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The XG Series hardware appliances will reach end-of-life (EOL) on March 31, 2025. Click here to see the XG to XGS migration documentation.

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Turn on security heartbeat

Security heartbeat is the real-time threat, health, and security information indicator for synchronized security. See Security Heartbeat overview.

For security heartbeat to work, you need the following accounts and licenses:

  • A Sophos Central account (either a license or trial). See Sophos Central Admin: Getting Started.
  • A trial or full license for a Sophos Central managed endpoint.
  • A Network Protection subscription on your firewall.

Turn on security heartbeat

To turn on security heartbeat, do as follows:

  1. Sign in to Sophos Firewall web admin console.
  2. Go to System > Sophos Central.
  3. Under Sophos Central registration, click Register.

  4. Enter your Sophos Central admin account credentials or your One-Time Password (OTP), then click Register.

    Security Heartbeat and Synchronized Application Control are enabled automatically.

Verify that security heartbeat is turned on

  1. Sign in to Sophos Central using your Sophos Central admin account credentials.
  2. Go to My products > Firewall Management > Firewalls.

  3. Click the icon under Alerts.

    You'll see the following message: "A new firewall has been successfully registered to Sophos Central".

Turn off security heartbeat

To turn off Security Heartbeat, do as follows:

  1. Sign in to Sophos Firewall web admin console.
  2. Go to System > Sophos Central.

  3. Turn off Security Heatbeat.

    Turning off Security Heatbeat also turns off Synchronized Application Control. It also means that endpoints and firewalls won't communicate their health status with each other.