Sophos Network Access Control Reviews

I am currently using the product as a customer. We are using Sophos Network Access Control solution for security purposes and security analysis only.

The biggest advantage of Sophos Network Access Control is that it is very synchronized with the security on both the endpoint and the firewall on a single platform, and it is easy to maintain. For the network part, Cisco and Sophos networks are also very much in line with integration.

The policy enforcement is very easy to apply. Creating a policy on Sophos Network Access Control is also very straightforward.

The positive impact I have seen from Sophos Network Access Control is that the configuration part is easy. We can integrate multiple layer security and multiple layer access policy on this NAC, and it works very effectively.

I have observed some disadvantages as we have experienced one particular problem. We were facing an issue of synchronization of the endpoint with our firewall with help on a cloud for heartbeat syncing. However, it was not syncing as per our requirement. The user has to connect our firewall with the help of VPN.

We were supposed to assume a solution on a cloud, which has good synchronization on a cloud with Sophos Central. It will sync with our firewall as well with the help of Sophos Central. Endpoint and firewall synchronization is not as smooth as we are expecting from Sophos Network Access Control. We have to connect with VPN. We are expecting that if we have already installed an endpoint on our system and it is connected to the internet, then it must be synchronized on a cloud with Sophos Central. Through Sophos Central, it must connect with our firewall. If the endpoint is configured on Sophos Central and the firewall is also configured in Sophos Central, then there should be no need to connect to VPN.

We are working on both Cisco and Sophos Network Access Control products for around four years.

I have not noticed any kind of glitches in the system, so it is very stable.

The solution is scalable.

The technical support from Sophos Network Access Control is sometimes better. We are working here 24/7, and we understand that security issues can arise at any time. We expect Sophos Network Access Control to provide solutions within a 24/7 time limit. However, we have noticed that they are not always able to provide solutions within this timeframe.

Sometimes they only conclude the case via email, which is not very professional. In certain situations, we need to connect to the vendor with a client and provide an instant solution because we are working for a large organization. We have installed Sophos Network Access Control firewall for better security. If we are not getting service instantly, our network might face many dangers and any kind of issues can impact our network.

Neutral

It is easy to install and very user-friendly. It is easy to configure and apply new policies.

I think the pricing of the solution is expensive.

We do not work with guest access management. I have chosen Sophos Network Access Control for NAC because it is easy to install, easy to configure, and provides very good results. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate Sophos Network Access Control as eight out of ten.

Sophos Network Access Control serves primary use cases for both networking purposes and security purposes.

Sophos Network Access Control has many valuable features. For access controls, MAC binding is available, and the authentication page is also useful.

Continuous device assessments have a positive impact on our network security management. We have not experienced any difficulty, and using Sophos antivirus, we can obtain assessments and perform regular scanning to find issues, conduct patch management, retrieve inventory, and manage everything from the central console.

In my opinion, one feature that should be added is the ability to trace emails from individuals who change their IP address or send misbehaving emails from alternative networks. If someone sends a misbehaving email from the network but is not connected to our network and uses a personal network instead, it becomes difficult to trace and identify which network the email is coming from.

An inventory system should also be added in the future. Some antivirus solutions have inventory systems that provide all system details. Since we install the Sophos client on client machines, we could obtain details about which software is being used and what the configuration of the machines is. This information would be valuable, as some information was missing when I was using the product previously.

I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for almost five years.

I rate the technical support provided by Sophos as very good. Sometimes we encounter intermediate-level support staff who use trial-and-error approaches, but sometimes we receive support from excellent staff members who resolve issues within seconds.

Positive

I cannot say whether I have seen a return on investment with Sophos Network Access Control because it has not expired during my time using it.

The pricing of Sophos Network Access Control is good, but it is somewhat high.

I have experience with Sophos products, having used them while working at an institute. During that time, we used Sophos XG 750. I use Sophos firewalls, antivirus, and access points. I have used Sandboxing in Sophos Home, though I am not fully aware of all Sophos Home features. I am currently working with Sophos Network Access Control.

We have Airtel as our ISP, along with one or two other local vendors. I also use guest access management with the Aruba access controller. Guest access management assists in maintaining network security by creating a login page through which users can send requests that come to our system and generate an email notification. Through email, we can approve or reject the request accordingly.

Based on my experience, I would recommend Sophos Network Access Control to others. I give this review an overall rating of 8.

The main use case for Sophos Network Access Control is divided into three basic verticals: Endpoint Security, Email Security, and the Zero Trust system, which is a combination of Endpoint Security, posture management, and the firewall solution. I handle all these four products, as I don't do the switching equipment right now.

