Sophos is looking to hit a moving target, with plans to improve its endpoint protection offerings at a time when this technology is converging with identity threat detection and response.
IDC noted that the endpoint security market reached $21.6 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, according to Gartner's recent Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms report, the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) category is converging with endpoint prevention and identity threat detection and response (ITDR). Gartner predicts that 30 percent of enterprise customers will consolidate their EDR, preventive endpoint security, and ITDR on a single vendor by 2038, compared to just 5 percent in 2024.
The Leading Pure-Play Cybersecurity Provider
This is where Sophos is catching the wave with its recent purchase of SecureWorks, which has its own XDR product. backed by network detection and response (NDR), vulnerability detection and response (VDR), and identity threat detection and response (ITDR). By buying SecureWorks, Sophos becomes the leading pure-play cybersecurity provider of managed detection and response (MDR) services.
“I think the pendulum has swung a number of times over the years between, ‘Protection and prevention is everything’ to, ‘You can’t rely on it, you must only have detection or response,’” said Sophos CEO Joe Levy in a recent interview with CRN.
“And now the pendulum, I think, is swinging back toward the center. I think, [this] is the most practical view that we could take as an industry.” Levy said. “The reality is you need both.”
Sophos Earns Place on CRN’s 2025 Security 100
The CRN 2025 Security 100 highlighted Sophos as a partner-friendly security vendor across key industry segments.
In addition, CRN named Sophos one of the "20 Coolest Endpoint And Managed Security Companies Of 2025" due to its purchase of SecureWorks. Sophos will leverage SecureWorks' identity threat detection and response offerings, augmenting Sophos' existing ITDR capabilities in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Business as Usual for Sophos Partners
Once the Sophos and Secureworks product lines become integrated, channel partners will have a new and expanded menu of products and services to choose from. These are the building blocks partners will use to craft more up-to-date cybersecurity solutions that best suit the needs of their clients, who often lack the resources to build their own IT security teams.
So, stay tuned as further details emerge.
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