Sophos Workspace Protection: Simplifying Security for Hybrid & Remote Work

Cybersecurity firm Sophos Group plc today announced the launch of Workspace Protection, a new service that expands its portfolio with an accessible and affordable alternative to heavyweight and cost-intensive secure access service edge solutions for securing hybrid and remote work. Built around the Sophos Protected Browser, the new service allows organizations to protect applications, data, users and guests wherever work takes place while providing a unified approach to securing the modern workspace. It seeks to address the issue whereby traditional approaches to securing hybrid work, such as deploying multiple cloud-delivered SASE and secure service edge solutions, often require significant infrastructure, specialized expertise and ongoing operational overhead to deploy and manage. Sophos argues that these models can increase cost and complexity while still leaving gaps in visibility and control where modern work now happens. Workspace Protection takes a different approach by securing the workspace directly, eliminating the need to backhaul traffic through centralized infrastructure, reducing operational burden and costs while enabling protections that follow users, applications, their internet usage and their data wherever they work. The protected browser, which sits at the core of Workspace Protection, was purpose-built to seamlessly integrate with the Sophos Central platform. The browser gives organizations visibility and control at the workspace level to help protect sensitive data, manage application access and enforce policy directly within the browser. Workspace Protection allows organizations to secure work across corporate and remote environments without disrupting productivity by embedding security controls into a familiar user experience. “Security teams are increasingly impacted by complexity, especially as hybrid work, software-as-a-service adoption and artificial intelligence tools continue to expand the workspace,” said Mike Jude, research director at International Data Corp. “Sophos Workspace Protection reflects a pragmatic shift in the market — delivering core SASE and SSE outcomes through an integrated, endpoint‑ and browser‑centric approach that simplifies deployment, reduces operational overhead and helps organizations govern application and AI use without adding another layer of infrastructure.” Along with the protected browser, Workspace Protection includes Sophos ZTNA, a zero-trust network access component that provides secure, posture-based access to private applications. It allows only authorized users and compliant devices to connect while keeping applications hidden from the internet. Also included are Sophos DNS Protection, which allows organizations to deploy to individual Windows endpoints as part of Workspace Protection and Email Monitoring System. That’s an email security add-on deployed alongside Google LLC or Microsoft Corp. email services that monitors email traffic and provides additional detection of unwanted or malicious messages, including phishing. Together, Sophos says, the components enable several key benefits and use cases for organizations securing modern, hybrid work environments. The offering also uses technology from enterprise browsing company Island Technologies Inc. “Hybrid work shouldn’t mean tradeoffs between security and productivity,” said Mike Fey, co-founder and chief executive officer of Island. “Island protects data, secures application access and helps organizations safely embrace AI, all through the browser people already use. Integrating with the Sophos Central platform lets customers do that with less complexity and more confidence.” Workspace Protection will be available to Sophos customers and partners starting in February. Image: SiliconANGLE/Ideogram