Sophos Expands Portfolio with Workspace Protection to Secure Hybrid Work and Govern Employee AI Use
Bangalore, January 2026 :
· Sophos Workspace Protection expands Sophos’ portfolio with an accessible and affordable alternative to heavyweight and cost-intensive SASE solutions for securing hybrid and remote work
· Built around the
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 into and
control of Shadow IT and Shadow AI usage to help organizations assess risk and
govern the safe adoption of emerging technologies, including generative AI
Sophos, a global leader of innovative security
solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced Sophos Workspace Protection, expanding its portfolio to help
organizations secure hybrid work and govern the use of emerging technologies,
including AI. Built around the Sophos Protected Browser, powered by Island, the solution enables organizations to
protect applications, data, users, and guests wherever work takes place, while
providing a unified approach to securing the modern workspace.
Rethinking Security for Hybrid Work
Traditional approaches to securing hybrid work, including deploying multiple cloud-delivered SASE and SSE solutions, often require significant infrastructure, specialized expertise, and ongoing operational overhead to deploy and manage. These models can increase cost and complexity while still leaving gaps in visibility and control where modern work now happens.
Sophos Workspace Protection takes a different approach by securing the workspace directly, eliminating the need to backhaul traffic through centralized infrastructure. This reduces the operational burden and cost while enabling protections that follow users, applications, their internet usage, and their data wherever they work, providing organizations at all stages of security maturity with a simpler way to secure hybrid work without added complexity.
At the core of Sophos Workspace
Protection is the Sophos Protected Browser, powered by Island and purpose-built
to seamlessly integrate with the Sophos Central platform. With 85% of the
modern workday now taking place in a web browser, the Sophos Protected Browser
was developed to address security needs where modern work happens.1
It provides organizations with visibility and control at the workspace level,
helping them protect sensitive data, manage application access, and enforce
policy directly within the browser. By embedding security controls into a
familiar user experience, Sophos Workspace Protection enables organizations to
secure work across corporate and remote environments without disrupting
productivity.
“Security teams are increasingly impacted by complexity, especially as hybrid work, SaaS adoption, and AI tools continue to expand the workspace,” said Mike Jude, Research Director at IDC. “Sophos Workspace Protection reflects a pragmatic shift in the market—delivering core SASE and SSE outcomes through an integrated, endpoint? and browser?centric approach that simplifies deployment, reduces operational overhead, and helps organizations govern application and AI use without adding another layer of infrastructure.”
Governing Shadow IT and Shadow AI
As emerging technologies, including generative AI, become part of everyday workflows, organizations are increasingly challenged to understand how these tools are being used and what data is being shared through them. Recent research shows that more than half of employees worldwide now use AI tools at work, often before formal policies or controls are established, increasing risks associated with Shadow IT and Shadow AI.2 By providing visibility and control at the workspace level, Sophos Workspace Protection helps organizations assess risk, enforce policy, and govern the safe use of emerging technologies across the hybrid workforce.
What’s Included in Sophos Workspace
Protection
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
following components make up the Workspace Protection suite:
· Sophos Protected Browser: a
Chromium-based secure enterprise browser, powered by Island, that provides
controls over application usage, local data handling, and web filtering. It
also integrates Sophos ZTNA for access to private web applications and supports
SSH and RDP access for remote administration.
· 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 keeping applications hidden 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. It provides an additional layer of web and
phishing protection by blocking malicious or unwanted domains.
· Email Monitoring System: an email
security add-on deployed alongside Google or Microsoft email services that
monitors email traffic and provides additional detection of unwanted or
malicious messages, including phishing.
Together, these components enable several key benefits and use cases for
organizations securing modern, hybrid work environments.
“Sophos has long protected remote and hybrid
workers with industry-leading endpoint and network security, but today’s work
environments demand stronger governance of apps and data,” said Joe Levy, CEO
of Sophos. “Many SASE and SSE solutions add complexity and operational overhead
while still leaving gaps in visibility and control. By combining Island’s
enterprise browser technology with Sophos’ security capabilities and the Sophos
Central platform, we are helping organizations govern AI use, protect critical
data, and secure hybrid workforces with a solution that is easier to deploy and
manage.”
“Hybrid work shouldn’t mean tradeoffs between security and productivity,” said Mike Fey, co-founder and CEO of Island. "Island protects data, secures application access, and helps organizations safely embrace AI, all through the browser people already use. Integrating with the Sophos Central platform lets customers do that with less complexity and more confidence.”
Key Benefits for Organizations
Sophos Workspace Protection helps organizations secure distributed and hybrid workers, govern the use of emerging tools and services, including AI, and support fast, flexible access for contractors and partners. The solution also strengthens defenses against phishing, browser-based threats, and other attacks that target users in the modern workspace.
Sophos customers and partners will gain access to Sophos Workspace
Protection starting in February 2026. For more information, go to https://www.sophos.com/workspace.
About
Sophos
Sophos
is a cybersecurity leader defending 600,000 organizations globally with an
AI-driven platform and expert-led services. Sophos meets organizations wherever
they are in their security maturity and grows with them to defeat cyberattacks.
Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat
intelligence with frontline human expertise from Sophos X-Ops to deliver
advanced, 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response. Sophos offers
industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) alongside a comprehensive
portfolio of cybersecurity technologies — including endpoint, network, email,
and cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat
detection and response (ITDR), and next-gen SIEM. Together with expert advisory
services, these capabilities help organizations proactively reduce risk and
respond faster, with the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of
evolving threats. Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem,
including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers
(MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk
partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose trusted relationships
when securing their business. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More
information is available at www.sophos.com.
¹ Omdia, The
State of Workforce Security: Key Insights for IT and Security Leaders (2025)
2KPMG and
University of Melbourne, global survey on trust, attitudes, and use of AI
(2025).