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SonicWall NSa Series Wins Cybersecurity Breakthrough Award as Best Firewall Solution

The CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards named the SonicWall NSa the best next-generation firewall solution of 2018. The CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards is an independent organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global information security market. SonicWall has won 42 industry honors so far in 2018.

This year alone, SonicWall introduced seven new next-generation NSa firewall models: NSa 3650, 4650, 5650 6650, 9250, 9450 and 9650. The NSa series works in conjunction with the SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform as part of an end-to-end security solution that delivers integrated cloud-scale management to protect networks, email, endpoints, mobile and remote users.

CyberSecurity Breakthrough judges are experienced senior-level cybersecurity professionals who have personally worked within the information security space, including journalists, analysts and technology executives with experience in a range of information security positions and perspectives. From successful technology startups to veteran industry leaders, the panel of judges brings a balanced perspective of evaluation for the award nominations.

The judges have earned a reputation for fairness and credibility, and are committed to determining the break through nominations for each award category, which includes:

In 2017, SonicWall was named the Cybersecurity Breakthrough Overall Cybersecurity Company of the Year. More than 2,000 nominations from over 12 different countries throughout the world competed for the honor.

Next-Generation Firewalls Designed for Mid-Tier Enterprises & Service Providers

Mid-tier enterprises, data centers and large service provides have security, performance and high-availability demands much greater than the average organization.

These organizations must support an exploding number of smartphones, computers and IoT devices. Each generates a huge number of web connections. Just take a look at your browser and count the number of tabs you have open. Each is a connection that likely goes through the firewall.

More devices means more web sessions a firewall has to support. Now, imagine how many connections mid-tier enterprises and services providers must support, manage and secure.

What’s more, it’s likely that the website is using encryption to protect the transmission of data. Reported in the 2018 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, almost 70 percent of web traffic now uses the HTTPS protocol to secure the session.

Core to an expanding focus to serve mid-tier enterprises and larger service providers — and to better empower organizations to decrypt, inspect and mitigate cyberattacks in encrypted traffic — SonicWall is introducing six new next-generation firewalls.

New NSa Next-Generation Firewalls

The Network Security appliance (NSa) series 6650, 9250, 9450 and 9650 scale high security efficacy and extensive feature sets to larger mid-tier enterprises, including distributed enterprises, school districts and data centers.

These new NSa models offer a high availability (HA) solution that pairs a second, similar firewall with the primary. In the event the primary fails, the secondary HA unit takes over until the primary is up and running again. The two can also share the deep packet inspection (DPI) load.

Many competitors require a full-price purchase of the failover unit, as well as full subscription services after the first year. In comparison, SonicWall is ensuring network security is available via bundles designed with the requirements of mid-tier enterprises in mind.

Features & Performance

  • Enterprise-grade 10-GbE and 2.5-GbE firewalls
  • Available in HA bundle
  • Up to 1.5 times higher performance than predecessors
  • Up to 10 times more encrypted connections than predecessors
  • Real-time TLS/SSL decryption and inspection
  • Redundant power supplies and fans
  • Built-in modular storage
  • Powered by new SonicOS 6.5.2

“This new range of NSa firewalls delivers the performance, value and security our mid-tier enterprise customers can’t get from traditional security vendors,” said Boris Wetzel, CEO choin! GmbH, a SecureFirst partner and NSa beta customer. “Coupled with SonicWall’s cost-effective HA offering, the new NSa series will help disrupt a segment of the market that has been forced into antiquated pricing structures for far too long.”

The NSa 6650, 9250, 9450 and 9650 include 10-GbE and 2.5-GbE interfaces to enable more devices to connect directly to the firewall without requiring a switch.

The new NSa firewalls also enable more connections than its predecessors, including nearly five times the number of stateful packet inspection (SPI) connections and 25 times the number of SSL/TLS deep packet inspection (DPI) connections.

“This new range of NSa firewalls delivers the performance, value and security our mid-tier enterprise customers can’t get from traditional security vendors.”

New NSsp Next-Generation Firewalls

Complementing the new NSa series, we are also launching our new Network Security services platform (NSsp) 12000 series, which includes new NSsp 12400 and NSsp 12800 firewalls.

Built specifically for large, distributed enterprises, data centers, universities and service providers, these scalable, 4U next-generation firewalls build upon our extensive NSa feature set and are capable of scanning millions of connections for the latest cyberattacks.

Features & Performance

  • High port density featuring 40-GbE and 10-GbE interfaces
  • Cloud-based and on-box threat prevention
  • Real-time TLS/SSL decryption and inspection
  • Built-in modular storage
  • Redundant power supplies and fans
  • 4U rackmount chassis
  • Built-in redundancy features
  • Powered by new SonicOS 6.5.2

“The volume and sophistication of today’s cyberattacks continues to grow and we require reliable, high-performance security solutions that can keep pace,” said Antonio Cisternino CIO University of Pisa, a SonicWall NSsp beta customer. “Because of the number of end users we service in a highly complex and dynamic environment, we depend on networking capabilities that can simultaneously support millions of connections and mitigate cyberattacks hiding within encrypted traffic without compromising the research needs.

