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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.

Rules and policies

Rules and policies enable traffic to flow between zones and networks while enforcing security controls, IP address translation, and decryption and scanning.

You can create firewall, web server protection, NAT, and SSL/TLS inspection rules.

Firewall rules

You can create the following types of rules:

Firewall rules: You can allow or disallow traffic flow between zones and networks based on the matching criteria. You can implement policies, specify access for endpoint devices and servers, and prioritize traffic.

Web server protection rules: You can configure WAF rules to protect your web servers. To configure a WAF rule, set the firewall rule action to Protect with web server protection.

NAT rules

With Network Address Translation (NAT), you can change the IP addresses and ports of traffic flowing between networks, generally between a trusted and an untrusted network.

Source NAT and destination NAT rules enable traffic to flow between private and public networks by translating non-routable, private IP addresses to routable, public IP addresses. Loopback policies enable traffic to flow between internal networks with unique subnets.

SSL/TLS inspection rules

With SSL/TLS inspection rules, you can intercept and decrypt SSL and TLS connections over TCP, enabling Sophos Firewall to enforce secure connections between clients and web servers. SSL/TLS inspection also prevents malware transmission through encrypted connections.

Based on the traffic and risk level, you can enforce policy-driven connections and decryption for SSL/TLS traffic.