I have confirmed that the latest Sophos Firewall SFOS version 20.0.0 GA-Build222 is using open source Snort as its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

[Turritopsis D. T. En M. <teo...@pr...>]

Subject: I have confirmed that the latest Sophos Firewall SFOS version 20.0.0 GA-Build222 is using open source Snort as its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

Good day from Singapore,

I have started installing Sophos Firewall SFOS version 20.0.0 GA-Build222 on my Intel Celeron J3160 (4 GB DDR3L RAM + 64 GB SSD) on 16 Nov 2023 Thursday at 11.00 PM. Initially I had wanted to install Sophos Firewall on my newest Intel Celeron J4125 (8 GB DDR4 + 64 GB SSD) but the Linux Kernel version 4.14.302 wasn't able to detect Intel Ethernet Controller I225-V 2.5 GbE network interface cards. To workaround the problem, I had to install pfSense firewall version 2.7.0 on my Intel Celeron J4125 firewall appliance and then install Sophos Firewall on my Intel Celeron J3160 firewall appliance. Both pfSense and Sophos Firewall use open source Snort as its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

When I was installing Sophos Firewall on my Intel Celeron J3160 firewall appliance, I opened up the terminal and traversed the Linux filesystem. I saw the directory snort inside the /etc/ directory. This confirmed that the latest version of Sophos Firewall is indeed using open source Snort as its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

Regarding my Sophos Firewall, I have only performed a Basic Setup/Configuration at the moment. But I have also turned on IPS and ensured that Admin Services (HTTPS and SSH) are restricted to the LAN zone only. Further exploration of the (1) network interfaces and (2) firewall policies/rules inside Sophos Firewall will be done later when I have more time.

It is good to know that major firewall vendors like Sophos and pfSense (netgate) are using open source Snort as its Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). This goes to show that Snort is a rock solid and top notch IPS which is well supported by the world's networking leader Cisco. 

I am still unable to determine if Fortigate firewalls are using Snort as its IPS because Fortinet has extensively modified the Linux operating system for its FortiOS.

I have finished installing Sophos Firewall (Basic Setup and Configuration only) on my Intel Celeron J3160 firewall appliance on 17 Nov 2023 Friday at 1.00 AM. I have managed to sleep at about 2.00 AM and woke up in the morning at about 7.00 AM on 17 Nov 2023 Friday.

I do notice that my Sophos Firewall is a bit slow and lags. Perhaps it is because my Intel Celeron J3160 firewall appliance only has 4 GB of RAM. I will need to increase the amount of memory in the future.

Fortigate, pfSense and Sophos firewalls support SNMP.

Regards,

Mr. Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming
Targeted Individual in Singapore
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