Overview
Several methods can be used to test if the Sophos Home detection features are working correctly. Test these items from any Sophos Home computer:
Note: All the files and links in this article are completely harmless. They are designed to trigger the Anti-Virus software into recognizing it as if they were a virus and if successful, will indicate a detection.
Test On-demand and on-access scanning
The EICAR test is not a virus, it is an industry standard detection test. Sophos Anti-Virus will report its presence as EICAR-AV-Test virus.
- Download the eicar Anti Malware test file from the eicar website.
- If downloading the zip version, ensure to decompress it to trigger a detection.
- If On demand and on-access are working properly, Sophos Home will trigger the following detection:
You will also see a detection on your Sophos Home Dashboard
Test Web protection and web control features
Use the Sophos Web Security and Control Test Site by SophosLabs to test the Sophos web protection and web control functionality.
- Select the Malware option to test if web protection is operating correctly. This will display a blocked page and a balloon alert on the system tray.
- To confirm whether web control is functioning, click the other options on the page to test the different category classifications . Ensure the category you are testing matches the category listed in your Sophos Home Dashboard (refer to this article).
Test Malicious traffic detection (MTD) – Windows only
To test the MTD feature, do the following:
- Copy and paste the following on Notepad or any other text editor:
set o = createobject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP") o.open "GET", "http://sophostest.com/mtdtest/2/" & rnd, FALSE o.send
- Save the file as “mtd.vbs”
If you are using notepad, keep the quotation marks on the name – this ensures the file extension is set to .vbs
- Double-click the file to trigger a detection.
- If the MTD feature is active, you will receive a C2/generic-B detection on the endpoint.
Test Host intrusion prevention system (HIPS) – Windows only
Use the Sophos Web Security and Control Test Site by SophosLabs and use the Sophos HIPS Test Files. This will trigger the following detection (if you downloaded the zip file, please decompress it):