Sophos unveils its first firewall

Sophos has unveiled its first firewall program with the launch of a new security suite. 

The Sophos Endpoint Security package also features an adware blocker for the first time, as well as offering the usual protection against viruses and spyware. 

"This is the first time we've produced a firewall and it is based on a mature set of personal firewall technologies we acquired the rights to a year ago," John Shaw, senior product manager at Sophos, told vnunet.com.

The Agnitum software was originally a personal firewall for consumers, and Shaw said the reason this release had taken so long was down to its development as a business firewall.

Sophos has also added detection for adware and potentially unwanted applications in a business environment such as Kazaa, GAIN and Gator.

Shaw explained that it was easy to add this protection into software that is already looking for items such as viruses and Trojans.

"Consumers might want these programs on their PC and be prepared to have adverts pop up," he said.

"But businesses don't want their end users downloading illegal free music or swapping it with their mates or spending time watching adverts. They want them using their computers for legitimate applications."

Sophos Endpoint has also added support for Cisco's Network Admission Control, which lets a business set rules to allow computers onto the network only if they have up-to-date antivirus software. 

"It's trying to stop the problem of a rogue laptop coming into a network and infecting all the properly protected computers," said Shaw.

Sophos still has no ambitions to provide a consumer service, despite adding firewall and adware capabilities, according to Shaw.

He also welcomed last week's announcement of Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare security package for consumers.

"We see this kind of announcement as positive because the more protected consumers are the better it is for our business customers," he said.

"A lot of the bad stuff that get into businesses comes from consumers who haven't bothered to keep their antivirus up to date."