People use Network Access Control, better described as Zero Trust, mainly for integrated solutions that confirm if the endpoint and the destination comply with corporate policy. For example, if I am running it for PeerSpot, and you are using your official PeerSpot laptop as well as your personal laptop, the moment I have the Zero Trust agent on your company-issued laptop, I know it is coming from the company-issued device, and I will allow you to proceed. If you're coming from your personal device, I will take you to a portal to authenticate that you are a PeerSpot employee before allowing you to go forward to your destination. This secures the corporate resources. If your laptop is down, I will guide you to a portal where you will sign in with your company credentials to continue working until your laptop is restored.

Functionally speaking, I really appreciate that it identifies the device to know it's coming from a specific device, which is the first basic function. These are common functions for all products in this class, independent of manufacturers. The second function is posture management, where we can define the minimum security level required for a device to connect. I set policies to ensure compliance with corporate patch management standards, for instance, if all Windows patches are updated as of last month, and the antivirus is updated as of two days back, the traffic from that machine is allowed, otherwise, it is blocked.

The device quarantine feature is very powerful.

We get full visibility into the network as a product. This is one of the key features of the product because recently they have acquired another product called Secure Wave, which is integrated into Sophos Network Access Control and provides advanced capabilities for managed detection and remediation, MDR, a major plus for customers.

A point for improvement for Sophos Network Access Control would be to implement a SIEM tool functionality. For example, CrowdStrike is direct competition to Sophos Network Access Control, not even McAfee or Trend Micro, so if they could bring in a SIEM functionality, that would come in very handy here.

Users are not controlled by role-based access; it's basically device-based control. The definition of role-based control is a little vague here because on the cloud level, it regulates access rather than tasks.

I started my partnership with Sophos Network Access Control last year, so I have been testing out the product and conducting various implementations.

It is very easy to integrate the product in my environment. I have integrated it with my Office 365 security portal, and it does a very good job, allowing security data to flow into Microsoft from the Sophos Network Access Control system.

I would rate the stability of Sophos Network Access Control a ten because, as a reseller, supporting resellers is one thing, but as a product and functional capability, it has been performing very well.

The ability to scale for Sophos Network Access Control is easily managed because it is a cloud-based solution. One instance can handle approximately 50,000 clients.

I rate the technical support from Sophos Network Access Control as eight or nine. They are very responsive, and you can reach them via phone or chat for global support, making it pretty easy to deal with them.

Positive

I am a Sophos Network Access Control partner now, not working with another vendor.

The initial setup for Sophos Network Access Control is pretty fast and straightforward.

I deliberately took up my dealership because I compared it to McAfee and Trend Micro. While both are very competent products, the whole mechanism of handling things at the human level leaves a lot to be desired, and though McAfee's support is very good, I'm pretty impressed with what Sophos Network Access Control has to offer now.

I consider the price for the product to be extremely competitive. They are very clear-cut about wanting the customer to stay, ensuring that the technology they provide is simple and easy to use.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Sophos Network Access Control a nine.

The main use case for Sophos Network Access Control is centralized Network Access Control for users.

This is the sole purpose; whenever any new client or person from their organization wants to access the resources of the company, they must go through the authentication of Sophos Network Access Control.

The best features in Sophos Network Access Control are fewer than FortiNAC and Cisco ISE, but when discussing budget and customer support, different vendors have different perspectives.

Cisco is better in support, FortiNAC is better in security, and different vendors maintain different perspectives.

I utilized the device quarantine feature around eight months ago.

It is specifically for when any malicious or harmful file comes to the system.

Through NAC, we can put it in quarantine, and if anything comes or goes from this system, it will be monitored continuously.

We can define these parameters as needed.

The role-based access controls feature of Sophos Network Access Control allows persons at different positions in an organization to have different types of roles.

We can give them full access as an administrator, provide some network access, or give users only read-only access.

This depends on the user's requirements and the position they hold within the organization, allowing us to grant roles according to their post.

The integration capabilities of Sophos Network Access Control are good, as it can easily integrate with other solutions and vendors.

Sophos Network Access Control could be improved by having an ASIC chip similar to FortiNAC, as this would provide better processing for big organizations.

In larger organizations, we need higher speed, and FortiGate's ASIC chip meets that need properly, but Sophos Network Access Control lacks this feature.

I am working as an Implementation Engineer and have to work on different vendors continuously.

Whenever a project involves Sophos Network Access Control, FortiNAC, or Cisco ISE, I work on the respective technology.

