Sophos UTM Reviews

We use Sophos UTM as an on-premise firewall.

All of Sophos UTM's features are valuable. The intrusion prevention is great, and I like dual virus scanning on the network layer because we scan it through Avira and Sophos. Web filtering is also a fantastic option for clients who want to really lock down internet access. And of course, it has the basic firewall features like port blocking and all of the stuff that most standard firewalls include.

I've been using Sophos UTM for over 12 years. I started using the solution before it became Sophos. It was originally called the Astaro Security Gateway, and then Sophos acquired Astaro and renamed it Sophos UTM.

Very stable. Very good.

I have Sophos UTM deployed for all my IT clients. There are 40 of them in the field serving about 500 users total.

We get put on hold for a long time. Otherwise, I'm not unhappy with their support at all. 

If you have a networking background and understand how to configure it, it's very straightforward. Somebody off the street can't just come in and do it, but yeah, it's pretty straightforward.

I would rate Sophos UTM a strong eight. I'm not giving it a ten because they're putting all their efforts into the XG model, so the UTM model will probably be phased out before long. I love the security of the XG. It's better with artificial intelligence and all of this type of stuff, and you can manage it from the Sophos Central Cloud. But Astaro ASG, now Sophos UTM, was the first unified threat management system and everybody else was copycatted it. I think its web filtering's great. If there are any security vulnerabilities, it's the fault of the administrator configuring the product, not the solution itself. You can lock networks down tight with this if you know what you're doing.

Threat management for servers is our primary use case. We're not using it on all workstations, just a few. We're primarily using it on servers.

The version we're using is fully in the cloud, not on-prem.

We don't have to worry about viruses anymore. Before Sophos, we didn't have anti-virus at all because we're a newer company and we're just now starting to get into business-level stuff. When we installed it on a few of the users' machines, we saw that they did have very minor infections - they downloaded something they shouldn't have, something that could have hurt the computer. We were able say, "Well, we're glad they didn't click on that."

The isolation of infected machines is a big feature. Also, the ability to detect external sources that change files on a file server is really big.

The third key feature is something called EDR. It's a type of advanced file analysis. If you aren't sure what a file is you can click on it and it will upload a sample to Sophos and it will respond saying, "That's malicious," or "Not malicious." You can see every individual file and registry key that that file has ever interacted with, and what they did. It will show you every single thing it's done to the machine so you can clean up everything or check everything that it has ever touched. You don't have to worry about, "Oh, did I clean everything up?"

It does have built-in policies which enable you to disable USB devices, etc. It would be nice if they had more policies because there are not that many of them.

In terms of stability, it's definitely top-notch, a market leader. The ability to do things and the availability of it being online aren't an issue.

It seems very scalable. All you do is install the client, and it pulls it in. You don't have to actually have more Sophos servers running. It all goes back to their central, cloud-based platform, which is nice.

I haven't had to use Sophos' technical support.

The initial integration and configuration of Sophos in our AWS environment was incredibly easy. They give you a license key and a file. You download that file on the operating system type that you're trying to install it on. Install it and it's done. There's nothing else at all to do. It gets auto-configured for you.

We haven't seen ROI because we just got it two or three months ago. Over time we will.

The biggest issue with Sophos is the pricing. It's definitely more expensive. We looked at Webroot, which is a big alternative, and Sophos was almost three times the price of Webroot. That's a pretty big difference.

We actually went with both Webroot and Sophos. We went with Webroot for most of the client machines. We're only using Sophos for the servers and the really important client machines, like the ones the managers use. That way, we can split our cost up a little bit.

We looked at Webroot, primarily. That was pretty much the only one we evaluated that was even close to being a competitor. We did look at a few others, but we didn't even do the trials because \Webroot and Sophos offered so much more.

Webroot seemed really nice for Windows, but we have a lot of Macs. Our servers are Windows, and we definitely went with Sophos for the servers because it has a little bit more capability with Webroot.

