- Sophos Workspace Protection extends the Sophos portfolio by providing an accessible and affordable alternative to heavy and costly SASE solutions for protecting hybrid and remote work.
- Built around Sophos Protected Browser powered by Island, Sophos Workspace Protection protects applications, data, users and guests wherever work takes place.
- Managed through the Sophos Central platform, it provides organization-wide visibility and control over shadow IT and shadow AI usage, enabling organizations to assess risk and manage the secure deployment of emerging technologies such as generative AI.
OXFORD, UK, January 20, 2026 (Globe Newswire) — Sophos, the world leader in innovative security solutions to thwart cyber-attacks, today announced Sophos Workspace Protection. This expands our portfolio to help organizations secure hybrid work and manage the use of emerging technologies, including AI. Built around Sophos Protected Browser powered by Island, this solution enables organizations to protect applications, data, users, and guests wherever work takes place, while providing a unified approach to securing modern workspaces.
Rethinking security for hybrid work
Traditional approaches to securing hybrid work, such as deploying multiple SASE and SSE solutions delivered in the cloud, often require extensive infrastructure, expertise, and ongoing operational overhead to deploy and manage. These models can increase cost and complexity while leaving gaps in visibility and control of where modern work is being done.
Sophos Workspace Protection takes a different approach by protecting workspaces directly, eliminating the need to backhaul traffic through centralized infrastructure. This reduces operational burden and costs while enabling protection for users, applications, internet usage, and data wherever they work, giving organizations at all stages of security maturity an easy way to secure hybrid work without increasing complexity.
At the core of Sophos Workspace Protection is the Sophos Protected Browser, powered by Island and designed to seamlessly integrate with the Sophos Central platform. With 85% of modern work done in a web browser, Sophos Protected Browser was developed to address the security needs of modern work wherever it happens.1 It gives organizations workspace-level visibility and control to help protect sensitive data, manage application access, and enforce policies directly within the browser. Sophos Workspace Protection embeds security controls into a familiar user experience, enabling organizations to protect work across corporate and remote environments without sacrificing productivity.
Mike Jude, IDC Research Director, said: “Security teams are increasingly affected by complexity, especially as hybrid work, SaaS deployments, and AI tools continue to expand the workspace.” “Sophos Workspace Protection reflects a practical shift in the market. It delivers core SASE and SSE outcomes through a unified, endpoint- and browser-centric approach. It simplifies deployment, reduces operational overhead, and enables organizations to connect applications and applications without adding additional layers of infrastructure. It gives you control over your use of AI.”
Managing Shadow IT and Shadow AI
As emerging technologies such as generative AI become part of daily workflows, organizations increasingly need to understand how these tools are used and what data is shared through them. Recent research shows that more than half of employees worldwide are using AI tools in the workplace, often before formal policies and controls are in place, increasing the risks associated with shadow IT and shadow AI.2 Sophos Workspace Protection provides visibility and control at the workspace level to help organizations assess risk, enforce policies, and manage the safe use of new technologies across a hybrid workforce.
Sophos Workspace Protection content
Sophos Workspace Protection is delivered as a flexible set of integrated components that organizations can deploy together or individually based on their security and operational requirements. The Workspace Protection suite consists of the following components:
- Sophos protected browser: A secure enterprise browser based on Chromium, powered by Island. Control application usage, local data processing, and web filtering. It also integrates Sophos ZTNA for accessing private web applications and supports SSH and RDP access for remote management.
- Sophos ZTNA: A Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) component that provides secure posture-based access to private applications by allowing only authorized users and compliant devices to connect while hiding applications from the Internet.
- Sophos DNS protection: A cloud-delivered DNS security service that organizations can deploy to individual Windows endpoints as part of Workspace Protection. Provides an additional layer of web and phishing protection by blocking malicious or unwanted domains.
- email monitoring system: Email security add-on deployed with Google or Microsoft email services. Monitor email traffic to detect additional unwanted and malicious messages, including phishing.
Together, these components enable several important benefits and use cases for organizations to secure modern hybrid work environments.
“Sophos has long protected remote and hybrid workers with industry-leading endpoint and network security, but today’s work environment demands stronger governance of apps and data,” said Joe Levy, CEO of Sophos. “Many SASE and SSE solutions increase complexity and operational overhead while leaving gaps in visibility and control. Island’s enterprise browser technology, combined with Sophos’ security capabilities and Sophos Central platform, helps organizations manage the use of AI, protect critical data, and secure a hybrid workforce with a solution that is easy to deploy and manage.”
“Hybrid work shouldn’t mean a trade-off between security and productivity,” said Mike Fey, co-founder and CEO of Island. “Island protects data, secures application access, and enables organizations to securely deploy AI through the browsers people already use. Integration with the Sophos Central platform allows our customers to do it with less complexity and more confidence.”
Key benefits for your organization
Sophos Workspace Protection helps organizations protect distributed and hybrid workforces, manage the use of new tools and services including AI, and support fast and flexible access for contractors and partners. The solution also strengthens defenses against phishing, browser-based threats, and other attacks targeting users in modern workspaces.
Sophos customers and partners will have access to Sophos Workspace Protection from February 2026. For more information, see https://www.sophos.com/workspace.
About Sophos
Sophos is a cybersecurity leader that protects 600,000 organizations around the world with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. No matter where your organization is with its security maturity, Sophos grows with you to stop cyberattacks. Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat intelligence with the front-line human expertise of Sophos X-Ops to deliver advanced 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response. Sophos offers industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) with a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity technologies including endpoint, network, email, cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), and next-generation SIEM. These capabilities, combined with expert advisory services, enable organizations to proactively reduce risk and respond more quickly, providing the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of evolving threats. Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem that includes managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose the relationships they trust when protecting their business. Sophos’ head office is located in Oxford, UK. For more information, please visit www.sophos.com.
1 Omdia, The State of Workforce Security: Key Insights for IT and Security Leaders (2025)
2 KPMG and University of Melbourne, Global Survey on Trust, Attitudes and Use of AI (2025).
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3ef9f950-5723-4ac4-986a-56cefc6f6bf3.
