Release Notes & News

Sophos Enterprise Console- End of support for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows SBS 2011

2021-01-08T10:22:00Z

Hi Community, Following on from the retirement of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows SBS 2011 for Enterprise Console on the 31st December 2020.On the 01st February 2021 all data, product updates, and new installations will be blocke...(read more)

Sophos Enterprise Console - Sophos Anti-Virus v9.16.2 for Linux and Unix released

2020-08-21T03:52:00Z

Hi Community,

Sophos Anti Virus version 9.16.2 VE3.79.0 for Linux and Unix has been released. Version 9.16.2 VE3.79.0 is released for the subscription "Recommended" for the Linux and for Unix "Preview" and "Recommended" subscription. Please refer to the below table to have information about the versions against the subscriptions.

Information for Linux:

Subscription	Previous Version	New Version	Fixed Package support ends*
Preview	9.16.2 VE3.79.0	Unchanged
9 Recommended	9.16.1 VE3.79.0	9.16.2 VE3.79.0
9 Previous	9.16.1 VE3.79.0	Unchanged
Fixed Package	Do not use - Fixed version 9.16.2 VE3.79.0 is not supported, please use the "Preview" subscription option	9.16.2 VE3.79.0	Not before 30 Nov 2020
Fixed Package	9.16.1 VE3.79.0	Unchanged	9.16.1 VE3.79.0 = 30 November 2020
Fixed Package	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Flagged as approaching retirement	9.16.0 VE3.77.1 = 30 Sept 2020

Information on Unix:

Subscription	Previous Version	New Version	Fixed Package support ends*
Preview	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	9.16.2 VE3.79.0
9 Recommended	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	9.16.2 VE3.79.0
9 Previous	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
Fixed Package	-	9.16.2 VE3.79.0	9.16.2 VE3.79.0 = Not before 30 December 2020
Fixed Package	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged	9.16.0 VE3.77.1 = 30 November 2020

Sophos Central Migration Tool v2.1.0 has been released

2020-07-28T17:21:00Z

Hi everyone,

Sophos Central Migration Tool v2.1.0 has been released! This tool helps administrators to move management of protected computers from Sophos Enterprise Console 5.0 and later to Sophos Central. Please see the following articles for more information:

Note: All versions of the Sophos Central Migration Tool prior to version 2.1.0 retire on the 31st July 2020. From this date, they will no longer work and will not be able to migrate computers.

Regards,

Yashraj

Sophos Enterprise console - Endpoint Security and Control v10.8.9 for Windows has been released

2020-07-16T14:54:00Z

Hi Everyone,

Endpoint Security and Control v10.8.9 for Windows has been released to the Preview subscription.

New features

This release includes support for the Vivaldi browser, including web protection, web control, download reputation, and data leakage prevention.

This release includes data leakage prevention support for computers with secure boot turned on.

Sophos Patch Agent now supports Windows 2019 Server.

Updated components

Sophos Anti-Virus has been updated to 10.8.9.292.

Sophos Endpoint Defense has been updated to 2.2.4.8250.

Sophos Patch Agent has been updated to 1.0.314.11.

The threat detection engine has been updated from 3.77.1 to 3.79.0.

Resolved issues

Resolved issues for this release.
Issue ID	Component	Description
WINEP-21540	Sophos Anti-Virus	Resolved an issue in which custom ports weren't retained after upgrade.

Sophos Central Migration tool v2.0.3 released!

2020-04-08T14:25:00Z

Hi Community,

Sophos Central Migration tool v2.0.3 has been released.

Please refer to the below article for the documentation and resources regarding Central migration tool:

Sophos Central Migration articles, documentation and resources

Extended Anti-Virus support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

2020-03-31T09:04:00Z

Hi Community,

Due to current events, we are lengthening the Extended Support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 until June 30, 2020. Please refer to the below article for more information.

Extended Anti-Virus support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

Extended Anti-Virus support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

2020-03-31T08:53:00Z

Hi Community,

Due to current events, we are lengthening the Extended Support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 until June 30, 2020. Please refer to the below article for more information.

Extended Anti-Virus support for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

Mac Endpoint Support of new Apple System Extensions

2020-03-26T18:26:00Z

Hi All, Apple has just released macOS 10.15.4 and with this release they are highlighting to end users with Sophos Endpoint installed that they have a product installed that has a “Legacy system extension”, the notification goes on to say...(read more)

Sophos Zap is now available!

2020-03-10T17:15:00Z

Source: https://community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/134486

www.youtube.com/watch

Overview

SophosZap is a last resort command line clean up tool focused on uninstalling Sophos Endpoint products to revert a machine to a clean state.
To uninstall we strongly recommend that you use the standard product uninstaller first. Only use SophosZap when all other uninstall options have failed, as SophosZap uses heuristics trying to identify Sophos components on potentially partial information and that carries additional risks.

