Sophos SafeGuard Reviews

I use Sophos SafeGuard for both end user workstation as well as servers.

The reason why I went for Sophos SafeGuard is that it's got every function that I would need for an antivirus or system protection, and another thing that Sophos has done that makes it even more important for me is the synchronized security. There is a policy on my firewall that restricts any system that synchronizes with the endpoint working on all my servers and workstations, and if any system is found to be infected, because it synchronizes with the firewall, the rules drop the packet and alert the IT administrator. Until that system is checked and cleaned, there is no internet access for that system, which alone is a game changer for me.

Those developers at Sophos are very innovative, and I don't think they need to improve anything because they are thousands of steps ahead. Before I can think of any feature that should be added, it's already there, and all I get is just a notification that this feature is available, to give it a try and let them know if it is something I want to add. You must understand that every feature comes with a price, not for free. The more features I add, the additions are based on the need; if it's not needed, I am not going to add them.

I don't think they have anything to add except that maybe they should do their research to see if there are new additions needed. Everything seems very straightforward.

I have been working with Sophos SafeGuard for over six years since I started in the very year I made that post, or a year before that, and I'm still using it to date.

For stability, from one to ten, I would rate the stability of Sophos SafeGuard an 11.

For scalability, I would rate it an 11. Sophos SafeGuard has different options available, so I can recommend it for small, medium, or enterprise level, as they can buy between one to ten, or one to 100, or one to 50 users.

The tech support from Sophos is good. I've only needed support when I'm having issues setting up my firewall, and as long as the case is severe, you get someone that calls you back and walks with you as quickly as possible. However, for the end user protection, like Intercept X, I don't need tech support for that, but as long as it's severe or mild, you get someone to always attend to you. I am totally satisfied with the quality of support from Sophos.

Positive

The team at Sophos has been good from the days of Cyberoam when I started using their firewalls until they brought out their end user protection and server protection antivirus. I was more of a Cisco person, but they didn't provide me with the kind of features I needed, so I had to decommission my Cisco router and firewall and replace it with Sophos, although I still use Cisco switches because they are compatible with Sophos firewall.

The initial setup for Sophos SafeGuard is extremely easy; all I need to do is just push a link to the system I want to deploy it on, and then it takes a minute or two to download all the features to that system, and I'm good to go. That's all. It's extremely easy, while other tasks are just done from the central dashboard, where I can set rules for all systems or create groups of systems and set their rules separately.

We have never changed Sophos SafeGuard; it's not an issue of time to time. I think it has come to stay unless we find something that will surpass Sophos end user protection capabilities.

I honestly don't have any main competitor on the market for Sophos SafeGuard, as I haven't had any issue since I started using them, and I've always recommended it to all my clients, who haven't come back to me to say my recommendation has failed them.

I find the price of Sophos SafeGuard to be pocket-friendly.

Overall, I would give Sophos SafeGuard a rating of 10.

I can always recommend Sophos SafeGuard to other users.

People use Sophos SafeGuard for encryption as the main use case for endpoint security to secure data, especially if a laptop is stolen.

From my reseller perspective, the best part of Sophos SafeGuard is that Sophos has an encryption mechanism called two-way encryption, which enhances security and reliability.

Sophos SafeGuard is extremely easy to install.

Maintenance of Sophos SafeGuard is easy; there's no real maintenance involved, only a one-time deployment, and everything runs on automation after that.

Sophos SafeGuard is scalable, and since it's one of the products Sophos offers, scalability is definitely possible.

We need more products to be added in Sophos, such as SASE, which is currently not available.

The only drawback I see with Sophos SafeGuard is that it lacks a SASE solution, which is a separate product that Sophos does not currently have.

A limitation is how users manage the key; it heavily depends on the user's approach.

Another minor issue of Sophos SafeGuard is that it prompts the user to input a PIN, but that can be reconfigured so that a user isn't prompted to do so.

The company I joined has been a reseller for the last six years, and I have recently joined for the last eight to nine months.

It's stable; issues may occur if customers misconfigure it themselves.

If I were to rate stability from one to ten, I would give it a nine.

For technical support from Sophos, I would rate it a perfect ten.

Positive

I have changed my job and am not using Sophos SafeGuard anymore as I work somewhere else now, and I am a Sophos Platinum partner.

Sophos SafeGuard is able to save time and money for my clients because, when comparing it with Microsoft BitLocker, it's easier to use and cost-effective.