An example would be that if you have a file server, it will actually detect if a source is changing stuff on the file server. Suppose that a client was connected to them. That client wouldn't even need protection. Sophos is smart enough to understand, "Hey, a client just uploaded this virus." Webroot wouldn't do that. Sophos also lets us do full isolations of the servers or workstations. So if something gets infected, we can isolate that machine with the click of a button, clean it up, and then release it back into the network. That's not something Webroot was capable of handling either. Those were two big things to us because both of those features stop viruses from spreading.

Everyone's going to get infected at some point. We just want to stop the spread as soon as possible.

If you're running a full Windows-based shop you're going to have a lot more options, so make sure you shop around. If you're running a Mac-based shop like we are, Sophos is definitely the way to go. Just make sure you can afford it.

Regarding how well Sophos integrates with other products, so far we haven't integrated it with anything. We have it on the servers and we have it scanning our Amazon accounts, but that's it. The integration with Amazon is cool. Maybe they could work on that because it seems like a newer feature. You can see what's available but not really do anything yet.

For the features, how well it works, and how easy it is to use, I would give Sophos a ten out of ten. Overall, I would give it a nine because it is very costly compared to all competitors.

This solution can be deployed on-premise and on the cloud.

The most valuable feature of Sophos UTM is reporting, it is flexible. I can monitor the end user's devices, even when they are not on my network. It has good drill-down capabilities.

The reporting could improve by providing information on where, or from which device attacks are coming from. We are already given the country where the attack is coming from but more information would be beneficial.

I have been using Sophos UTM for approximately five years.

The stability of Sophos UTM is good.

I rate the stability of Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.

Sophos UTM is scalable.

I rate the scalability of Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.

I have used the support from Sophos UTM a few times. My experience was good. However, the resolution time can improve.

I rate the support of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The initial setup of Sophos UTM is simple. It can be down within one hour.

I rate the initial setup of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.

The solution is affordable compared to others, such as FortiGate. The price is important.

I rate the price of Sophos UTM a seven out of ten.

I rate Sophos UTM an eight out of ten.

The solution is used mainly for user management and access control. 

It's a little bit easier to use. It's user-friendly, and then there's a lot of documentation for it online, so it's easy to manage without necessarily dealing with a big learning curve. It is easy to understand, basically.

If you need to troubleshoot, everything is basically on Google. 

The solution is stable. 

It's a scalable product.

The support could be better.

They need to improve their email protection. Their email protection is horrible. They have an email protection license that is paid for. However, they need to improve on email protection capabilities.

They need to have proper reporting. What they offer no is weird. I need to get another application to give me a clear diagram of my network. This should instead come directly from Sophos. 

I've been using the solution for two years now. 

The product is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

It is redundant enough. I don't have any issues with it.

The solution scales well. 

We have about 500 people on the product right now. We also have 100 users on the VPN.

It is better to Google rather than use technical support. 

They are slow to respond and then the response doesn't exactly give you what you want.

I understand they can't give you a solution to something that you'd expect them to. They try to give you something. You're going to go to Google and find the information on Google faster and easier anyway. 

We worked with Cisco mainly in the past. When we went to renew with Cisco, we found the pricing to be quite high. We're happy now with Sophos. We have no interest in switching to anything else.

The initial setup is very easy. The interface makes it simple.

I'm not sure how long the deployment took exactly.

We have four people that are able to handle maintenance. 

I was able to set it up myself, however, you do really need to know it or work with someone who does.

The cost could be considered reasonable based on other plans. However, when I was looking at when you renew our licenses, the pricing is a little bit weird. When you renew your license, the licenses are at the cost of buying a new device in your plan. I haven't renewed yet. However, I would need to figure out that aspect. 

I can't recall the exact costs of the product as it's been a while since we originally licensed it. 

Compared to Juniper, the difference is the pricing. It's more affordable than Cisco or Juniper, actually.

I'm a user and a consultant.

I'd advise potential new users that they should let someone that knows how to do it set it up fast. You should work with someone that knows how to do it.

