Sophos is helping organisations keep pace with the performance and security demands of the AI era with the Sophos Firewall v23, new XGS hardware, and a standalone Sophos NDR offering.
Together, they drive stronger AI-era network defenses through Sophos Fusion, the AI-Native Cybersecurity Defense System, further into the network.
AI is changing both how organizations use their networks and how attackers target them. Users, applications, devices, cloud services, and AI systems are generating more traffic and machine-to-machine communication, while attackers can use AI to accelerate reconnaissance, exploitation, and lateral movement.
Sophos research from the 2026 State of Ransomware report also underscores the role the network can play in early threat detection: in 61% of ransomware attack events, respondents noted the firewall generated an alert before data was encrypted, sharing that early signal with other control points to turn network visibility into coordinated containment.
Sophos’ approach to securing AI-era networks rests on two pillars: performance that scales with rising demands and integrated defenses, rooted in Sophos Synchronized Security, that turn shared intelligence into coordinated protection. Sophos Fusion brings security across the broader environment, enabling control points to share information in real time and execute a coordinated response to threats.
“AI is raising the stakes for the network. Organizations need to support more encrypted traffic, applications, and automated activity while defending against attacks that can move faster and exploit gaps at greater scale,” says Daniel Cole, senior vice-president of product management, Sophos. “Customers should not have to choose between enabling innovation and strengthening protection. This launch helps organizations keep pace with growing network demands while turning network visibility and intelligence into faster, coordinated defense through Sophos Fusion.”
Sophos Firewall v23 anchors the launch with enhancements that make it easier to manage, automate, and scale network security. Integration with Sophos AI Defense provides network-level visibility, reporting and policy enforcement for AI service use, including controls that help organizations sanction trusted generative AI tools and block unapproved services. A new AI Assistant helps administrators understand firewall configurations and draft rules for review, while a modern REST API supports greater automation for IT teams, partners, and MSPs.
The release also strengthens resilience and Sophos’ Secure by Design foundation. Hardware-aware high availability delivers 13X faster failover detection, reducing the detection window from four seconds to 300 milliseconds. Additional enhancements include DNS over HTTPS, DNSSEC, greater visibility into applied CVE hotfixes and security updates, and further platform hardening.