The duration for each project is about one month, 15 days, 20 days, or two months, depending on the project timeline and how I interact with that technology.

A typical deployment model for Sophos Network Access Control includes both cloud and on-premises solutions, similar to FortiGate.

However, when it comes to deploying on-premises, Sophos Network Access Control has some complexity.

In contrast, FortiNAC has no complexity and has an easy setup.

Both solutions, FortiNAC and Sophos Network Access Control, are stable.

If both are running continuously, there are no problems occurring.

The scalability of Sophos Network Access Control, similar to every NAC, is good as we can scale at any two points.

Sophos Network Access Control has good customer support, but it lacks in security and technology compared to Cisco and FortiNAC.

The technical support from Sophos Network Access Control rates as 6.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Neutral

The initial setup of Sophos Network Access Control is easy.

Both FortiNAC and Sophos Network Access Control setups are easy, but FortiNAC is easier.

I would rate Sophos Network Access Control as a 7 out of 10, which is a good rating.

We are using many features, such as email security, web security, VPN solution, and network visibility. Our company utilizes SAP ERP software. When clients want to integrate into our system, we give them access and define their usernames and passwords which we share exclusively with them. For that purpose, we use Sophos NAC to prevent any kind of malware outbreak and prevent unauthorized access.

Sophos Connect client SSL VPN is quite a good feature. It ensures stability in connection. I haven't faced any issues while using this solution. I used to operate Cyberoam and there was a glitch that required active assistance. I would have to uninstall and install everything to set up a program, but with this new update, that is not a concern.

I am very satisfied with this solution overall. All of the features that we use have been working successfully. 

It would be beneficial to consider some improvements regarding the dashboard. Developing a new, simpler user interface would be helpful for the clients. 

Our company has been using Sophos Network Access Control's platform for three years, since 2020. 

Sophos Network Access Control offers really good stability to their clients. I find the solution to be very secure. 

I have been highly satisfied with customer support. I have had a very good experience with the provided service. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

We used Cisco previously, but it was very costly. Our company is still working with Fortinet and we use their platform for cybersecurity in different locations. 

The solution's initial setup was easy for me as I have a lot of experience in this field. However, for a new user, it might seem a little tiring and challenging because it does require a certain set of skills.

The implementation process as well as deployment was quite simple and time-efficient. I was able to do it by myself and it took hardly an hour to complete everything. 

We have an ongoing three years license agreement with Sophos NAC. It provides a moderate pricing option for all of its features and benefits. 

I believe that this solution might be of great benefit to smaller organizations where data information is not crucial. Sophos NAC helps prevent security breaches while managing network access effectively. The maintenance of the program is quite undemanding and easy. I would rate it an eight and a half out of ten.

Web protection, URL filtering, and application filtering are the most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control.

Sophos Network Access Control needs improvement regarding its slow interface, loading time, and reporting.

Big companies with 1,000 or 1,500 users might face difficulties using Sophos Network Access Control.

I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for seven years.

Sophos Network Access Control is a stable solution. Sophos and Cisco endpoints use the same database of security. I rate Sophos Network Access Control ten out of ten for stability.

I rate Sophos Network Access Control an eight out of ten for scalability. Sophos Network Access Control is a suitable solution for a small company like ours with 100 users.

Sophos Network Access Control's technical support is very good. Recently, when I complained to Sophos about a faulty device, they took immediate action and provided a device in a week without any additional cost.

Positive

Sophos Network Access Control’s initial setup is very easy. I rate Sophos Network Access Control an eight out of ten for ease of initial setup.

It took weeks to deploy Sophos Network Access Control.

Sophos Network Access Control is very cheap compared to other solutions like Cisco, Barracuda, and Palo Alto.

Overall, I rate Sophos Network Access Control ten out of ten.

We are using Sophos Network Access Control to block certain access to USB ports and desktops.

The most valuable features of Sophos Network Access Control are the quick response times to threats and reliable security.

The solution can improve the for applying policies. They can be complex depending don't the group they are applied to.

I have been using Sophos Network Access Control for approximately five years.

I rate the support from the vendor a seven out of ten.

Neutral

The full deployment can take one month which includes an assessment.

I rate the initial setup of Sophos Network Access Control a seven out of ten.

The development was done by four engineers and a few administrators.

I rate the price of Sophos Network Access Control a five out of ten.

We chose this solution over others because it fit better for our use case and the response time was quicker.

I rate Sophos Network Access Control an eight out of ten.

We did have some issues with the solution in the past, but overall the solution is good.