“The new SonicWall NSsp 12000 series firewalls combine the best of both worlds: high security efficacy and high performance.”
With multiple 40-GbE interfaces, the NSsp series enables the high-speed throughput large organizations need into today’s fast-paced networked environment.


To learn more about SonicWall’s new NSa and NSsp next-generation firewalls, please visit sonicwall.com.

12 New Products Usher in SonicWall’s Expansion into Mid-Tier Enterprise Market

It’s been just 20 months.

And in that short time as an independent company, SonicWall employees, customers and partners have accomplished so much together. Our short-term mission was to rebuild the SonicWall brand, launch new and advanced cyber security solutions and services in the SMB space, and bring our global partner community back home.

SonicWall, it’s good to have you back.

Now that our heart, soul and technology are deeply rooted in protecting organizations in the SMB space, we feel it’s time to focus on another segment we serve: the mid-tier enterprise market, where we are the No. 5 player, according to Gartner.

That’s why today we announced a focused technology, security and partner mission to deliver network security solutions that align with the performance, security efficacy and high availability required by the modern mid-tier enterprise.

But we’re also focusing on disrupting the market with our Capture Cloud Platform, which brings together network, endpoint and application security with management, reporting, analytics and visual cyber threat intelligence.

“SonicWall is ensuring network security is available via bundles designed with the requirements of mid-tier enterprises in mind.”

This will usher in a new cost structure with an assertive total cost of ownership (TCO) offering via our Capture Security Center, Capture Client endpoint protection and our new NSa series high availability (HA) offerings.

In fact, most of our competitors still require a full-price purchase of the failover firewall unit, as well as full subscription services after the first year. We don’t think that’s right. And it certainly doesn’t make much business sense.

So, SonicWall wants to ensure two things:

  • Network security is available via bundles designed with the requirements of mid-tier enterprises in mind.
  • It’s easy for mid-tier enterprises to do business with our SecureFirst partners.

What’s New from SonicWall

All told, this platform announcement includes 12 new products, updates or enhancements. And we couldn’t be more excited to share this innovation with you. Please explore each in detail. We will have detailed blogs on many of the new and updated products in the coming days.

  • Capture Cloud Platform — Expanded for mid-tier enterprises and now delivers integrated cloud-scale management and true end-to-end security that protects networks, email, endpoints, mobile and remote users. This all-in-one approach enables our complete portfolio of high-performance hardware, virtual appliances and clients to harness the power, agility and scalability of the cloud.
  • Capture Security Center — Fully enhanced to deliver a unified security governance, compliance and risk management strategy. Improve security outcomes from the firewall to the endpoint with integrated threat intelligence between the SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) sandbox service, Capture Client endpoint protection and SentinelOne threat databases.
  • Capture Client 1.5 — Now integrated with the SonicWall Capture ATP sandbox service. Suspicious files that Capture Client gives a moderate threat score (but not high enough to merit an alert), may be automatically uploaded for analysis.
  • New NSa Next-Generation Firewalls — Replacing the SuperMassive 9200, 9400 and 9600 models, our new NSa 6650, 9250, 9450 and 9650 series deliver elite levels of performance, security efficacy and high availability for mid-tier enterprises — all with industry-low TCO.
  • New NSsp 12000 Next-Generation Firewalls — A brand new product line, the new NSsp 12400 and 12800 series next-generation firewalls align with advanced requirements of service providers and data centers and are capable of scanning millions of connections for the latest cyber threats.
  • Cloud App Security — Cloud-based security service that enables organizations to secure SaaS application usage and reduce risk of shadow IT. The solution provides functionality similar to Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) offerings to deliver real-time visibility and control of applications being used by employees.
  • Analytics — Available in cloud-hosted or on-premise options, SonicWall Analytics provides network analysts, security operations engineers and incident responders deeper visibility into network traffic, threat information and cross-product insights to perform network forensics, security analysis and threat hunting for businesses, organizations and managed service providers (MSP) of all sizes.
  • SonicOS 6.5.2 — Adds 40 new security features to better secure wired, wireless and mobile network environments. It offers more dynamic defenses against modern zero-day threats, including attacks hidden within encrypted traffic, absolute control of application traffic without compromising performance and availability, and optimal wireless user experiences regardless of location.
  • Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 1000 Series 12.2 — Delivers consolidated access management and eliminates bad password habits with federated SSO to cloud and on-premise applications. Adds Always-On VPN for Windows devices for seamless and secure access from any location.
  • SMA 100 Series 9.0 — Integrates with Capture ATP to block malicious file uploads from remote users. Adds Always-On VPN for Windows devices for seamless and secure access from any location.
  • Email Security 9.2 — Blocks and quarantines messages with malicious URLs before they reach the inbox. Integrates with Google’s G Suite to provide advanced threat protection, strong data loss prevention and compliance engine, and email continuity.
  • Global Management System (GMS) 8.6 — Upgrades authentication measures with strict enforcement of password complexity and account lockout policies before granting access to its management platform. This protects against automated brute-force attacks (e.g., password spray campaigns). Update also adds management and provisioning support for the new NSa series firewalls running the latest SonicOS 6.5.2 and the “Firewall Sandwich” solution.

