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Sophos Boosts Intercept X for Server with Endpoint Detection and Response to Help Businesses Battle New Cyberattacks
Sophos a global leader in network and endpoint security, on monday announced Intercept X for Server with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).
By adding EDR to Intercept X for Server, IT managers can investigate cyberattacks against servers, a sought-after target due to the high value of data stored there.
Cybercriminals frequently evolve their methods and are now blending automation and human hacking skills to successfully carry out attacks on servers.
This new type of blended attack combines the use of bots to identify potential victims with active adversaries making decisions about who and how to attack.
The SophosLabs Uncut article, Worms Deliver Cryptomining Malware to Web Servers, underscores how easy it is for cybercriminals to leverage bots to discover soft targets. The report explains an automated attack that can deliver a wide range of malicious code to servers that, as a class, tend to lag behind normal update cycles.
Anatomy of a Blended Cyberattack
Once the bots identify potential targets, cybercriminals use their savvy to select victims based on an organization’s scope of sensitive data or intellectual property, ability to pay a large ransom, or access to other servers and networks.
The final steps are cerebral and manual: break in, evade detection and move laterally to complete the mission.
This could be to quietly sneak around to steal intelligence and exit unnoticed, disable backups and encrypt servers to demand high-roller ransoms, or use servers as launch pads to attack other companies.
“Blended cyberattacks, once a page in the playbook of nation state attackers, are now becoming regular practice for everyday cybercriminals because they are profitable.
Dan Schiappa, chief product officer, Sophos. Said the difference is that nation state attackers tend to persist inside networks for long lengths of time whereas common cybercriminals are after quick-hit money making opportunities,”
“Most malware is now automated, so it’s easy for attackers to find organizations with weak security postures, evaluate their payday potential, and use hand-to-keyboard hacking techniques to do as much damage as possible.”
Sophos explains how blended cyberattacks work in this video, Intercept X for Server with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR).
Sophos Intercept X for Server with EDR
With Sophos Intercept X for Server with EDR, IT managers at businesses of all sizes now have visibility across an entire estate.
This allows them to proactively detect stealthy attacks, better understand the impact of a security incident and quickly visualize the full attack history.
“When adversaries break into a network, they head straight for the server. Unfortunately, the mission critical nature of servers restrains many organizations from making changes, often significantly delaying patch deployment. Cybercriminals are counting on this window of opportunity.
“If organizations do fall victim to an attack, they need to know the full context of what devices and servers were hit in order to improve security as well as answer questions based on stricter regulatory laws. Knowing this information accurately the first time can help businesses resolve issues much faster and prevent them from a repeat data breach.
“If regulators rely on digital forensics as evidence of lost data, then businesses can rely on the same forensics to demonstrate their data has not been stolen. Sophos Intercept X for Server with EDR provides this required insight and security intelligence,” said Schiappa.
Sophos Intercept X for Server with EDR expands Sophos’ offering of EDR, which was first announced for endpoints in October 2018. Sophos EDR is powered by deep learning technology for more extensive malware discovery.
Sophos’ deep learning neural network is trained on hundreds of millions of samples to look for suspicious attributes of malicious code to detect never-before-seen threats.
It provides broad, expert analysis of potential attacks by comparing the DNA of suspicious files against the malware samples already categorized in SophosLabs.
“Our research shows that concerns about security and skills shortages are top of mind with IT and security leadership at many organizations,” said Fernando Montenegro, senior industry analyst at 451 Research.
“With cyber threats coming from multiple vectors and at a constant rate, businesses can’t afford to have a gap in their visibility.
“We believe that, as security teams look for opportunities to enhance their protection, bringing together EDR features and visibility across endpoints and servers is a positive step towards greater efficiency.”
With Sophos’ EDR feature, IT managers also have on-demand access to curated intelligence from SophosLabs, guided investigations into suspicious events, and recommended next steps.
To maintain full visibility into the threat landscape, SophosLabs tracks, deconstructs and analyzes 400,000 unique and previously unseen malware attacks each day.
“Our customers use Sophos Intercept X with EDR for their endpoints, and the feedback we’ve had is that Sophos’ EDR is easy to implement, easy to use and easy to manage.
“This reduces the skills needed to manage EDR and makes our customers much more effective at their protecting servers, a critical factor considering the high rate of attacks there,” said Sam Heard, president of Data Integrity Services, a Sophos partner in Lakeland, Fla. With EDR for servers, Sophos is building upon its industry leading Intercept X endpoint protection.
“Sophos is also the only vendor to bring all of its security products together on one cloud-based management platform, Sophos Central, and connect its endpoint and network protection through Synchronized Security. Adding EDR for servers is yet another key industry advancement that will protect our customers.”
Pricing and availability details are available from Sophos partners worldwide.
Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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