Applies to the following Sophos products and versions
SophosZap

What products can it remove?

SophosZap can remove problematic setups involving:

HitmanPro Alert (HMPA)
HitmanPro (HMP)
Sophos Central Endpoint
Sophos Central Message Relay
Sophos Central Server
SEC managed endpoint
Sophos Home
Sophos Anti-Virus (standalone)
Sophos Clean
Update Cache
Other Sophos standalone products

SophosZap will stop running if incompatible products are discovered, you will need to manually remove these products before proceeding.
Incompatible products include:

AD Sync Tool
Invincea
PureMessage for Exchange (PMEX)
RMS as a Server/Relay
Sophos Enterprise Console (SEC)
Sophos SafeGuard Enterprise (SGN)
Sophos Server Lockdown (SLD)
SAV for NetApp
SAVDI
Sophos Transparent Authentication Suite (STAS)
Sophos IPsec Client
Sophos Connect
Sophos Connect Admin
Sophos Update Manager (SUM)

Prerequisites

Microsoft Windows 7 and above
Must be run from an Administrative Command Prompt
Tamper Protection must be disabled
Confirm that all appropriate backups have been performed
Ensure you downloaded SophosZap recently

Please visit this article for more information!

Sophos Enterprise Console 5.5.2 is available now

2020-02-25T13:30:00Z

Hi All,

We are pleased to announce that SEC 5.5.2 is now available for download. This article provides information regarding Enterprise Console 5.5.2. It includes product changes and guidance on how and if you should upgrade.

What's new?

Accessibility:
- Compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA
- Accessible using JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and NVDA (NonVisual Desktop
  Access)
Introduction of Multi-factor authentication
Sophos Credential Store
Retirement of Crystal Reports - replaced with Microsoft Report Viewer
Sophos Reporting Interface improvements
Changes to Role Based Administration (RBA)
Update to Discover Computers option
Support for Windows Server 2019
Hide computer feature
Packaged with:
- SQL Express 2017 for new installations
- .Net Framework v4.7.2 for all instances where no existing .Net Framework v4.7.2 is detected
- SQL Server Native Client 11 for all instances where no existing SQL Server Native Client 11 is detected
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable for all instances where no existing Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable is detected
Retirements:
- The following operating systems for the Sophos Management Service installation:
  - Windows 2008
  - Windows 2008 R2 (supported only on upgrade from a previous Enterprise Console)
  - Windows 7 (supported only on upgrade from a previous Enterprise Console)
- The following version of SQL for the Enterprise Console databases:
  - Microsoft SQL Server 2008
The following customer raised issues have been fixed:
- ONPREM-4075: Wrong SED policy is sent from SEC after upgrading to SEC 5.5.1
- ONPREM-4862: Enhanced Tamper Protection prevents migration using Thin Installer
- ONPREM-4079: SEC 5.5.1 - Linux/Unix and MAC Exclusions editing exclusion opens a blank text box
- ONPREM-4107: Same path resolved to multiple normalized paths leads to errors in SEC installation
- ONPREM-4078: SEC 5.5.1 - Exclusions not alphabetical in any of the settings
- ONPREM-3566: Cannot save custom extensions for scheduled scans. Existing custom extensions crash the console
- ONPREM-4126: ExportConfig\ConfigCID SAU policy export behavior
- ONPREM-1625: SEC - Pre-req check not behaving as expected (LTSB is not present in OsSupportedTable)
- ONPREM-1430: SEC - AD sync not protecting machines that have a logonCount of 0

Further information

Accessibility

Our software is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA.

To provide access we use the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) protocol and use the standard Windows conventions for control interaction.

Our software is accessible using JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access). We recommend that you use JAWS 2019 or later and NVDA 2019.1 or later. If you don't have JAWS or NVDA you can download them. You can find links for downloading JAWS and NVDA in related information. If you need further help with JAWS and NVDA you can contact their technical support.

If you want to use assistive technology products with our software we recommend that you are familiar with how your chosen product works and the available keyboard commands.

To use the Report Manager we recommend that you use Microsoft Narrator.

JAWS and NVDA can't navigate in the report displayed in Report Viewer. They read out text only if you move the mouse pointer over objects. You can navigate in the report in Microsoft Narrator using the keyboard.
Introduction of Multi-factor authentication

You can use multi-factor authentication in Sophos Enterprise Console and enroll each account used to access Enterprise Console. For further information see article Sophos Enterprise Console: Information on Multi-factor authentication.
Sophos Credential Store

The Sophos Credential Store is an installed component used to securely encrypt and store the credentials used by Enterprise Console for the services and database account, along with the SUM account. For further information see article Sophos Enterprise Console: Information on the Sophos Credential Store.
Sophos Reporting Interface improvements

