Tag Archive for: firewall update

Sophos (LSE: SOPH), a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced Sophos@SPIN, a two-day event featuring keynote presentations, breakout sessions and after party during RSA Conference 2019 on Tuesday, March 5, and Wednesday, March 6. During the Sophos@SPIN event, Sophos security experts and top executives are discussing the evolving threat landscape and how to protect against persistent, advanced attacks. Sophos is demonstrating the latest version of Synchronized Security with its next-generation Intercept X with EDR and XG Firewall endpoint and network solutions.

Sophos@SPIN is showcasing:

• Key findings from Sophos’ global survey, 7 Uncomfortable Truths of Endpoint Security, which reveals why cybercriminals are most likely to be caught on servers and networks, but detecting their time and point of entry remains a mystery. Twenty percent of IT managers who were victim to one or more cyberattacks last year can’t pinpoint how the attackers gained entry, and 17 percent don’t know how long the threat was in the environment before it was detected. More survey highlights and commentary are available on Sophos’ Press Page and Sophos News
• The latest techniques used in today’s threat landscape, including findings from the detailed SophosLabs Uncut report, “Gandcrab: Ransomware Deconstructed,” which explains inner workings of this widely distributed ransomware kit and why it is so popular among cybercriminals. Gandcrab is easily accessible on the surface web, but sold from a tiered licensing and commission model on the dark web. For additional information, go to SophosLabs Uncut on Sophos News
• The SophosLabs Uncut five-part series, “Emotet 101: From Simple Spam Lure to Complex and Destructive Payloads,” which explains the how this multi-faceted malware has become more prevalent and dangerous over time. For additional information, go to SophosLabs Uncut on Sophos News
• Two days of back-to-back presentations, including:
  • Threat Landscape Trends by Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist, Sophos
  • In the IT Trenches: Real Stories From the Front Lines of Cyberattacks by Dan Schiappa, chief products officer, Sophos
  • Deep Understanding of Deep Learning: How to Think Like a Data Scientist to Defend Against Cyberattacks by Joshua Saxe, chief data scientist, Sophos
  • Tackling The Biggest Issue in Cloud Computing: Public Cloud Security and Complianceby Nikhil Gupta, vice president strategy, Cloud Security, Sophos
• How Sophos Intercept X with EDR leverages on-demand curated threat intelligence from SophosLabs and machine learning to rapidly detect, prioritize, investigate and respond to incidents
• Hands-on demos of Sophos’ latest release of XG Firewall with lateral movement protection. As part of Sophos Synchronized Security, companies can better manage and defend their network thanks to integration between endpoint and network solutions. Both XG Firewall and Intercept X are now available on Sophos Central’s cloud management platform
• Its annual Sophos@SPIN after party on Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. PT. Attendees can mix and mingle with Sophos experts while enjoying cocktails and friendly ping pong competitions
• Prizes throughout the two-day event and at the after party, including the chance to win a MacBook Pro, Apple AirPods and much more

• Easy-to-use Wi-Fi cloud management, a mobile app and site-survey tools, help administrators plan, deploy and manage new high-speed wireless access points through a single pane of glass
• New firewall series protects distributed, remote locations while simultaneously increasing performance, lowering total cost of ownership
• New application security protects organizations’ business-critical cloud applications, migration to the cloud without affecting cost, employee productivity
• Advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities provide active control of endpoint health

MILPITAS, Calif. —  SonicWall today announced new platform offerings and enhancements for small, mid-sized and distributed businesses and enterprises to protect against targeted attacks on wireless networks, cloud apps and endpoints. In addition to a new line of firewalls designed to consolidate security, networking and performance, SonicWall introduced new cloud-managed Wi-Fi access points and wireless planning tools designed to ease the deployment of global wireless networks.

The company also provides real-time protection for cloud applications, including Office 365, G Suite, Box and Dropbox, in addition to equipping organizations with advanced Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) capabilities.