I'd rate it an eight out of ten. 

We implemented the solution into our infrastructure here in the insurance company, to protect the flow between the company and its partner.

The solution is quite stable. 

The scalability has been great.

The initial setup is straightforward.

Technical support is very responsive.

The integration capabilities could be better.

I originally implemented the solution when it was Cyberoam. After that, we migrated to Sophos UTM. I've used the solution since 2011.

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

The scalability is great. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so. It's not a problem.

We currently have 800 people using the solution.

We do pay for Sophos' support and we find them to be quite helpful and responsive. We're satisfied with the level of assistance we receive. 

We have used other solutions. We have various levels of firewalls. 

The implementation process is straightforward. It's not overly difficult. A company shouldn't have any issues with the process. 

It's a good idea if you are migrating from another solution, to do a review of security policy. That way, you can better optimize for security when you set everything up.

We have a team of six that can handle implementation and maintenance duties. We have two managers. One covers organizational security and the other cover operational security.

We do pay extra for Sophos support services.

The license is easy to acquire and implement. 

I'm currently performing a benchmarking of the other solutions against Sophos.

We're a custoer and an end-user.

When Cyberoam was acquired by Sophos, we migrated to the new hardware and new solution in Sophos.

We've been very happy with its capabilities. We would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.

I'd recommend, if a company sincerely wants to try out Sophos, that they test everything before implementation. It will help them understand what the solution can do and how to implement it into their infrastructure. 

We mostly use UTM for the protection of our network and the web. Some of our customers use it for email protection. We work mainly with governmental organizations. Our company was initially a distributor of the forerunner to UTM, a company called Astaro. We provide UTM to our customers and we are now partners with Sophos. 

It's an easy solution to learn because the graphics are very intuitive. I really like the log because of the amount of information it provides.

Sophos' new generation firewall is missing the link that provides antivirus for each computer. It would be helpful if they could add that element. The technical support used to be excellent but recently they don't seem to be able to solve our problems. 

I've been using this solution for 20 years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable although we generally work with smaller organizations. 

The technical support used to be excellent but it's no longer as good as it was and we've had some problems getting solutions to the issues that we're having.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward. We provide one or two engineers for implementation as well as ongoing support following deployment. 

Licensing can be purchased for one, two, or three years but I'm unaware of the cost. The solution can be downloaded for free if it's for home use which is a good way of testing before implementation.

I recommend testing this product before purchase. It's a good solution and I rate it 10 out of 10. 

The features that we're currently using are mainly just for the endpoint protection, which is for the service and the workstations. We basically use it for the servers, the main servers, and then from there for the client, which is basically the laptops and the PCs.

The fact that it's not heavy on the machines has really helped. It's basically lightweight. One advantage is that we, having a cloud solution, do not require a physical machine that we have to administer on our network.

The fact that it's on the cloud means we don't have to administer it on our network or deal with a physical machine, which saves us money.

The solution has many great features.

From the console, we can start different scannings on different machines. We enjoy the centralized reporting part of it. 

The initial setup is simple.

We enjoy its general stability.

The solution can scale.

So far, the solution has been problem-free.

We don't need any extra features. We only use it for the servers and the workstations. We'd like to see them offer their services on mobile devices like tablets. I'm not sure if that's an option or not.

I've been using the solution for over a year now.

It's been very stable. In fact, we haven't had any complaints or any issues with it. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is great.

The scalability is quite good.

Right now, we have 40 users.

We will definitely scale in the future. As we get new employees, we just request additional licenses.

I've never had any issues.

I also use FortiGate.

The implementation process was straightforward. What basically happens is that you just have to pick that certain client from the console and then you just install it on the machines. From there, of course, you handle connectivity after that. It's pretty straightforward.

A full deployment on one machine took less than 20 minutes. The thing is, if you have fast internet, it can even be much less.

