What’s new in Sophos Firewall v21.5
News|by Leanne Bevan|4 June 2025
Sophos Firewall v21.5 is now available, delivering an industry-first innovation and many of your top requested enhancements.
The amazing new features in Sophos Firewall v21.5
- Network Detection and Response (NDR) is now integrated with Sophos XGS Series Firewalls – a first in the industry. It runs in the cloud offloading the heavy lifting from the firewall while providing valuable detections and insights into active adversaries that may be using encrypted communications or suspicious URLs.
- Single Sign-on for remote access VPN enables remote workers to use their Microsoft Entra ID credentials for single-sign to access the VPN portal and the Sophos Connect VPN client. Remote access is smoother and easier than ever.
- DNS protection adds a new control centre widget to show status and guided tutorials to help you get it up and running. DNS Protection is included for no charge for Xstream Protection users.
- VPN tunnel scalability with a 2x increase in route-based and SD-RED VPN capacity for growing networks.
- Streamlined management capabilities deliver many top requested features including user interface enhancements, extended free text search, and more.
To learn more about v21.5, check out the What’s New video or the What’s New PDF.
If you’re an existing Sophos firewall client, you can start using the new capabilities immediately. Sophos Firewall v21.5 is a free upgrade for all Sophos Firewall customers with a valid support licence (included with Xstream Protection).
Why you need a firewall?
- Network security – Firewalls act as a barrier between your trusted internal network and untrusted external networks, such as the internet. They monitor and control incoming and outgoing traffic based on your predetermined security rules.
- Protection against internal threats – Firewalls can also monitor internal traffic to detect and prevent insider threats or compromised devices from spreading malware within your network.
- Regulatory compliance – Many industries and regions require businesses to have firewalls to protect sensitive data and comply with stands. Examples include GDPR, HIPPA and PCI-DSS.
- Access control – Firewalls allow you to control who has access to what within the network. This is crucial for segmenting departments or user roles, and limited access to sensitive systems or data.
- Monitoring and logging – Firewalls provide logs and reports on network activity which are useful for auditing and forensics after a security incident. And also performance monitoring and troubleshooting.
- Remote work security – With more of your employees working remotely, firewalls help secure VPN connections and ensure that remote access is safe and encrypted.
Need a firewall or cyber security advice?
Our cyber security expert and our wider team are on hand to support you with all your cyber security needs. Best practices, compliance, licensing and services. As a Sophos Gold Partner, we can help you with all your Sophos queries and licensing requirements.
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