Sophos Adds Deep Learning Capabilities to Intercept X Early Access Program

Sophos, a global leader in network and endpoint security announced that deep learning driven malware detection is now available through its Intercept X early access program. This deep learning capability has been developed using technology from Invincea, acquired by Sophos in February 2017.

First released in September 2016, Sophos Intercept X is a next-generation endpoint security product that stops zero-day malware, blocks all exploit techniques known today and includes an advanced anti-ransomware feature that can stop both known and unknown ransomware variants within seconds. Deployed through the cloud-based management platform Sophos Central, Intercept X can be installed alongside existing endpoint security software from any vendor, immediately boosting endpoint protection by stopping malicious code before it can do harm.

Deep learning is a branch of machine learning and artificial intelligence that leverages an artificial neural network to build a model used to make predictions with speed, scale, and judgement that exceed human capabilities. The deep neural network of Intercept X is trained on hundreds of millions of samples to detect when a file is malicious, potentially unwanted, or legitimate. Deep learning is more effective than traditional machine learning approaches because of its larger scale training set, smaller model, and more effective detections.