Maintenance is very simple. Support is inbuilt from the manufacturer's side. Therefore, internally, if there are any issues on the client machine, you just reinstall it. There isn't much to do really, in terms of maintenance, except maybe the licenses. It's hosted on the cloud and updates are automatic, and are available from the portal.

We did not need a reseller or consultant's assistance. It was all handled internally.

I haven't really explored ROI. I only have worked with it for slightly over a year. Maybe we need to start looking at it. 

That said, so far, we are protected and we haven't been hit so far. We're getting the returns from it in that sense.

Having a cloud option is a real cost saving. 

In terms of licensing, we pay on yearly basis. From there, what happens, in the last month, we request a quotation for renewal, and then from there we just pay through the local reseller. 

We're thinking of maybe dealing with the supplier, the manufacturer, directly, however, right now, we're still using the local supplier for licensing and payments. 

We are on the latest version of the solution.

We are customers.

I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We are very happy with it. I would recommend it to others.

I'd advise new users that, if they are going to go with the cloud option, that issues related to maintenance is actually handled within the cloud. The rollout is pretty smooth.

We are partners with Palo Alto and several IT certificate vendors, like Sophos. We deploy Sophos UTM for customers.

Internally we use Sophos, but we deploy solutions including both Sophos and Palo Alto Networks to our customers. We are an IT integration company. Our services include the deployment of security appliances.

Our environment includes Sophos UTM for internal use, which means it is protecting the network. It is protecting our environment.

We publish our services like the help desk, mail server, and other servers. Sophos UTM offers us protection for publishing and the VPN.

When we started with Sophos UTM, we were using Microsoft Threat Management Gateway (TMG) which formed part of the firewall. It's not anymore there, it has been discontinued. 

Sophos UTM is an SSD appliance. It has a solid state hard drive and can boot in less than sixty seconds. It is an appliance that has more stability than software solutions. It all depends on which hardware you have installed.

Sophos UTM has improved the porting section. It has improved security by seeing the gaps. For example, when you discover that an entry has been using a certain application, with Sophos UTM acting as a Layer 7 firewall, you can block the application, not the port.

In the application firewall, you can block the next update for Bitcoin or for Facebook. It has settings to block a port or wifi or just block the application and firewall. Sophos UTM will be able to detect the application type and filter network users.

Sophos UTM did help us a lot on the throughput of the internet because at that time we were using ADSL. Now it is fiber, which means we are able to manage the throughput of the firewall by also putting the quality of service first. 

For example, we are able to configure 2MB for YouTube or 5MB are guaranteed for the service which is published. In the past, with TMG you had to buy third-party tools that also did not have the same functionality.

Currently, Sophos UTM and XG are helping our customers. The features available in the UTM and XG are a combination of all the firewalls in the market which means all the features.

The IT Admin or IT Security in any organization would like to have Sophos UTM because it is full of all the features you think about for enterprise. 

Sophos UTM normally will deploy a batch or an upgrade and add more features, every six to eight months based on the RMD.

To be quite honest, from my personal experience all the features of Sophos UTM are useful, which includes publishing templates and the ease of publishing any servicing needs. 

From the VPN side, all the VPN protocols are available so you can choose from SSVPN to PPTP to other versions of VPN, and it's easy to deploy within minutes.

The firewall includes very good logging where you can see what's hacking your network. The IDS and IPS settings are based on your reliance and also alerts you if there is an attack. 

We're happy with Sophos and we also have an XG version being used for other services, because we are a company that provides services. We have two versions, we have the XG and the latest one. 

The Sophos UTM which is the previous version but still being in production is our main firewall for the company.

We happy with all the features, we have no negative comments on any of the features except that the XG has more ability to block based on countries.

On the previous model, the blocking of countries we had a problem with, i.e. if you use the NAT feature, you can't block countries. You have to enter the IP network. 

With the XG version, you can just select when you publish via NAT not via WAF. You can select the countries. 

That is the only difference between XG and the UTM which we did not really like, but other than that its all cool.

