Sophos Central Email - Advanced version with Sandstorm
The Advanced version of Sophos Central Email has been a long time coming. Originally announced for late 2016, it is finally launching one and a half years later than planned, bringing important additional functionality to the Standard version.
Sophos Sandstorm
While Sophos Sandstorm itself is not a new product, its inclusion as a feature in Sophos Central Email Advanced is definitely noteworthy. If you are already scanning your email with a UTM, XG, or Email Appliance, you have been able to license Sophos Sandstorm as an add-on since 2016. You can find detailed information about Sophos Sandstorm in our blog post: Sophos Sandstorm: Mit Sandboxing gegen Zero-Day-Malware und APTs
One aspect of Sophos Sandstorm has changed since 2016, however. The SophosLabs data centers, used by Sophos to scan email attachments, now utilize machine learning technology from Intercept X to detect malware even more effectively.
Time-of-Click URL Protection
A truly new and highly useful feature is “Time-of-Click URL Protection”. This function addresses the issue that malware often no longer hides directly within emails, where it would be detected too early. Instead, users are lured into clicking a link that leads to a website hosting the malicious payload. When scanning such emails, Time-of-Click URL Protection follows the URLs and inspects the target website before the email is delivered to the mailbox.
Of course, a modern browser combined with Intercept X, which protects against exploits, could also help. But it is even better if the emails are blocked before they ever reach the server.
We were therefore informed three hours before the weekend that our customers would have to pay more in future.
More information
- Product page: Sophos Central Email
- Datasheet: What’s new in Sophos Email
- Datasheet: Sophos Email - Product and Licensing Overview