Updated to include Computer Status data (Connected, Managed, OnAccessState, TamperProtectionState, SedState, HmpaState, PatchState, FirewallState, AppControlState, DeviceControlState, WebControlState).
Changes to Role Based Administration (RBA)
- Computer search, protection and groups right split into:
  - Computer protection and groups
  - Computer search
- New Multi-factor authentication right
Update to Discover Computers option

With recent operating systems Microsoft have disabled the SMB 1.0 file sharing system. When SMB 1.0 is disabled, there is no Computer Browser service. Our Discover Computers functionality requires this service be present and running to use the Discover on the network option. When Enterprise Console is installed to such a server, this option cannot be used and will be greyed out.
Support for Windows Server 2019

Installations of Enterprise Console are supported on Windows Server 2019 (Console, Server and Database). In addition any managed computer running Windows Server 2019 will report the operating system as Windows Server.
Hide computer feature

A Hide computer option is now available. This can be accessed by highlighting a computer or number of computers, right clicking or clicking the Action menu and choosing the option Hide Computer. This can be used to hide rather than delete any computer in the View, for instance the computer may be decommissioned or you may have a situation where a computer has duplicate entries and you want to hide the duplicate entry. Unlike the delete option, once hidden, if the computer subsequently sends a status message to Enterprise Console it will automatically be unhidden and appear back in the View.

Note: To unhide a computer change the View to Hidden computers, highlight the computer/s you want to unhide and right click or click the Action menu and choose the option Unhide computer.

Should you upgrade?

We recommend you upgrade to this version in order to use the new functionality or require any of the items listed above.

How to Upgrade

Ensure you meet the platform requirements for this version of Enterprise Console as detailed in Sophos Enterprise Console and Sophos Central: Supported Windows Endpoint and Server Platforms.
Refer to article 119105 regarding the possible upgrade paths for Sophos Enterprise Console. You may need to upgrade to an intermediate version prior to upgrading to this release.
Download the Sophos Enterprise Console 5.5.2 installer (sec_552_sfx.exe) from the download section of the website.
You must run the 5.5.2 installer on computers that are configured with the following components of Sophos Enterprise Console:
- Management Console
- Management Server
- Database
As there are changes to the Sophos databases in this release from previous versions of Enterprise Console, if the databases are on a remote or clustered SQL server, they will need to be upgraded first. See article 33980 for information on the various database upgrade options.
On the Management Server run the self extracting installer, this will extract files required for the installation to 'C:\sec_552\' by default before launching the installer.
1. If upgrading all components ensure the following are selected.
  - Management Console
  - Management Server
  - Database
2. If the database is remote and has already been upgraded in step 4 ensure the following are selected:
  - Management Console
  - Management Server
Complete the installation wizard to perform the upgrade.

Can you use this installer for fresh installations?

Yes, you should consider Enterprise Console 5.5.2 as the latest version of Sophos Enterprise Console. We encourage all fresh installs to use this version.

Support for Enterprise Console Tools:

The following lists the Tools associated with Enterprise Console and any actions required following the upgrade:

Tool Name	Affected by Upgrade	Required Action
Sophos Central Migration Tool	Yes	The Sophos Central Migration tool must be uninstalled and reinstalled following the upgrade.
Sophos Reporting Log Writer	Yes	The Sophos Reporting Log Writer service must be restarted following the upgrade.
Sophos Virtualization Scan Controller	Yes	The Sophos Virtualization Scan Controller tool must be reinstalled following the upgrade. Note: Do not uninstall, the tool only requires reinstalling over the existing version. Note: The Sophos Virtualization Scan Controller is only supported on installations of Enterprise Console using SQL 2016 and earlier.
Sophos Policy Evaluation Tool	No

Known issues

Extracting the installer to a destination folder containing a space will cause the install to hang when upgrading from Enterprise Console 5.5.1.

By default the installer extracts to folder C:\sec_552. If this is changed to a location with a space, for example D:\sec 552, the installation will hang at the following point:

The Sophos_bootstrapper <DATE TIME>.log will end with the following example line detailing the path being referenced:

INFO : Running command line: msiexec /fv D:\sec 552\ServerInstaller\pre-reqs\551\Database64.msi

To resolve:
1. Open Task Manager and access the Details tab
2. Scroll down to find the process msiexec.exe
3. Right click the msiexec.exe process and choose End Task. The following window will appear:
  
  Note: Make sure you choose the msiexec.exe associated with the Enterprise Console installer.
4. Rename the folder containing the extracted installer to one that does not contain spaces
5. Run the setup.exe from the ServerInstaller folder contained within the renamed extracted folder

Sophos Enterprise console - Sophos Anti-Virus version 9.9.7 for macOS released

2020-02-21T02:51:00Z

Hi Community,

Sophos Anti-Virus v9.9.7 for macOS has been released for "Fixed Package" subscription. Please review the below table to get information on the versions against the subscription after this release.