The scope of the product is for cybersecurity reasons. It means to guarantee the connection to the internet and to the cloud and also to the user. It ensures the service that the cloud can provide is safe for the company and that there is no risk to using this kind of solution. The goal is to guarantee that there is not any risk for the company, in terms of possible attacks from viruses, spyware, or malware.

This is mainly done via two different approaches. One is to have the system intercept any possible situation using AI algorithms that can predict and can instruct the hardware to intercept malicious items. The other approach is to create a dedicated channel, a VPN channel, that is encrypted. That helps us avoid any flow of data between one device and the other. There's a high level of encryption that protects data from interception. 

The product provides good security.

The initial setup is very easy. 

It's stable and reliable.

The solution can scale well.

Technical support has been helpful and responsive. 

The user interface, in terms of managing the product, could be better. For example, having some sort of configuration scanner could be useful. I need some sort of base solution that I can provide to the company to set up a first level of service for the company. That way, I can install the product and set up a first level of security. After that, we can run some analysis with the company, with the key manager, and so on, and then customize the product to better suit their needs. It would help us create more tailored policies.

That said, we need to have some base configuration that we can use as a kickoff in terms of saying, "Okay, this is a first-level configuration; that is enough to guarantee a correct level of protection from your point of view." And in this way, there is the possibility in the weeks to follow to customize the product better and more effectively over time to introduce a second level of features more specific to a single company. 

What could be an improvement, and what more competitors are doing, is introducing more advanced features in terms of artificial intelligence. This product needs more AI. It's useful to introduce systems to help prevent problems and better identify issues. 

The product needs to centralize information from devices and work to create a common database where an AI algorithm could have access to all of the information worldwide and therefore become better at predicting issues and finding problems. They need to widen their vision in the way competitors are to provide a higher level of security going forward. 

I've used the solution for more than five years. 

This is a very stable product. I'd rate it close to ten out of ten for reliability. There are no bugs or glitches. 

I'm an end-user.

The solution is very scalable. I'd rate the scalability close to ten out of ten in terms of ease of expansion. 

We have more than 50 people using the product in our company. It's the entire IT department and all of the employees.

Technical support is okay. They provide good service overall and work to find the right solution if we run into problems. 

The issue is the technical support team doesn't know how the solution has been implemented by the company and how the company works with it. I will take time to ensure I provide the right information to the team so that they can understand the setup and be able to troubleshoot effectively. 

I have used other solutions, including Bitdefender and McAfee. CrowdStrike is also a brand I have used, and it is very similar to Sophos. Our previous solutions were more like Bitdefender or McAfee, which were not as advanced. 

I'd rate the ease of the initial setup between eight and ten out of ten. It's not so difficult to install the product. Of course, you have to approach the setup with a consultant, a person that knows this kind of field from a certain point to view. However, for a person that is an IT manager, it's quite easy to manage the implementation process.

The deployment only takes a couple of hours. 

The maintenance is not so complicated. Normally, the system has to be upgraded in terms of the firmware. However, this is an activity that you do very rarely. It might be every two months or three months, according to the different releases that the company will produce. It is not quite time-intensive. 

The other portion of maintenance involves maintaining the policies and rules. Normally, we need to work with the company every week, for example, to identify if there are new needs in terms of defining a new policy or improving a policy that is already in place. If we discover that there could be a potential attack of a certain type, we can decide if we want to modify our rules or policy to improve the capacity of the system to manage this kind of solution, and normally this is an activity that might require a couple of hours.

We handled the implementation in-house with our own team. 

I'd rate the pricing close to six out of ten.

It is not so expensive; however, you have to plan a budget in terms of money that you have to put on the table to implement this kind of solution. You do have an initial cost when you decide to introduce this kind of solution, and the company will have a maintenance cost that is not so high, yet has to be considered.

It makes no sense to buy the product and then not invest in the maintenance part. You need to stay on top of it in order for it to be effective. 

We're using the latest version of the firmware. The product has been updated according to the different releases made by Sophos since Sophos has introduced some improvements in the product in terms of functionality. We update mainly to guarantee the security of the product in terms of capacity and to be in line with the trends that the markets are requesting. It's also important to stay updated on the cybersecurity aspect. Updates ensure the capacity to avoid any possible intrusion in the next wall and guarantee that the system is able to predict and protect against some situations.

We have a hybrid setup. You can decide to install a single agent on the different devices and have the agent interact directly with the cloud instead of moving through the firewall. This is a part of how you might want to configure the architecture of the systems, Mainly, there is always some activity and data managed on the cloud. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. It is a solution that can provide a good level of service to a company. You can use it to protect your company and to have a good level of security.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

As a provider, we are providing services regarding network security. From the server security units of the establishment, we are providing services to our clients to guide them against tech actors. We use perimeter defenses for them, and we have teams working with the endpoints.