“Cybercriminals take advantage of unintentional gaps left in their security architecture fabric,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “SonicWall’s core mission is to empower organizations to improve their security posture and better protect against growing vulnerabilities. As our platform evolves, expands and integrates, we continue to deliver proven security solutions to organizations looking to enhance visibility, streamline processes and implement cost efficiencies.”

Seamlessly Plan, Secure Expanding Wireless Networks
To enhance wireless security and performance for SMBs and distributed enterprises, SonicWall delivers a range of new cloud-based deployment and management solutions.

SonicWall WiFi Cloud Manager and SonicWiFi mobile app simplify wireless access, control and troubleshooting capabilities across networks of any size or region, with single sign-on (SSO) access provided by the cloud-based Capture Security Center to ensure proper security measures are taken.

Provisioning new wireless hardware can often be time-consuming when taking adequate measures to ensure employees receive secure, high-performance wireless connectivity. Pairing SonicWall WiFi Cloud Manager with SonicWall Zero-Touch Deployment and wireless mesh networking allows wireless expansion to be accomplished within minutes. With Capture Security Center, administrators can also leverage the intuitive, easy-to-use SonicWall WiFi Planner surveying capabilities to design and deploy secure wireless networks that enhance the user experience and ensure workforce productivity.

Organizations can pair new SonicWave access points with SonicWall firewalls for high-speed 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless access and deep packet inspection (DPI) of encrypted and unencrypted traffic. These new access points can also be deployed securely without a SonicWall firewall and offer integrated security services, including the Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) sandbox service and SonicWall Content Filtering Service.

New Cost-Effective Firewalls Consolidate Security, Networking, Performance 
IT managers need a solution that solves their security, connectivity and performance concerns in a small form factor appliance at a price point within their budget.

SonicWall’s new SOHO 250 and TZ350 series firewalls provide a unified security solution at a low total cost of ownership. Designed for small, mid-sized and distributed enterprise organizations with remote locations, the SOHO 250 and TZ350 integrate essential networking features and industry-validated high security effectiveness to protect data and connected devices, including IoT.

The new firewall range combines high-speed threat prevention and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) technology with an extensive range of networking and wireless features, plus simplified deployment and centralized management capabilities.

SonicWall Secure SD-WAN technology reduces costs by replacing expensive MPLS technology with lower-cost internet access. Deploying SOHO 250 and TZ350 firewalls is greatly simplified with SonicWall Zero-Touch Deployment, a key component of SonicWall’s cloud-based Capture Security Center.

Secure Business-critical Cloud Applications, Migration 
Cloud applications are vital to organizations’ production, sales and communications, and are increasingly the target of attacks. To thwart never-before-seen malware variants, targeted phishing attacks, account takeover due to compromised credentials and cloud data loss, SonicWall Cloud App Security 2.0 provides real-time protection for business-critical SaaS apps, including Microsoft Office 365, G Suite, Box and Dropbox.

“When organizations move to the cloud or SaaS applications, their sensitive data moves into shared infrastructure and the traditional perimeter evaporates,” said Jeff Wilson, Senior Research Director, Cybersecurity Technology at IHS Markit. “Administrators need to have the same complete visibility and access control inside their networks and in the cloud, and they need to be able to control security and enforce strong threat and data loss protection with policies that keep risk and compliance in mind. Organizations should look for a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solution that provides easy deployment, granular control and has zero impact on the user experience.”

To identify and mitigate malicious malware or files stored in SaaS solutions, such as OneDrive and SharePoint, SonicWall Cloud App Security 2.0 integrates with the Capture ATP sandbox service, which includes patent-pending Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI™) technology. The new features extend SonicWall real-time automated breach detection and prevention capabilities into sanctioned SaaS environments and monitor user-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud traffic to identify unapproved cloud applications.

Email is the most common threat vector and security controls must be adapted as organizations move to cloud email, such as Exchange Online with Office 365 or Gmail with G Suite. To combat advanced targeted phishing attacks, Cloud App Security 2.0 includes machine-learning anti-phishing capabilities that are trained to catch malicious emails missed by cloud email platforms.