Subscription	Previous version	New Version	Fixed Package support ends*	Comments
Preview	9.9.7	Unchanged		Web control fix Virus engine 3.77.1
Recommended	9.9.7	Unchanged		Web control fix Virus Engine 3.77.1
Previous	9.9.5	Unchanged		10.15 Catalina Support Virus Engine 3.77.1
Fixed Package	Do not use - Fixed version 9.9.7 is not supported, please use the "Preview" subscription option	9.9.7	Not before 30 April 2020	Virus Engine 3.77.1
Fixed Package	9.9.5	Unchanged	9.9.5 = 30 April 2020	Virus Engine 3.77.1
Fixed Package	9.8.5	9.9.5	9.8.5 = 31 January 2020	Resub triggered. 9.8.4 was flagged as approaching retirement in a previous release. The fixed package will be removed in a later release. Virus Engine 3.76.0
Fixed Package	9.8.4	Removed	9.8.4 = 30 November 2019	Removed

For the release notes of the version 9.9.7, please refer to the below link:

Sophos Enterprise console- Exploit prevention v3.7.15 released

2020-02-04T14:40:00Z

Hi Everyone,

Sophos Exploit prevention v3.7.15 has been released!HitmanPro.Alert has been updated to 3.7.15.446.

Resolved issues

Issue ID	Component	Description
WINEP-21933	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which the thumbprint required to allow a lockdown alert is changed every time the application is run.
WINEP_20880	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which CryptoGuard detects an attack when EPS files are copied to a file server share.
WINEP-20812	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue that caused laptops to occasionally stop when docked.
WINEP-20759	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which the HitmanPro.Alert service crashes after updating to 3.7.13.1337.
WINEP-20438	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which CryptoGuard is triggered on a file server because of actions being performed on endpoints using an application called AdvantX.
WINEP-20356	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which Import Address Table Access Filtering exploit detections are triggered against Microsoft Office applications, as well as Adobe Acrobat and nschill.exe.
WINEP-19843	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which two different lockdown detections happen at the same time.
WINEP-19818	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which, with CryptoGuard turned on, the PAEXEC application fails to load.
WINEP-19765	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which HitmanPro.Alert caused the operating system to stop unexpectedly on a server.
WINEP-19707	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which a ZENworks virtual application fails to open.
WINEP-19647	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which a lockdown is detected on Foxit Reader when attempting to open it.
WINEP-19378	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which Cygwin commands fail.
WINEP-19359	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which SecureCS is detected as ransomware.
WINEP-19351	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which a CryptoGuard detection occurs in an internal application: FIS Direct Branch or COCC.
WINEP-19174	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which a CryptoGuard detection occurs at remote IP addresses when files are saved to a shared files server.
WINEP-19100	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which Directory Opus 12 triggers a CryptoGuard remote ransomware detection.
WINEP-17943	HitmanPro.Alert	Resolved an issue in which Digital Guardian DLP causes an intruder detection to be reported while the user is browsing in Microsoft Edge.

Sophos Enterprise console - Sophos Anti-Virus version 9.9.7 for macOS released

2020-01-29T03:49:00Z

Hi Everyone,

Sophos Anti-Virus v9.9.7 for macOS has been released to the Preview and Recommended subscription.

Please see the release notes for more information.

Sophos Enterprise Console - Sophos Anti-Virus v9.16.0 for Linux and Unix released

2020-01-29T03:13:00Z

Hi Community,

Sophos Anti Virus version 9.16.0 for Linux and Unix has been released. version 9.16.0 is released for the subscription "Previous Recommended" for the Linux and "Fixed Package" for the Unix. Please refer to the below table to have information about the versions against the subscriptions.

Information for Linux:

Subscription	Previous Version	New Version	Fixed Package support ends*
Preview	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
9 Recommended	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
9 Previous	9.15.1 VE3.74.2	9.16.0 VE3.77.1
Fixed Package	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged	9.16.0 VE3.77.1 = Not before 31 January 2020
Fixed Package	9.15.1 VE3.74.2	Flagged as approaching retirement	9.15.1 VE3.74.2 = 31 January 2020

For Unix:

Subscription	Previous Version	New Version	Fixed Package support ends*
Preview	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
9 Recommended	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
9 Previous	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged
Fixed Package	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	Unchanged	9.16.0 VE3.77.1 = Not before 30 April 2020
Fixed Package	9.15.1 VE3.74.2	9.16.0 VE3.77.1	9.15.1 VE3.74.2 = 31 December 2019

For more information, please review the release notes available on below website:

Sophos Enterprise console- Endpoint Security and Control version 9.9.6 for macOS released for Preview Subscription

2019-11-26T14:08:00Z

Hi Everyone,

Endpoint Security and Control version 9.9.6 for macOS has been released to the Preview subscription.

Please see the release notes for more information.