.
Sophos Web Filtering makes it possible to set a surfing policy for the top 14 most inappropriate site categories from within the Endpoint Enterprise Console. With Web Filtering, users are protected from these sites wherever they go, with no additional software or infrastructure required. Web Filtering is also designed to enable better performance for users, as scanning is done locally, not back to a box in the data center.
“We provide telecommunications, networking, construction and project management services to companies around the world; and with more than 5,000 endpoints, it goes without saying that we have many people handling both sensitive and time-sensitive data on significant initiatives,” said Roger Dion, corporate director of information systems at Bell Technical Solutions. “As a long-time Sophos customer, we’re particularly excited about the Web control and patch assessment features in their latest Endpoint solution. The ability to reduce management time while keeping all of our employees’ machines secure is an incredible value proposition.”
Full-disk encryption in Endpoint means that data stored on desktops and laptops is kept secure, enabling IT staff to encrypt workstations and see their status. Moreover, Sophos encryption is integrated into this latest version of Endpoint, without a separate deployment or console required. According to Gartner’s “Buyer’s Guide to Endpoint Protection Platforms,” by combining multiple technologies into a single management framework, EPPs (endpoint protection platforms) have the promise of increasing security while also lowering complexity, cost and administrative overhead. In a recent poll conducted on Naked Security asking if companies should block access to Websites containing offensive content, more than 77 percent of the 4,600 respondents felt these sites should be blocked.
“We have received tremendous customer feedback on Sophos Endpoint 10, in particular, vulnerability assessment,” said Paul Prior, managing director of Foursys. “Being able to add this important functionality (of patch assessment) across multiple vendors, especially Adobe, has really struck a chord among those concerned with network security. And to have it all under the existing Sophos console is very attractive.”