Empowering Administrators with Advanced Endpoint Detection and Response 
Designed to increase administrators’ response time, visibility and insight into advanced threats, SonicWall Capture Client 2.0 gives organizations active control of endpoint health with advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities.

Administrators have the ability to track threat origins and intended destination, kill and quarantine as necessary and roll back endpoints to a last-known healthy state in the event of an infection.

External USB devices can pose a serious threat to network security, potentially delivering malware, ransomware and viruses to vulnerable endpoints. SonicWall’s new Capture Client feature, Device Control, helps organizations reduce their attack surface by locking out unknown or suspicious devices.

Security policies can easily be created to whitelist clean devices, such as printers and removable storage, and narrow the threat plane. Unlike legacy antivirus (AV) solutions, systems no longer have to be taken offline to conduct forensic analysis and/or reimaging when mitigating malware or cleaning endpoints.

Employee behavior can prove challenging when building a sound cybersecurity defense. By using SonicWall Content Filtering Service capabilities, Capture Client blocks access to millions of known malicious domains, IP addresses and botnets to prevent infections caused by employee error or curiosity.

About SonicWall

Many investors like to buy and hold shares of companies that are leaders in their respective fields, generate a substantial amount of cash (preferably with a generous capital return program in place), and have reasonable long-term growth prospects.

I think Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) easily fits that profile, and could be an attractive stock pick for investors who want such a company in their portfolios.

Clear dominance in networking

During Cisco’s fiscal year 2018 — which ended on July 28, 2018 — the company generated $28.27 billion in revenue from sales of network infrastructure products, rising about 2% from the $27.78 that it generated in the prior year.

Cisco’s large revenue from network infrastructure products is underpinned by significant market share in many types of infrastructure products. According to market researchers with IDC, Cisco led the Ethernet switch market, capturing 54.4% market share in the third quarter of 2018. In the router market, though its share wasn’t as high, Cisco also led at 39.4%.

Cisco’s market position in important network infrastructure products like Ethernet switches and routers is large, and helps the company generate massive amounts of revenue.

A cash-generation machine

Cisco also generates a significant amount of cash — and, perhaps unsurprisingly, gives a lot of it back to shareholders:

CSCO FREE CASH FLOW (TTM) DATA BY YCHARTS.

Over the last 12 months, Cisco has generated $13.47 billion in free cash flow, which works out to a little over $2.80 per share. The company doesn’t just let that cash pile up, though — it gives plenty of it back to stockholders.

Cisco currently offers a dividend of $1.32 per share (for a dividend yield of 2.79%), and has a solid track record of giving shareholders annual dividend raises. The company also has a robust share-repurchase program in place and, according to its most recent quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has about $14 billion remaining on that repurchase plan — good for nearly 6.6% of current shares outstanding as of this writing.

Cisco isn’t the hottest growth stock on the planet; it’s a large, mature, and highly profitable leader in its field. That doesn’t, however, mean that growth isn’t in the cards.

Analyst estimates call for Cisco to turn in 4.6% revenue growth in 2019, followed by 3.2% growth in 2020. That’s not an insane amount, but investors don’t seem to be expecting huge growth, as the stock trades at about 15.6 times analysts’ estimates for 2019 earnings per share and 14.3 times analysts’ 2020 EPS projections.

Cisco offers decent growth prospects at a relatively cheap valuation — a characteristic that may be appealing to more risk-averse investors.

A solid long-term choice

If you’re looking for a stock that’ll double your money in a year, I’d suggest steering clear of Cisco shares — the growth potential (like the corresponding risk profile) just isn’t suitable for you. However, if you’re looking for a best-in-breed technology company that has strong market share positions in its core markets, generates a significant amount of cash, and should deliver modest growth in the years ahead, Cisco might be worth your time.