Sophos to bring OpenAI GPT cyber models into Managed Risk offering, helping defenders validate exploit paths. Sep. 3, 2026, 05:02 PM OXFORD, United Kingdom, Sept. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Sophos, a global cybersecurity leader, today announced Exploit Path Verification (EPV), a new capability that will be built into Sophos Managed Risk to help security teams better prioritize and manage exploitable vulnerabilities in their environment. The capability will be built with OpenAI's GPT cyber models through the Daybreak Defense Network, to return verified, evidence-backed verdicts that give defenders the clarity they need to fix the exposures that matter first. Availability will be announced at a later date. Security teams face a widening gap between the vulnerabilities they can find and the ones they can fix. Scanners surface thousands of exposures and severity scores and rank them, but a severity score cannot tell whether a critical flaw sits behind a control that blocks it, or whether two low-severity findings chain into the path that leads to a breach. As a result, security teams often patch by generic score, rather than by whether an attacker could reach and use a flaw in their specific environment. Sophos is designing EPV to close that gap. It is being built to reason over asset and patch state, endpoint protection policy, network reachability, identity and privilege facts, and known exploit availability, and returns a clear evidence-backed exploitability verdict: * Confirmed Exploitable * Blocked by a Control * Not Reachable * Insufficient Evidence EPV will also be designed to identify chained paths where multiple lower-severity findings combine into one exploitable route, assess whether a control blocks a technique class or only a common public proof of concept, and draft remediation text ready for a ticket. The capability will be advisory and additive by design. Every verdict is labeled as AI-generated with its evidence visible, and Sophos analysts review the results. "One of the most common challenges we hear from security teams today is the volume of findings they need to sift through, and the lack of clarity of which findings matter most, or in other words, put them at greatest risk," said John Peterson, chief technology officer, Sophos. "Exploit Path Verification is being built to make it clear what in their environment is reachable by an attacker, with the evidence to prove it, so they fix what counts first." EPV extends Sophos' work with OpenAI. Through the OpenAI Daybreak Defense Network (formerly OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program), which Sophos joined in June 2026, the company brought frontier cyber models into MDR investigation, advisory assessments, and workflows that help customers discover, validate, and remediate exposure. EPV will build on that work inside a product customers already run. OpenAI's GPT cyber models provide frontier reasoning to help assess exploitability. Sophos supplies the environment-specific evidence and product controls, and its analysts review the results delivered to customers. "Our goal through the OpenAI Daybreak Defense Network is to give defenders the advantage of frontier AI, safely," said McCall McIntyre, Head of Global Cyber Partnerships, OpenAI. "Sophos has been a thoughtful partner since joining the program, and Exploit Path Verification is a clear example of frontier reasoning applied to a real defensive problem, with the guardrails that responsible deployment demands." Sophos defends more than 625,000 organizations worldwide, including 40,000 managed detection and response (MDR) customers across enterprise, mid-market, and commercial segments, delivered through one of the industry's largest partner ecosystems. That reach is central to EPV's purpose. Verified exploitability should not be a capability reserved for the largest security teams with the deepest budgets. EPV is in development for enterprise and mid-market business customers of Sophos Managed Risk. Sophos will announce availability, including early access and general availability timing, at a later date. ABOUT SOPHOS Sophos, a global cybersecurity leader, defends more than 625,000 organizations worldwide with Sophos Fusion, the industry's first and most complete AI-native cybersecurity defense system: a single, connected architecture where every control point operates as one. Powered by agentic AI and elite human expertise, Sophos detects, investigates, and neutralizes threats before they become business-disrupting events. Working alongside a global ecosystem of managed service providers, resellers, and technology partners, Sophos compounds intelligence from every threat encountered and every environment defended to make every customer's defense stronger than the last. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com. Markets Insider and Business Insider Editorial Teams were not involved in the creation of this post. Sponsored Financial Content

Dicker Data adds Sophos to boost cyber security offering. 24 Aug 2026 2 mins Demand for cybersecurity continues to grow. Dicker Data is set to expand its cyber security portfolio and providing partners across Australia and New Zealand with Sophos solutions. The agreement will see Dicker Data distribute the vendor's cyber security portfolio across endpoint, network, email and security operation products. The distributor will also support the continued growth of Sophos' MSP business and services portfolio. This includes managed detection and response (MDR), advisory services and incident response. Through the partnership, Dicker Data will provide local sales, technical, enablement and go-to-market support to help partners build their Sophos capability, as well as help them to develop cyber security opportunities and grow sustainable security practices. Dicker Data general manager - software A/NZ Pennie Stevens said the addition of Sophos reflects the distributor's continued investment in cyber security as a strategic growth area for partners. "Cyber security continues to be one of the most important priorities for our partners and their customers, and Sophos brings a comprehensive and highly relevant portfolio to help address that need," she said. "For our partners, this creates new opportunities to grow their security practice, expand managed services offerings and support customers." The appointment of Dicker Data brings additional reach support Sophos' next phase of growth across A/NZ, said Sophos director channel and commercial sales A/NZ Marina Brook. "As our business continues to evolve, so does the opportunity for our partners," she said. "Together with Dicker Data, we want to expand the Sophos partner ecosystem, create new opportunities across the market and help our partners." Don't miss a thing Join the Reseller News mailing list for daily news on the IT channel, covering business, technology, products, and services. Community Editor