Sophos Cloud Firewall (PAYG)
SophosExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Provides seamless management of network security with comprehensive feature integration
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Sophos XG offers a robust solution with quota management features that are per IP and per user, which I find to be very effective. The ability to manage everything in one box is a significant advantage, eliminating the need to purchase separate products for email security and other features. The user interface is user-friendly, offering dashboards with widgets that provide speed and status, making configuration easy. Traffic management is facilitated through various configurations and user self-portals. Additionally, Sophos XG makes administrative tasks seamless by allowing easy navigation and configuration.
What needs improvement?
The technical support could be improved, particularly in terms of response speed, as there were delays when working with their Indian support team.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Traffic management is facilitated through various configurations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sophos XG is primarily suitable for SMB and mid-level enterprise categories, but not typically chosen by high-end enterprises in Sri Lanka.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support could be improved, particularly regarding response speed when working with the Indian team.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used Sophos UTM before transitioning to Sophos XG.
How was the initial setup?
The implementation of Sophos XG is straightforward and easy.
What about the implementation team?
I worked as a distributor and the setup was handled internally or with assistance from vendors.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
During my research, I explored products like Fortinet FortiGate and Netgate pfSense.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Sophos XG eight out of ten. While the implementation was straightforward and easy, the technical support could use improvement. I recommend looking into improving the features and security validations to cater to the needs of bigger companies.
Experience with firewall XGS
Sophos Firewalls: Ease of Use
Security features improve protection while integration and resource management require enhancements
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
This solution enables effective internet control and efficient web filtering for small to medium businesses
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
What about the implementation team?
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
What other advice do I have?
The UTM features are useful for malware prevention and intrusion detection
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use Sophos XG as edge routers and edge firewalls, also known as border firewalls. We configure rules where specific users are allowed internet access and use rules for policy routing. We also control traffic for specific services, such as directing emails to one service provider while normal internet usage goes to another.
How has it helped my organization?
Sophos XG has helped us reduce virus and malware attacks. This allows our IT team to spend less time on troubleshooting and more on productive work. The ability to control what comes into and goes out of the network improves overall efficiency.
What is most valuable?
Sophos XG's most effective features for threat detection and management are its UTM components, which are useful for malware prevention and intrusion detection.
What needs improvement?
The firewall could be made more robust, particularly by simplifying two-factor authentication. It should also improve SD WAN capabilities. Additionally, there are issues with site-to-site VPNs dropping connections, which can be frustrating.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution since 2018.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is generally okay. Customers have used the equipment all the way to end of life without major issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is not very flexible. You can't upgrade memory or storage on a specific model, which limits scalability.
How are customer service and support?
The quality of support varies. The team handling application control is very good, but we have had bad experiences with the VPN support team. It all depends on the specific team you are dealing with.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The setup is user-friendly and quite straightforward, especially for basic configurations.
What was our ROI?
Sophos XG reduces virus and malware attacks, addressing network efficiency and cost savings indirectly by minimizing the time spent on troubleshooting.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Pricing is reasonable. You get a perpetual license. That said, you must pay for support and updates. The cost depends on the package you are in, such as full threat management or basic.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have also worked with Fortinet Firewalls and Palo Alto. Price-wise, Sophos XG is reasonable when comparing similar models.
What other advice do I have?
When recommending Sophos, we consider the customer's specific requirements and infrastructure compatibility. Sophos is user-friendly and suitable for environments without highly technical staff because it is easy to manage.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Has efficient rules and policies with decent time savings
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case for Sophos XG is basic firewalling and configuration. We use it primarily for installation purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
Time-saving and cost-saving benefits are realized, with stability contributing to these advantages. It provides approximately 10% to 15% savings in time and costs.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Sophos XG include having rules and policies as a firewall. It is easy to configure.
What needs improvement?
