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AlanT
Sophos Connect 2.0 is now GA

Hi Everyone,

thank you to the many thousands of users who used Sophos Connect 2.0 during EAP! I'm pleased to announce that  testing is complete, and we are now ready to launch Sophos Connect 2.0:

The client can be downloaded below, and it ill also be released via pattern update to XG firewalls, later today. 

Major new features

The main focus of this release is adding support for SSL VPN, while making it possible to bulk-deploy SSL VPN as easily as you can Sophos Connect v1.

  1. SSL VPN support for Windows
  2. Bulk Deployment of SSL VPN config via new provisioning file
  3. The same convenience features you expect in Sophos Connect for IPsec
    • OTP prompt support
    • Improved DUO MFA support (when connecting to XGv18)
    • Auto-Connect
    • Logon script execution on connect
    • Remote gateway availability probing
  4. Automatic re-fetch latest user policy if SSL policy updated on firewall (when using provisioning file to deploy)
  5. Manual re-fetch latest policy
  6. Automatic failover to next firewall WAN link when one link fails
  7. File extension association for policy files - Import a policy file into Sophos Connect just by double-clicking it in Windows Explorer, or opening the file attached in an email

 Client Download

bc691e14719314d1275a118fea7a45ba  SophosConnect_WindowsInstaller_2.0.34_IPsec_and_SSLVPN.zip

Provisioning File

The key to a number of the features is the new provisioning file format. It allows a single file to be distributed to all users, exactly as you can for IPsec today. Currently, this file must be manually created, but it's very easy. Just take an example from the supplied documentation, and change the values you want.
 
The provisioning file works by pointing the client to the XG user portal address and port. When the provisioning file is pushed to a client, the user sees the connection listed, just like any other, and when they click connect, they will be prompted for credentials, just like any other connection. The client will then login to the XG user portal using the supplied credentials, fetch the latest SSL VPN policy for that user, and connect the VPN using the same credentials just entered. This is all invisible to the user, and only adds a few seconds to the connection time. Then later, if the connection fails, the client will automatically fetch an updated VPN profile from the user portal, in case any of the policy settings have been changed. 
 
Bulk deployment works seamlessly when the user portal is accessible to clients where they are connecting from. If you are concerned about exposing the user portal to the internet on default ports, you may want to consider move it to a less commonly used port, that will lower its exposure to drive-by port 443 scans.  You can of course only expose the user portal to internal networks, though this will limit the effectiveness of the bulk deployment. 

Sophos Connect EAP Forum is now closed

With the recent GA launch of Sophos Connect v2.0, the Sophos Connect EAP forums will now be closed.

Please continue to raise your related Sophos Connect questions or issues on the main Sophos XG Community forum using the tag "Sophos Connect" to help the team easily find your post.

Known Limitations

  • Sophos Connect 2.0 is not expected to work on Windows 7

  • Provisioning file works well except for users with password that starts with special character #. We uses AD for authentication method.
    When a user with password # tries to connect it is stuck at "Authenticating", events show "Establishing connection" for indefinitely. If we leave it as it is, it eventually crashes firewall.  I found this issue previous version of 2.0, issue still persists on this newest version. 

  • , we didn't make any changes to the ipsec policies. Distributing the key is a technical necessity, which is why we recommend using AD or other automation means to distribute the policy, rather than asking users to import it. 

  • The config files still contain the pre-shared key in plain text when opened in Notepad. Don't let your users get a hold of these files at all.

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