The team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on our next major release of XG Firewall, and it is a huge release! XG Firewall v17.5 brings some amazing
new Synchronized Security features as well as many of your most-requested features.

The best part is you can start taking advantage of many of these new capabilities today, as part of the Early Access Program

What’s new in XG Firewall v17.5

Here’s a quick overview of the key new features in v17.5:

• Sophos Central Management of XG Firewall – with new features for backup and firmware management as well as
  a new zero-touch deployment option
• Synchronized Security Features - including Lateral Movement Protection to prevent threats from spreading on the same network segment
  and Synchronized User ID to eliminate the need to integrate with Active Directory for user identification
• Wireless APX Access Point Support – provides support for the new Wave 2 access points providing faster connectivity
  and added scalability (and will come shortly following the main v17.5 release in MR1). 
• Education Features – such as policy-based control over SafeSearch and YouTube restrictions, block-page overrides,
  and Chromebook authentication support
• Email Features – with Sender Policy Framework (SPF) anti-spoofing protection and a new MTA based on Exim which
  closes a couple of top requested feature differences with SG UTM.  
• IPS Protection - is enhanced with the Cisco Talos IPS pattern library and more granular categories.
• Management Enhancements – including enhanced firewall rule grouping with automatic group assignment
  and a custom column selection for the log viewer
• VPN and SD-WAN Failover and Failback – including new IPSec failover and failback controls and SD-WAN link failback options.
• Client Authentication – gets a major update with a variety of new enhancements such as per-machine deployment,
  a logout option, support for wake from sleep, and MAC address sharing.
• Airgap Support– enables XG firewall to be updated via USB in situations where XG Firewall can’t get updates automatically via
  an internet connection due to an “airgap” or physical isolation. (Coming shortly following the main v17.5 release in a MR)
• Sophos Connect IPSec VPN Client – free for all XG Firewall customers that makes remote VPN easy for end-users.
  (Being launched as an early access program at the same time as v17.5)

In addition, coming in a following maintenance release we have:

• Wireless APX access point support – provides support for the new Wave 2 access points providing faster connectivity
  and added scalability.
• Airgap support – for deployments where XG Firewall can’t get updates automatically via an internet connection
  (due to an “airgap” or physical isolation) – XG Firewall can now be updated via USB

Sophos Central management of XG Firewall

With v17.5, XG Firewall is also joining Sophos Central. The Early Access Program for Sophos Central Management of XG Firewall is expected to start soon.

You will be able to manage XG Firewall from within Sophos Central along with all your other Sophos Central products. And there’s a few great new features
coming along with Sophos Central Management of XG Firewall:

Secure access and management with single-sign-on through Sophos Central from anywhere.

Backup management and storage for your regularly scheduled firewall backups.

Firmware update management to make multiple firewall updates easy.

Light-touch deployment to enable easy remote setup of a new firewall.