The areas needing improvement are support and configuration. The delays in technical support can be handled better. Sometimes, configuration gives some issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Sophos XG for almost one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No hardware or software solution is 100% stable. I would rate it at about 99% accuracy.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sophos XG has excellent scalability features. It is already available on cloud as well as on-premises, and you can scale up to multiple firewalls with centralized management. No limitations have been faced regarding scalability.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support can be improved as there are delays. I would rate the support at eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Sophos XG is easy to install, generally requiring one person and takes about two to three hours depending on the rules and policies.
What about the implementation team?
One person is usually sufficient for installation unless multiple dynamics are involved.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment is judged to be around three point five out of five in terms of stability, time saving, and cost saving.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is considered cheap in terms of pricing.
What other advice do I have?
For small and midsize enterprises, Sophos XG is a good choice without any major issues.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Sophos Firewall Review
Advanced threat prevention with efficient network security and an improved security posture
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Sophos has greatly improved our network's security posture. In terms of network security and user activity reporting, it has helped us to manage and analyze the activities of the users. From the reporting, we can now see areas where we need improvements, such as blocking certain sites from users.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are its protection capabilities like threat prevention, malware security, web protection, and web security. The security features are very good.
What needs improvement?
There should be a workaround in case of equipment breakdown, like a stopgap measure while the equipment is being returned or replaced. An improvement in the product's pricing would also be beneficial so that more people can afford it.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Sophos XG since 2018.
How are customer service and support?
Sophos' technical support is very prompt and efficient. For instance, when our equipment failed to reboot, their team was quick to diagnose and resolve the problem by exchanging the equipment within two weeks.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used another firewall before Sophos.
What was our ROI?
Having a Unified Threat Management system like Sophos XG has helped us spend less on network security, thus providing a good return on investment by managing our income effectively.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is reasonable, but if reduced, it could become accessible to more people. Currently, it costs about four million shillings in Kenya.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before using Sophos, we used another firewall.
What other advice do I have?
Regular prompts from Sophos to the users for instant reporting of any challenges would be very beneficial. Including more YouTube videos, webinars, and other educational content would also help users understand and utilize the product more effectively.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Complex setup and modular cloud-native pipelines with good community resources
What is our primary use case?
Actually, we are using Tekton for creating CI/CD pipelines for building and deploying applications to different environments.
How has it helped my organization?
It helped a lot in terms of automation. We sometimes use Tekton for purposes like sending emails, running batch jobs, and similar tasks.
What is most valuable?
The valuable features include cloud-native integration, which makes it highly available and efficient in modern containerized environments. Another feature is the modular pipeline that allows reusing CI/CD manifests for different purposes. This modularity helps in reducing redundancy and maintaining a streamlined process.
What needs improvement?
One area of improvement is the lack of cross-cluster capability, meaning you need different sets of tasks and pipelines for each Kubernetes cluster. Tekton also has an unstable API with frequent changes, making it challenging to maintain consistency across versions. Additionally, there's a need for a better dashboard and built-in authentication mechanisms.
For how long have I used the solution?
It's about one and a half years we have been working with Tekton.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Tekton is quite stable when used in a well-established Kubernetes cluster. The stability largely depends on the stability of the Kubernetes environment itself, which is designed for high availability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Tekton's scalability is one of its most advanced features. Since it uses the underlying Kubernetes infrastructure, it can scale easily if the Kubernetes cluster is sufficiently large. I would rate it eight out of ten for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We primarily used community resources like Stack Overflow for addressing our issues and did not directly contact Tekton's customer service.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was manageable but required extensive reading and understanding of documentation. If the Kubernetes cluster is already in place, the setup can be completed in less than ten minutes.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment of Tekton was done in-house with a team of six to seven people handling deployment, creating CI/CD pipelines, and maintaining the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Tekton is an open-source tool, meaning there are no setup costs associated with it. I would rate the cost at one, indicating it is free to use.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
In my previous company, we used GitLab and Jenkins for similar purposes.
What other advice do I have?
My advice is to avoid using Tekton if possible due to its complex setup and lack of user-friendly features like a comprehensive dashboard and built-in authentication mechanisms.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.