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With regards to defending your computer systems, Sophos is a family title. The corporate has been constructing cybersecurity options since 1985, and their flagship product – Sophos Home – is each a strong product and fairly priced.
As for endpoint detection and response (EDR), Sophos responded to market demand with Intercept X, a platform that’s positively a lower above common antivirus scanners. Amongst different issues, Sophos claims it makes use of Synthetic Intelligence (AI) to detect each identified and unknown variants. Moreover, it makes use of behavioral evaluation and file restoration, defending organizations from the dreaded risk of ransomware.
In comparison with the competitors, how does Sophos Intercept X Advanced stand, and may it’s thought-about among the many best endpoint protection software options? Let’s discover out.
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Plans and pricing
A number of years in the past, Sophos’ ‘How to Buy’ page for Intercept X displayed a comparatively clear-cut worth: for a $30 subscription, you’d get Intercept X’s ‘Superior’ tier for 3 years, for anyplace between 500 and 999 seats. Nonetheless, wanting on the web page right this moment (late March 2025), the costs are nowhere to be seen. As a substitute, the web page affords a ‘Get Pricing’ type, the place events can file for a customized quote through Sophos’ companions.
The web page claims the pricing is “easy”, on a “per-user foundation”, and with “no hidden extras”, which had us questioning – if that had been actually the case, why aren’t the costs merely listed on the web site?
Our pettiness apart, you may join a 30-day trial of Sophos Intercept X Superior with Prolonged Detection and Response (XDR) with out offering cost info, which is a good, and comparatively uncommon perk, lately. Clearly, anybody who chooses to increase their subscription ought to attain out to Sophos straight and work out a deal.
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Options
Once we arrange Sophos Intercept X Superior with XDR, we had been pleasantly stunned to see that the product additionally consists of trial variations of different options, corresponding to Sophos Intercept X for cell, Zero-Belief Community Entry (ZTNA), and extra. So as to not confuse you, our dearest reader, we are going to concentrate on options particular to Intercept X Superior.
In the event you’re fascinated about an in depth breakdown of the entire perks, we recommend you learn by means of this datasheet. Completely different Intercept X tiers will be discovered on this record of technical specifications, as effectively.
Talking of complicated the reader, right here is an fascinating element: Intercept X Superior is just not the superior tier, however fairly the other – probably the most primary one. It affords deep learning-powered malware detection, anti-malware file scanning in actual time, net management / category-based URL blocking, and app/peripheral management. Different tiers are known as “Superior with XDR”, and “Superior with MDR Full”.
To defend towards ransomware, there’s a software known as Information Loss Prevention, which incorporates Cryptoguard – a function that repeatedly displays recordsdata to see in the event that they’re being encrypted. Encrypted recordsdata will be recovered, as effectively.
Customers also can count on 30 days of Sophos Information Lake cloud storage, an SQL Question Library (pre-written, absolutely customizable queries), and cross-product Information Sources (assume firewall and e-mail).
The second tier, known as ‘Superior with XDR’, permits customers to entry Superior On-demand Sophos X-Ops Risk Intelligence and export forensic experiences. Maybe the largest benefit of this tier is the help for dwell response, permitting IT groups to remotely monitor endpoints and act in actual time in the event that they should be secured or remoted.
Lastly, the ‘Intercept X Superior with MDR Full’ tier is the total package deal, together with human-led risk looking and response options (safety well being checks and ‘root trigger evaluation’), as effectively entry to an Incident Response Lead (a chosen cybersecurity knowledgeable liable for overseeing and coordinating the response to safety incidents).
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Setup
To get a obtain hyperlink, you have to first register an account with Sophos Central. Understandably, it requires you to supply an e-mail handle, however surprisingly sufficient, it additionally asks for a cellphone quantity and the postcode.
Nonetheless, the method went easily and didn’t last more than a few minutes. Throughout the set up course of on Home windows (a macOS shopper is out there, too), the installer found that the earlier endpoint shopper hadn’t been absolutely uninstalled from the machine, which slowed us down a bit of bit, however all in all, your entire course of was over rapidly.
When downloading the installer, you may customise it with ZTNA or machine encryption, however even should you decline at this stage, you may set up them later when the endpoint is energetic. As quickly because the set up course of was full, a system tray icon appeared saying “Your machine is protected”.
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Interface
The interface is cut up into three major sections: Standing, Occasions, and Detections. Customers can run their very own scans, however apart from that, the interface isn’t notably configurable.
If you’re a fan of simplicity, you’re going to like Sophos. The left hand pane shows a number of easy-to-understand choices corresponding to “Gadgets” which you’ll be able to click on to be taught extra. The primary dashboard reveals a abstract of detected threats, latest alerts, units and customers, and a “Internet Management” part that shows blocked pages.
That is precisely the sort of knowledge we wish to see in an outline, nevertheless the right impression is considerably ruined with the “World Safety Information” part discovered on the very backside. We’ll survive, although.
The “Risk Evaluation Middle” half shows detected occasions by means of colourful graphics, with a spidery graph format to hint the foundation reason behind any malware or exploit. Though it might appear overwhelming at first, filters for issues like registry keys, or processes, are your mates right here.
On the “Logs and Studies” web page, you may see all kinds of data, however most spectacular had been the “Hero” experiences, which summarize the standing of all accounts, together with units protected, licensing and utilization, risk tendencies, and complete threats blocked.
Lastly, the “Gadgets” part comprises an outline of all endpoints, permitting you to click on on particular person ones. Via the “Extra Actions” function, you may run scans, diagnose issues, or isolate endpoints, all with one click on.
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Efficiency
We check the efficiency of those merchandise in three levels: with a faux malware pattern, with an precise malware pattern, after which we analyze the logs. Sophos Intercept X Superior handed all of the checks, having detected each the faux malware, the precise malware (which was model new and never essentially listed in Sophos’ risk safety database!), and displaying all of it within the logs.
Sophos Intercept X Superior: Last verdict
This can be a strong product. It really works effectively, and it really works quick. It’s straightforward to navigate, and easy to put in. Though it doesn’t embody a firewall, you may add a subscription to ‘Sophos XG Firewall’ through Sophos Central. Equally, Intercept X does not provide e-mail safety, however you may arrange Sophos E mail (Mailflow) or Sophos E mail Gateway individually. These are the one downsides to this resolution, since many endpoint safety platforms provide no less than a primary firewall or e-mail attachment scanner at no additional value.
The web site may gain advantage from clearly acknowledged costs, however we are able to’t say that was a deal-breaker right here.