There is definitely room for improvement with Sophos UTM. For the SG version of Sophos UTM, they can add blocking of countries in the NAT section, not only in the firewall section. 

When you are mapping, they should also add the ability to block countries in that section. That's not available right now. It's only available in the firewall if you want to block incoming traffic.

With Sophos UTM, there is a general rule in the firewall when the country blocking can block some countries from accessing your data. In the current version, you still need to add it by putting in the IP range. 

This feature would be helpful for administrators and it gives them the advantage to block stuff in less time. 

The web filter needs additional enhancement but that's the point of the XG upgrade. If they're going to continue with the production of the XG, then they will not add the same features to the basic version of Sophos UTM.

With the ability of the hardware, we haven't experienced any problems with Sophos UTM so far. Neither have our customers. 

At the beginning of the XG version, three years back, they had hardware issues. After that Sophos deployed division two, three, and four as hardware appliances.

Sophos fixed the hardware issue for the lower models, i.e. the 525, the XG 125, and the XG 85. All of the larger Sophos UTM models were fine.

Now, all are stable, all are fine. We haven't seen any crash. One of our customers had a DDoS attack. Since he had the proper rules, we did not record any incident. 

Sophos UTM blocked the DDoS. Although it is not a dedicated anti-DDoS solution, Sophos UTM has the features. 

Sophos UTM is stable. I haven't seen any claims or issue tickets from our customers regarding stability.

Sophos UTM has different aspects. If you have an HA distribution, high availability, you can scale up.

When you go and purchase Sophos UTM, you have to plan and say what the environment is. This planning has to be done before buying. If you buy a small appliance and after two years, you are 50 or 70 employees there are upgrade options. 

It should be between you and Sophos. They can give you a free appliance if you subscribe for three years on subscription, for example.

If you have an existing subscription and you want to have HA, this means another device has to be set as redundant. The only downside is that it has to be the same version and the same model. 

In my company, we have around 35 loyal customers. These customers have purchased and are redeeming Sophos UTM with us. Altogether, we are 55 employees. Most of them are at the office. Concurrently around 35 others are on site at other clients. We have around 35 servers. 

We have the published Sophos UTM on the main server, help desk, share point, etc. We've got around nine published services, plus 10 VPNs running concurrently for our support engineers to connect and work on our internal infrastructure for the allotment servers. 

We have 50 Sophos UTM installations at least that are actively browsing, downloading, and being protected by the web filter and other features there.

It depends on the organization, but for us we only require one person to manage this solution, even working remotely at home.

We don't have much need to speak with the vendor because we are educated and experienced with Sophos UTM. We are an integrator company.

For our customers, in the beginning, we give them training. After a week we do expect to have some calls because they are not yet educated or they're not yet used to it. 

After that, that's it. They already told us if they are ready or not. Sophos' support is better than others because Sophos also can sell endpoint solutions.

If one of our customers has an issue and Sophos did support and send their team for the investigation it could be conflicting.

For example, one of our customers had an endpoint which is an antivirus and they had an issue. We have teams that were actively taking care of the customer based on our relationship with the client and their Sophos UTM device license.

We have no comment on the Sophos UTM support which we have seen at our customer sites because it was only with a government customer. 

The customer told us that the Sophos UTM representative mentioned that they wanted to have the vendor take care of this issue.

Other than that, I have had no negative experiences with Sophos' technical support.

The initial setup of Sophos UTM is straightforward for both versions, the XG & UTM. In addition, they both provide a proper manual.

In the beginning, seven years back, Sophos UTM wasn't straightforward for beginners. You had to be already excellent in security. Now, it is very easy because you install the IP address, you log in, and you do the initial setup by routine. 

These days its much easier than in the past but not everyone that has a firewall is secured. If you do it properly by choosing the right network, the right topology, and the right firewall rules, Sophos UTM will work.

There are orders for most of the rules. For example, if you put a deny rule below an allow rule, you are not going to have the proper result. 

