Sophos has announced a set of network security products built around Sophos Firewall v23. The release integrates with Sophos AI Defense to give network-level visibility, reporting and policy enforcement over generative AI use, so organisations can sanction trusted tools and block unapproved ones. It adds an AI Assistant that helps administrators understand configurations and draft rules for review, and a modern REST API for automation.
Hardware-aware high availability cuts failure detection from four seconds to 300 milliseconds, which Sophos puts at 13X faster. Other additions include DNS over HTTPS, DNSSEC and clearer visibility of applied CVE hotfixes.
Four new 1U XGS appliances, the XGS 2380, 3380, 4580 and 5580, deliver up to 4X the protected throughput of earlier 1U models, with up to 59 Gbps of threat protection throughput, up to 16 Gbps of TLS inspection throughput and port speeds of up to 25 Gbps on the XGS 3380 and above.
Sophos NDR is now also sold standalone, combining behavioural detection with deep packet inspection and IDS/IPS. Its Active Inline mode can drop identified malicious packets before they reach their destination, and a Sophos NDR 5500 appliance is on the way. A new Xstream Plus licence bundles Xstream Protection, Sophos Workspace Protection licences, Enhanced Plus Support and extended reporting retention.
Sophos points to its 2026 State of Ransomware report, in which respondents said the firewall raised an alert before data was encrypted in 61% of ransomware attack events. "Customers should not have to choose between enabling innovation and strengthening protection," said Daniel Cole, senior vice president of product management at Sophos.
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