The main difference with Microsoft is that while the products are the same, managing the key with BitLocker requires setting up a server and licensing, which costs three to four times more compared to Sophos, where you only need one extra agent.

I don't see any area for improvement in Sophos SafeGuard.

Sophos SafeGuard doesn't have on-premises solutions; it's completely available on the cloud only.

It's on a public cloud; they don't have any other deployment models, just their own lease.

We are not properly aware if they are using AWS or Microsoft Azure since Sophos employs their own cloud solution, which I think is Amazon.

AI is not integrated into Sophos SafeGuard; AI is available in EDR and XDR.

AI is not required for this product; it is only focused on key management which they already manage well in other products.

The overall rating for the product is a ten out of ten.

We use the solution to protect the user data.

The solution offers data control. One of the key functions is backup and recovery.

The most valuable feature is encryption control. If you have a laptop, it guarantees that the data is not missing or lost.

It’s easy to deploy and has a central console where you can see whether the laptops are encrypted, updated, and protected. It protects devices, including USB and other external devices, and guarantees data loss protection. Additionally, with device control, you can ensure that no ransomware is introduced into the network. For me, this is of very high value.

The recovery process could be improved.

I have been using Sophos SafeGuard for seven years. We are using version 8.

10,000 users are using this solution in the European region.

It's safe to schedule it any issue for this. there is no hard problems.

I rate the solution's scalability a ten out of ten.

We transfer the request directly to software support when there is an issue.

Positive

I have used CrowdStrike.

Deployment is very easy. When upgrading from V7 to V8, you must migrate to the new version. This involves decrypting the laptop and then re-encrypting it with the new version, which can be quite lengthy. Despite this, the technology itself is very user-friendly. Preparing the team to recover any laptop in case of incidents is essential to prevent data loss.

It takes two to five hours, depending on the laptop.

The product is expensive.

I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

Spain has one thousand employees and requires four people for maintenance.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We primarily use the product for data protection and encryption across our enterprise environment. It helps us secure confidential data and manage access control effectively.

The platform has significantly enhanced our data security posture by ensuring that sensitive information remains encrypted and protected from unauthorized access. However, recent challenges with licensing and renewal costs have arisen.

The product's encryption capabilities are precious. They ensure that even if data is compromised, it remains inaccessible without proper authorization. Centralized management is also valuable, allowing us to enforce security policies seamlessly.

Sophos could improve transparency around licensing and renewal costs. Unexpected costs have arisen during license renewals, impacting our budget planning.

I've been using Sophos SafeGuard for several years now.

Overall, the solution is stable and reliable.

The product is scalable. We haven't yet encountered scalability issues.

Customer service has been generally good, though occasional challenges have occurred with timely responses during critical times.

We previously used other solutions like UTM for various security needs but switched to Sophos SafeGuard for better encryption and centralized management capabilities.

The initial setup was straightforward, especially with the vendor's support. However, understanding and managing ongoing costs requires careful planning.

We implemented the product with the help of a vendor team. 

We evaluated different encryption and data protection solutions, including some cloud-based options, before opting for Sophos SafeGuard.

The platform is suitable for enterprises needing robust data protection. I rate it an eight out of ten. 

I use the solution in my company for security purposes, but now we use it for branch connectivity, VPN, SD-WAN, and management of LAN. The tool is used in our company to deal with many issues, including email protection and sandboxing.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the GUI is easy to use. If I talk about the product's central management, the tool nowadays allows users to manage the firewall and endpoints from a central dashboard easily. So that one is also a plus. The tool does the main job, making it a good solution.

I can't comment on what needs much improvement in the product since the build of the tool is good.

One of the areas of concern about the solution revolves around the endpoints, considering that our company has now finished using the appliance and the endpoints. I noticed that under endpoints, you can use something called lockdown, with which you can lock a server. Once you lock a server, you won't be able to install or put something on that particular server, but on the PC or machines, the lockdown feature is not there, and it is a query our company raised when we had to provide details for Sophos' review.

I have been using Sophos SafeGuard from either 2013 or 2014, meaning that it has been around eight to nine years. I use the solution's latest version.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. So far, my company had no issues with the stability of Sophos.

It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

One major advantage of the product is that standby support is always available for users. You just dial the number for support provided by Sophos, and the technical team will help you quickly. Previously, I had contacted the support team and spoke with them for two hours. The support team is very helpful.