Enhancing our Go-to-Market Strategy

Fundamental to the release of these new enterprise-focused products and services is the strengthening of SonicWall go-to-market focus and resources. SonicWall will engage with organizations in key verticals, including retail, K12 and higher education, and state, local and federal government. SonicWall will also continue to focus on its partnership with Dell while building and expanding relationships with MSSPs.

To our existing customers, vendors and partners, thank you for making SonicWall what it is today. We can’t wait to see what we do next together.

To our future customers, trust us to protect what’s most important to you: your business, data and livelihood. Contact one of our cybersecurity experts to learn how our automated, real-time breach detection and prevention platform can protect your organization from both known and unknown cyberattacks in the fast-moving cyber arms race.

SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform Ushers in New Era of Threat Intelligence, Connectivity and Automation

SonicWall’s mission is to help organizations protect themselves from the growing number of cyber attacks in the fast-moving threat landscape.

There are many schools of thought on how this is best accomplished. And much of this depends on the wares of a particular vendor. But I’ve made it a priority that SonicWall helps defend networks and data in a manner that is automated, layered, intelligent, easy to use and cost-effective.

Today marks a monumental milestone in that focused effort.

This morning we proudly introduced the SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform, which tightly integrates security, management, analytics and real-time threat intelligence across our full portfolio of network, email, mobile and cloud security products. This launch includes:

  • New SonicWall Network Security Virtual (NSv) Firewalls
  • New SonicWall Web Application Firewall (WAF)
  • New SonicWall Capture Client Endpoint Protection
  • Updated SonicWall Network Security Appliance (NSa) Firewalls
  • Updated SonicOS 6.5.1

The significance of the unified and connected Capture Cloud Platform is highlighted by the escalating threat landscape. In the first quarter of 2018 alone, the average SonicWall customer faced 7,739 malware attacks, a year-over-year increase of 151 percent; 335 of these attacks were hidden using SSL/TLS encryption.

The SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform also identified more than 49,800 new attack variants in the first quarter, with the new SonicWall Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM (RTDMI) identifying 3,500 never-before-seen variants.Capture Cloud PlatformThe numbers are alarming. The threats continue to grow. And it’s the reason I promise that SonicWall teams around the world are dedicated to ensure our customers are protected from today’s most malicious cyber threats — both known and unknown.

Here’s a helpful rundown of the new products we are proud to announce today under the SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform:

New NSv Virtual Firewalls

SonicWall Network Security virtual (NSv) firewalls protect all critical components of private and public cloud environments. SonicWall NSv virtual firewalls deliver the security advantages of a physical firewall with the operational and economic benefits of virtualization, including system scalability and agility, speed of system provisioning, simple management and cost reduction.

> Go to NSv Virtual Firewalls

New Web Application Firewalls

The new SonicWall Web Application Firewall (WAF) delivers defense-in-depth capabilities to protect web applications running in private, public or hybrid cloud environments.

The SonicWall WAF behavior-based detection engine learns, interrogates and baselines regular web application usage behaviors and identifies anomalies that may be indicative of attempts to compromise the application, steal data and/or cause a denial-of-service.

> Go to SonicWall WAFs

New SonicWall Capture Client

The new SonicWall Capture Client extends an organization’s ability to defend endpoint devices that connect and interact with its networks, applications and data.

Capture Client is a unified client platform that delivers multiple endpoint protection capabilities, including next-generation malware protection and support for visibility into encrypted traffic. It leverages layered protection technologies, comprehensive reporting and enforcement for endpoint protection, and also offers critical ‘rollback’ capabilities via SentinelOne integration.

> Go to Capture Client

New SonicWall NSa Firewalls

The new SonicWall NSa 3650, 4650 and 5650 next-generation firewalls continue the evolution of SonicWall’s vision for a deeper level of network security without a performance penalty.

Built on a multi-core hardware architecture featuring 10-GbE and 2.5-GbE interfaces, the NSa series scales to meet the performance demands of mid-sized networks, branch offices and distributed enterprises.

> Go to NSa Firewalls

Each day this week we’ll do an in-depth review of the above and how each can be leveraged to better protection your organization, networks, data and customers.

RTDMI Expanded to Protect Organizations from Malicious PDFs, Office Files

Complementing the major Capture Cloud Platform announcement, we also announced new Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM capabilities that protect businesses and users from memory-based attacks and zero-day malware, including malicious PDFs and Microsoft Office documents.

Since January 1, 2018, RTDMITM has identified more than 3,500 never-before-seen attack variants. First announced in February 2018, RTDMI technology is used by the SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform to identify and mitigate even the most insidious cyber threats, including memory-based attacks.

RTDMI is already operational for SonicWall customers with active subscriptions to SonicWall Capture ATP sandbox service and SonicWall Email Security solutions.

> Read the Press Release

ee Real-Time Threat Intelligence

Did you know you can improve your security posture by knowing what attacks are most likely to target your organization? Visit the SonicWall Security Center to see the latest attack trends, types and volume across the world.