Sophos Central update – role-based access control and a host of new features for wireless

Many new and interesting features have been implemented at Sophos Central in recent months. Sophos Central Wireless in particular continued to be worked on diligently. With this blogpost we would like to inform all Central users about the most important new features.

1. Sophos Central Wireless

All those who already have a Sophos Central Wireless license can look forward to a very comprehensive update. The range of functions has been expanded considerably.

You can now set daily passwords for your hotspots, set time limits on hotspot usage by your customers, and set up isolated guest networks without having to change your installation. You can also look forward to fast roaming, dynamic VLAN and MAC-based access control.

Also new is the Band Steering feature, which ensures that each wireless client uses the most appropriate band, meaning optimal performance for all. With the “Airtime Fairness” function, it is also possible to control that each wireless client receives the same bandwidth.

2. Sophos Central Endpoint

Let’s start with something pleasant. Application Control is now available for Mac! You can now control which applications are allowed to run on Macs, just like on Windows computers. From version 9.6 of Sophos Anti-Virus, Macs use the settings in their current application control policy.

Unfortunately, there is no news for Windows users at this point, only the notice that Sophos is removing and discontinuing support for Windows XP and Server 2003.

3. Sophos Central Intercept X

There are also already two small innovations to report for the relatively new product “Intercept X”. First of all, everyone with a “Sophos Central Endpoint Standard License” can rejoice, because now you can also run Intercept X with the standard version in parallel (was previously only possible with Endpoint Advanced).

Update: Sophos Central Endpoint Protection is no longer available as a standard or advanced variant. Sophos has restructured its endpoint division somewhat.

The second small news concerns all Mac users, who can sign up as beta testers for CryptoGuard with immediate effect. To do so, simply log in to your Central account, click on your account name in the upper right corner, and then select “Early Access Programs.”

4. new, role-based access control for better collaboration with audit logs

There are new predefined user roles in Sophos Central effective immediately. This enables precise authorization-level insight into the existing audit log function by means of role-based access control (RBAC). The following roles are now available for selection:

• Super Admin
• Admin
• Help Desk
• Read-only

In this video you can find out how these roles differ.