The support team is always available to help the users. At times, when you raise the ticket, the support team may take a long time to call you back, but they sort out your issues once they get in touch with you.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

In my company, we currently use Sophos XGS. Previously, my company used to work with CyberOne, after which we shifted to Sophos. My company has worked with Cisco, which includes its routers and switches, but not the firewall.

The product's initial setup phase was one of the easiest I have experienced. When my company moved to Sophos XGS, the initial setup phase was very seamless.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises version.

The solution can be deployed in about two hours.

Three engineers are part of the technical team involved in the product's deployment, configuration, and troubleshooting process.

You only need to acquire an appliance once, so you won't be acquiring a new appliance every year. It is okay if you need to spend money once unless you face some issues due to Sophos' plans to phase out the product from the market.

I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price. The product is neither expensive nor cheap, meaning the tool falls under a mid-range when it comes to price. Once you have the appliance, it has to be licensed. The price of the licenses is based on what you want. Every feature has a license, but now, if you want only one feature, you can pick up such a feature as it is now possible to customize the license based on what you want.

I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.

In my company, we use Sophos SafeGuard since it functions as a solution meant for corporate-level organizations, so it is located at the corporate office, where we also use it to get downloads of patches. In general, the solution is meant for corporate data security.

The advantage of Sophos SafeGuard stems from the fact that it is more secure than other products in the market.

With new viruses being introduced in the market, Sophos SafeGuard cannot block or quarantine such viruses. Quarantine is a feature with shortcomings that needs improvement.

In the future, I would like to see the solution's quarantine capabilities updated.

I have been using Sophos SafeGuard for a year. I use the solution's latest version. My company is an end user of the solution.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

In my organization, around 600 to 1,000 people use the solution.

I never interacted with the solution's support team. If we face any issues with the solution at our place, we inform the corporate team, who then try to connect with the solution's support team.

Earlier, we were using McAfee in our company, affecting our overall performance. With McAfee, we were facing some performance issues in our company. Over two to three years, we faced some attacks when McAfee was running in a live environment.

We did not face any difficulties during our company's solution's deployment phase since we only had to install the agent, which automatically deploys and updates the solution.

The deployment phase can take a couple of minutes to be completed.

The solution is deployed on the cloud. I don't know the details of our office's cloud solution since it is connected to our corporate office's location.

I rate the pricing two or three on a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap.

The security team in my company, consisting of five to six engineers, takes care of the maintenance of the solution.

I recommend the product to others planning to use it.

I rate the overall product an eight and a half to nine out of ten.

Sophos SafeGuard is a good product. The product provides security for the endpoints.

The tool is very safe, reliable, and fast. It protects our computers and detects malware, phishing, and ransomware, which is important to us. The security features are good. We receive notifications about viruses on the console. The infrastructure engineers manage it. The ransomware detection features are valuable to me.

I have been using the solution for two years.

I rate the product’s stability a ten out of ten.

I did not have any problems with the scalability of the product. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

We used Kaspersky before. We switched to Sophos SafeGuard because Kaspersky did not protect us from ransomware or any other attacks it detected.

The initial setup was easy. I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. The solution is deployed on Sophos Cloud. The deployment took 30 days.

The deployment was done by the vendor. They deployed and configured the console according to the rules we gave them. Then, they installed it on the station. We needed one or two people to install the solution on 300 PCs. It was easy because it was all through agents. We deployed it from the cloud on each machine.

I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. The product is worth the money.

The users do not interact with the interface of a security tool. We do not consider pricing while selecting a security tool. We select the best tool available. I will recommend the tool to others. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

I use it for authentication of administrators and the users of applications.

It's primarily for application access authentication.

First, it's very secure. 

Second, it's reliable. 

Additionally, it contains audit trails, which are essential in case of a security breach for investigation purposes.

Integration with other solutions is one of its strongest points. It's very easy to integrate and automate.

Encryption is not the major focus of this technology. It's embedded, so the specific encryption method used isn't the primary concern for us.

There's no centralized management. This is a drawback.

Along with centralized management, it's also complex to deploy.

Ideally, we need centralized management for all clients and a simplified deployment process.

So, those are the two major points we'd like to see improved.

I have been using it for three year.

It's very stable once deployed. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. 

We haven't tested its limits yet as our customer base is smaller. However, Sophos claims it's very scalable and can handle thousands of users.

Currently, four customers use the technology.

The tech support is good. But we haven't needed to contact them too many times. 

Positive

It is complex to deploy. It took roughly six to nine months, which is a problem.

Sophos can make it faster and easier to deploy. 

