Sophos sees Middle East markets shift to integrated security solutions, with a focus on mobile control and data protection

Sophos, the global IT and data security company, incorporating leading Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution provider Astaro, is seeing a positive shift by organizations in the Middle East towards early adoption of technology and innovation. GITEX Technology Week has given staff at Sophos and Astaro the opportunity to interact directly with a wide range of CTOs and CIOs. They have found that the company’s complete, layered approach to IT security is meeting organizations needs for an integrated security solution, because it is simple, cost effective and user friendly, supporting business growth by eliminating real risks like data loss.

“The stage is set for the Middle East to develop its education and knowledge economy to replace more traditional areas of economic reliance and success.” said James Lyne, Director of Technology Strategy, Sophos. “For some time we have been talking about implementing layered security approach (at gateway, endpoint, web, email) but few organizations today have succeeded. However, organizations worldwide are set to fail if they continue the long tradition of legacy security controls and need to ensure their IT security measures can cope with the host of new enabling technologies like mobile and cloud if IT is to avoid losing control. The fact is that employees will use these technologies by default, circumventing the usual IT controls and exposing organizations to risks like data loss. Organizations therefore need to take a layered – or defence in depth – approach and this is what we are seeing happening here in the Middle East.” he added.

Today, businesses in the Middle East are at risk from a range of complex and targeted threats especially from across the web. Roaming employees, and in particular workers with non-company owned devices, are increasingly a weak spot when it comes to security. Sophos together with Astaro delivers coordinated network and endpoint security solutions, layered protection against complex web-based threats and safeguards data across the gaps created by user-owned devices, mobile users and dissolving network perimeters.

“Sophos offers a licence structure and technology that is easy to adopt, crucial in today’s busy, complex business environment.” Adds Lyne “Future developments will integrate Astaro’s network security more deeply into the core product offering,  and will strengthen IT infrastructure irrespective of where the user or company data is stored. “

In the Middle East, Kamel Heus, Managing Director, MEA, Sophos, says: “Customers are seeing the benefits of our dedicated local technical support, and are deciding to engage us in a more strategic way at the time of renewals. We have seen a real shift in the market towards a more mature and enterprise security solution, with added focus on mobile control and data protection. Customers in the region are no longer looking for pain point products, but for security vendors with a holistic view on security that allows them to benefit from licence consolidation and better support.”

Sophos continues to provide organizations with best-of-breed IT Security solutions, some of which include:

Sophos Mobile Control – Enforces security policies and data control for all mobile devices including smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.

Sophos SafeGuard Enterprise – Provides comprehensive encryption and data loss prevention for desktops, laptops and removable media.

Astaro RED – The recently launched version 2 of Astaro RED offers advanced features that help organizations to secure branch offices even in remote locations to a central location within minutes and without the help of onsite technical expertise

Astaro 8.2 – The new and enhanced Astaro Security Gateway has over 60  new features and enhancements, including application control, Interactive Web reporting and a new authentic agent. This enables higher network performance while providing increased visibility and control over the network.