What is a critical preventive measure for safeguarding the Sophos installation from malware threats?

Implementing Tamper Protection is a critical preventive measure for safeguarding a Sophos installation from malware threats because it prevents unauthorized changes to the Sophos software itself. Tamper Protection ensures that only authorized users (like those with administrative privileges) can modify or uninstall Sophos components, thereby minimizing the risk of malware disabling or attempting to manipulate the security solution. This feature acts as a barrier against potential threats that may seek to alter security settings or disable the antivirus software to allow malware to infect the system.

While regular updates, disabling unnecessary features, and using local firewalls are also important components of a comprehensive security strategy, they do not protect the core integrity of the Sophos installation itself in the way Tamper Protection does. Regular updates ensure that the software is equipped with the latest security patches and threat definitions to defend against known vulnerabilities. Disabling unnecessary features helps reduce the attack surface but does not specifically prevent tampering with the installed software. Local firewalls contribute to security by controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic but do not directly address the security of the Sophos installation from internal threats or unauthorized modifications.