The steps to deploy are: first, understanding requirements; second, setting up the infrastructure; third, loading the data; and finally, testing.

A team of five to seven is ideal. Currently, we have five people with different skill sets handling it.

The deployment model is flexible. It can be deployed either cloud-based or on-premises.

There are two key values. First, it significantly enhances security, which is crucial for modern applications. Second, it has a great return on investment because once deployed, it requires minimal ongoing maintenance and becomes a steady revenue generation tool.

It's a software license with a one-time purchase. There are no issues with purchasing, and the vendor is flexible with licensing.

We evaluated many other options and found SafeGuard stood out due to its variety of features that matched our requirements. Other technologies might be better for different companies depending on their specific needs.

Sophos aligned best with our requirements. Other solutions might be better suited for different companies if they have different needs.

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Consider the deployment time in advance. It takes a while to deploy, so if you need it next year, start the deployment this year.

It is seamless and easy to install. We haven't encountered any recent issues. However, the only drawback for our users is the need for an additional password. Apart from that, it has been good so far.

We recently passed the Personal Protection of Personal Information Act in South Africa. It has been in effect for the past three years, starting in 2018. There is a requirement to protect customer information as all our users work from home and utilize mobile devices. Therefore, we made the decision to ensure that all users have it installed. This way, in case of laptop theft or loss, at least we can guarantee the safety of the information.

Well, apart from giving us assurance that we are compliant with our new act or official organization, known as the Protection of Personal Information Act. Also, we are protecting data on our user devices twenty-fours every day. This gives us assurance that we have taken actual steps to protect the data.

It's more about the easy installation and runs in the background without disturbing the user. The other two features are quite attractive.

The lack of need for the patch for an extra password is a shortcoming. It will be a great improvement if the patch requires an extra password so that they can find out how to synchronize your Windows password with the same password for Sophos SafeGuard.

I would like to suggest some features that should be included in the next release of Sophos SafeGuard. It is a simple product that accomplishes its basic requirements, which is fine. I don't think implementing complicated solutions that may introduce other issues is necessary. Let it focus on doing what it's meant to do, which is to protect data, and that's all.

I have been using Sophos SafeGuard for four years.

I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten.

We are very happy with its scalability

I rate the solution's scalability a nine out of ten.

The deployment took us almost a month. We needed it for about eighty employees.

We can imagine how crucial it is to protect data, especially considering the rate at which laptops can be lost. Therefore, this product has a high potential for a significant return on investment.

I rate the solution's ROI a ten out of ten.

We used it for three years. It costs about 1000 ZAR. Maintenance was part of it, so we don't have extra cost.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price and ten is a high price, I rate the solution's pricing a three.

I advise them to go ahead. It's seamless, easy to install, and highly resilient to the user. The user doesn't even realize that accepting the password is required.

Overall, I rate the solution between nine out of ten.

We mainly use the firewall in two of our branches. We don't use VPNs or encryption beyond the out-of-the-box settings. 

We primarily use the firewall, and there's built-in encryption, but we haven't set up any VPNs.

In South Africa, compliance regulations like HIPAA aren't a major issue for us. However, for general data protection and GDPR requirements, which are relevant because we work with European companies, SafeGuard helps us stay compliant.

It detects threats and works effectively, which is the most important thing.

SD-WAN and AI are the kinds of things we're interested in, but for now, it's just planning for the future. AI is advancing rapidly, and I wasn't even aware there was any AI involved in Sophos. 

Almost every product these days is coming out with AI and SD-WAN, but those aren't features we're currently using.

The focus should be on making things automated and cost-effective. 

I have been using it for one year. We have a small setup and don't use it extensively.

I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. It depends on the model, but the models we have were purchased within the range we needed.

We haven't dealt directly with Sophos. We've been working through distributors, and they've been fine. 

However, it's fine. We haven't had any issues where we didn't get the answers we needed. They respond on time. 

We used Cyberoam originally. They were acquired by a different company. And prior to that, we worked with a company that no longer exists. We're not Cisco clients at the moment; we're not using Cisco equipment. We were dominantly Cyberoam before that. 

In terms of configuring it, we only have one tech. There is no maintenance involved except renewing licensing and regular updates of the product. 

It's difficult to quantify the return on investment since we replaced our previous solution with it. It's like insurance; you need it when you have it, but you realize its importance when you don't.

The pricing is reasonable. I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with one being cheap and ten being expensive. 

We evaluated Fortinet.  

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.