SonicWall Extends Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service To Email, Previews New SonicOS

SonicWall is extending its advanced threat protection capabilities to email, and the company is previewing an updated operating system to help small and midsized businesses fend off security threats.

The SonicWall Email Security 9.0 update extends the company's Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service to email, adding an additional layer of protection against zero-day and advanced threats. The Capture service uses three different network sandbox engines for a multilayer defense approach.

The update also adds improved Office 365 support, a refreshed line of appliances, automated encryption protection, and policy and compliance management.

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The launch is significant because email remains one of the largest vectors for attacks on small and midsized businesses, with ransomware attacks alone up 167x year over year, Vice President of Worldwide Sales Steve Pataky said. For the small and midsized businesses, who face the same advanced threats as their enterprise peers but on often tighter budgets, the SonicWall Email Security 9.0 release provides visibility and control in a "right-sized" solution, he said.

For partners, Pataky said the solution opens up the doors for conversations around advanced threat protection and email security. From monitoring those threats, he said partners can open further conversations around response and remediation.

"This is a new level of visibility and control that I think have been overlooked in the midmarket and SMB. The reality is these guys are just as vulnerable," Pataky said. "You now open up this whole world of response and remediation that has been so affiliated with the large enterprise for so long. I think we can bring this to the masses."

SonicWall also previewed the upcoming SonicOS 6.2.7 operating system release, adding deep packet inspection of DPI-SSH, biometric authentication, extended Dell X-Series integration, automated initial site-to-site VPN gateway provisioning, opening up the API to build a third-party ecosystem of threat intelligence, and providing visibility into connected devices and types for IoT devices.

Dmitriy Ayrapetov, executive director, product management, said, in addition to the new features, the SonicOS 6.2.7 release is significant because it is SonicWall's third feature release in the past 12 months. He said that would set the tone for innovation at SonicWall as an independent company from Dell, which is spun out from last fall.

"Security is changing every day. If you don't continue to update and innovate, you automatically fall behind," Ayrapetov said.

CEO Bill Conner said the SonicWall Email Security 9.0 release and SonicOS 6.2.7 also set the tone for how SonicWall will be working with and developing solutions for the channel. He said SonicWall is known for being a hardware platform and hardware appliance, but he said these new firmware and software updates open up new avenues for how partners can choose to sell SonicWall solutions.

"This is our first foray into how we think differently about channels," Conner said, opening up the doors for a different type of channel around software and cloud-delivered solutions, in addition to more traditional hardware sales. SonicWall announced last fall that it would be a 100 percent channel company after its split from Dell.

Michael Goldstein, president, and CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based SonicWall partner, said the new updates would provide further opportunity for his business to grow with the vendor. He said the new updates, particularly around extending Capture to email in the SonicWall Email Security 9.0 release, help open up the door for new conversations with existing clients around advanced security solutions.

"Capture is cost effective, so it's an added piece that clients didn't have available before. Now they can get what the larger companies already have [at a price point they can afford,]" Goldstein said.

Goldstein said that is important because he is seeing a lot of threats coming in through email to his clients. He said he works to help educate clients that email is one of the top threat vectors and that they should upgrade their email security protections, an area they might not have invested much in before.

"I think it's great. I think tying it all together makes sense," Goldstein said. "This is a good reason [for customers] to upgrade."

The SonicWall Email Security 9.0 release is available on Feb. 28 worldwide. The SonicOS 6.2.7 is currently in beta and is expected to see general availability in late Q1.