Sophos UTM requires knowledge. It's easy to deploy but also there is a responsibility on the person who is deploying to understand. 

You must have the knowledge of security and networking, to make sure that the solution is working properly. Sophos UTM is very easy compared to other vendors somehow.

In our environment, we have defined previously the VLAN rules on our sheets because we had another firewall. In the beginning, we just copied the current rules and then enhanced them slowly so deployment took place quickly.

After fixing the appliance physically on the rack, it took one hour to be up and running and ready based on the rules. If you are a small environment that would take you less than 20 minutes. 

It all depends on how many rules you have, how many demands, how many users, and public services. For example: if you have five websites, the main server, and a starter business, you might need more time because you would need to define the rules properly. 

It all depends on how complex your environment is. Sophos UTM is easy and straightforward for me and for somebody who is certified on security levels.

We haven't opened a ticket with Sophos for 60 days, but we still have support. All our customers use us as the first level of support, even if they have to chase it. 

Sophos UTM comes with a license. We are very aware and updated on Sophos solutions. We have good experience with it.

Although we sell other solutions, we are looking forward to building, selling, and integrating Sophos XG/UTM versus other vendors because of the ease of use.

We are more focused now. Our entire team is certified in Sophos Enterprise, while other vendors would likely still have just one or two members who are certified.

We feel more comfortable using Sophos equipment and solutions.

I can't mention anything on ROI because I'm more focused on the technical part. I'm not needed in the financial part. In our company, we have saved bandwidth and lots of network hardware waste. 

The Sophos UTM solution did help us because we were depending on a software base from Microsoft. Microsoft is a great company but they are not great for our security. Now they have improved. When you go out and buy something, buy it from the specialists.

For example, if you go for virtualization, VMware is a company that only does virtualization. Go for specialized people. Don't go for people who are doing everything at once. 

It's like when you go to a physician or a doctor and you have a problem with certain things. i.e you have a problem with the bones. Go to the doctor that is specialized in the bones, not a general doctor. 

The Sophos UTM license is annual or you have a choice for a two or three-year term.

The Sophos UTM licensing is based on if you have an appliance. There are several layers of subscription you can take:

• Sophos UTM Full Guard includes everything but a few features.
• Sophos UTM Full Guard Plus includes all the most used features, i.e Wifi, ITF, ITS, web publishing WAF, etc. 

There is a huge price list. The prices in the MENA area (the Middle East and North Africa) is completely different than North America.

The products are completely different in the MENA area from the United States. Each region has its own scheme of pricing based on the VAT and the tax refund. 

The price might be different for the people who are in the United States and the UK.

After you select the level of subscription, you pay once.

We tried and tested Fortigate from Fortinet. We tested several appliances about six years back. Not Palo Alto at that time, only Fortinet. 

We evaluated other open-source Linux software but not appliances. We decided to go with Sophos UTM based on several factors related to the tests we did at that time.

Evaluation is very important so that you can see what are you buying and what you are going to face in the future.

My recommendation is that businesses should go for the XG version, not the SG because the XG version of Sophos offers next-generation firewall support and has more improvements.

Sophos XG is the next generation firewall that is not available on the UTM version. The difference is in the features between the two and how you deploy them. 

Sophos XG version covers what is in the SG version plus additional bonuses: the dashboard, the heartbeat between the firewall and the input, etc. 

I advise first evaluate, know your network, know your needs, and plan for the upcoming two or three years before you purchase. 

Get in touch with the vendors because these days every vendor wants to sell. They are willing to help the customers and willing to show them what they will get. 

Make sure you evaluate properly many platforms. Don't just go with one vendor. Go with two or three vendors. Evaluate and then short-list and choose the best for you.

The rating has to have criteria: 

• On performance, I would give Sophos UTM a 10 out of 10 rating. 
• On price, it is a long discussion because you can get a discounted price if you are an integrator. 
• As a user and a customer, I would give Sophos UTM a 9 out of 10 rating.