Sophos Firewall v21.5 introduces integrated NDR-Essential and advanced VPN features, reinforcing security and simplifying administration for global users
Sophos has announced the release of Sophos Firewall v21.5, a major update that integrates Sophos NDR Essential and delivers a suite of enhancements aimed at improving threat detection, VPN connectivity, and administrative efficiency.
The update introduces powerful AI-driven capabilities through Sophos NDR Essential, now available at no additional cost for customers with an XStream Protection license. This integration enables the firewall to detect previously unknown malware communications and algorithmically generated domains, significantly strengthening network defenses.
“NDR traffic analysis requires substantial processing power. That’s why we’ve adopted a new approach by deploying an NDR solution in Sophos Cloud to offload the heaviest tasks from the firewall.”
— Chris McCormack, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Sophos
Sophos Connect also now supports EntraID (Azure AD) for single sign-on and multi-factor authentication, enhancing both security and user experience for remote access. Additional improvements include a more intuitive VPN interface, dynamic IP conflict resolution, and expanded scalability for SD-RED deployments.
Sophos continues to lead with a secure-by-design philosophy, incorporating containerization and integrity checks to proactively detect and respond to potential OS compromises.