Sophos Network Access Control saves our clients time and money. Instead of looking for separate tools or software to handle their needs, Sophos can successfully handle them, offering cost reduction with solid tools already on the platform.

Sophos has a robust environment, especially working from their firewall end. It provides next-generation firewall features, zero-day attack protection, HEP, web filtering, application control, and SDR.

For now, I may not be able to say exactly what needs improvement. However, continuous development in specific areas might be required.

We have been working with Sophos for about two years.

Sophos considers past experiences and tries to meet every requirement. If there are issues during setups, their technical support team is on hand to assist.

Sophos Network Access Control is scalable and fits both medium and enterprise-level clients.

Sophos support is superb. Their response to issues is very high and timely, making them highly reliable.

Neutral

We are also working towards evaluating Fortinet solutions, as some of our clients use Fortinet Fabric.

Deploying the solution is a straightforward process. However, the complexity can vary depending on the environment.

I cannot comment much on the implementation team.

Sophos saves clients money instead of requiring separate tools, providing cost-effective solutions with its integrated platform.

I am not able to say much on the financial specifics as it pertains to the sales unit.

We are evaluating Fortinet solutions to understand how well they compare with Sophos.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

I found all Sophos Network Access Control features valuable, but IP blocking is the most useful.

Sophos Network Access Control requires a lot of resources to work, which is an area for improvement. The primary concern is that it has a lot of agents running as it's an endpoint solution, so when you apply the solution on a 4 GB system, you'd need to upgrade to an 8 GB system. At times, you'd even need to upgrade to 16 GB so the agents can run confidently without impacting your operations.

I understand that one of the reasons why Sophos Network Access Control uses up more resources is because of all the patches added over time. Still, I wonder what will happen in the next four years. It could mean that you'd need to buy a 16 GB system to ensure that Sophos Network Access Control runs very well, so Sophos needs to work on this area to ensure that the system uses up fewer resources when agents run.

The Sophos Network Access Control pricing also has room for improvement, but I know there's not much you can do about it. Sophos recently had a fifty percent off promo, but here in Nigeria, there have been some FX issues, so if you pay $10, for example, years back, that could be the maximum price, so about ten thousand Nairas. That no longer applies today because Nigeria's FX issues have affected Sophos products' pricing significantly.

If you're buying Sophos Network Access Control here in Nigeria, you have to pay based on the black market exchange rate and not on the interbank exchange rate, so you can't even blame the channel partners who earn that way. I'm unsure if Sophos can work on the pricing because many users find Sophos Network Access Control very expensive. Two customers who have used it for one year stopped using the product and decided to try Norton because Sophos Network Access Control is very expensive.

I've been using Sophos Network Access Control for the last two years, and I'm still using it.

Sophos Network Access Control is stable, and I've used other solutions before I used this solution. It's exceptionally stable if you're using different Sophos products within one environment, similar to a unified solution, because communication becomes easier and better.

From what I've seen so far, Sophos Network Access Control is scalable. It has to do with the improvement plan for Sophos products because, initially, the product wasn't as scalable. Still, over time, you'd see the improvement in scalability and the various patches to Sophos Network Access Control.

I'd rate the Sophos Network Access Control technical support as three out of five because I've never really experienced a serious technical issue with it.

The initial setup for Sophos Network Access Control is straightforward, so on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a four.

Sophos Network Access Control is costly but has a similar price range as CrowdStrike and Check Point. The three solutions have more agents added because of endpoint coverage, while Norton doesn't cover endpoints, so Norton is very cheap over Sophos Network Access Control, Check Point, and CrowdStrike.

The product can get more market share if Sophos can play around with Sophos Network Access Control pricing and improve it.

I'm a partner of Sophos Network Access Control.

My advice to anyone looking to implement Sophos Network Access Control is that it's better to have an entire ecosystem of Sophos products because Sophos even covers the entire OSI layer. You get protection for the OSI layer and can secure your entire network. Sophos can provide MDM, firewall, endpoint-to-endpoint protection, etc. If you use Sophos, you will get general coverage for your system, so my advice to anybody who wants to use Sophos Network Access Control is to use it. As your company, services, and operations keep expanding, keep adding different Sophos products, and your network will be fine.

I'd rate Sophos Network Access Control as six out of ten because the product will struggle in enterprise-level environments, such as banks. Still, Sophos has done a lot of work on the product, so for an average user, Sophos Network Access Control works fine.