Sophos Certified Engineer Practice Exam

The correct protocol for secure communications in Sophos Firewalls is HTTPS. It is an extension of HTTP and includes an additional layer of security through the use of SSL/TLS encryption. This ensures that the data transmitted between the user's browser and the web server is encrypted and secure from eavesdroppers, making it highly suitable for secure communications within network devices such as firewalls.

Sophos Firewalls utilize HTTPS not only for establishing secure connections to the web interface for management and configuration but also for various features that require secure data transfer. The encryption provided by HTTPS is critical for protecting sensitive information, such as login credentials and configuration settings, during transmission.

While other protocols mentioned, like FTP and HTTP, do not include built-in security measures, and SSH is primarily used for secure shell access to servers (rather than web-based interfaces), HTTPS stands out as the standard for secure web communications, making it the most appropriate choice in the context of Sophos Firewalls.