Check Point Application Control Reviews

We had the need to control and be able to manage rules in a granular way for maintaining the security and control of the data, management by teams, identity, and applications grouping them by category and thus being able to defend ourselves from threats and malware that wants to enter our infrastructure while  reducing the operating cost.

Something that we need and want is an inspection of the data. We must see what the different users and applications of our network are sharing, and that is where the control solution brings us that administration value.

As our need is great, and we not only have a single organization yet also have several subsidiaries. It is there where we are integrating a centralization under well-managed control. It is where application control gives us the possibility of generating rules, and policies that are adjusted and flexible. We need the solution to be able to be adapted to the business and to be modified and scalable according to the need and evolution of our organization. It offers a powerful administration and a great catalog.

The best value we have is their actionable reports on user analytics, events, and activity that are extracted from their database. This technology allows us to present reports on the control and management of event policies against applications, locations, IoT, and Identity. Having all this data available generates a control layer that strengthens a security posture. Its best feature will forever be the generation of tangible reports of every actionable activity found and stopped by the solution.

I would like this layer to be faster to install in the future. The evolution of its equipment and appliances where the solution is executed has improved a lot, however, it is necessary to increase that capacity. Some competitors do it just as well and in that layer, are faster to apply their changes. These would give greater value and would be a differentiator. Among other things, I would like this integrated solution to manage from mobile devices in an optimized way and be able to administer from anywhere in the world.

I've used the solution for two years.

The solution is very stable and has regular updates.

It is fast and easy to scale and manage.

Their cost is based on their appliances, and they offer equipment with the highest licensing.

Check Point Application Control is a one-stop shop for providing the strongest security to an organization's business verticals in the most efficient and effective manner. 

It eases the business working as it enables smooth flow of information and helps businesses to create micro-managed accurate, granular policies, and helps in strengthening the organization's security by blocking and restricting the unknown and unsecured phishing widgets and applications across multiple integrations. 

It limits the usage and utilization of any unknown malware attempts from any application

Check Point Application Control improved the productivity of our workforce by reducing the coordination time and efforts involved in strengthening the system's security through a traditional manual way or path. 

It improved the performance outcome for all our verticals due to more automation in system security, which helped in the identification and blockage of malware-affected applications and widgets.

It helps in categorizing the basis of the application, its types, security level, the usability of resources, and its implications on productivity as a whole.

The solution is great at blocking and stopping unidentified and malware-affected applications.

The next-gen firewall system is inbuilt and is highly efficient in restricting terminated and unsecure applications.

It ensures smooth and secure API integrations with other system firewalls and applications due to advanced next-gen identification of malware-affected applications. 

Unauthorized and unsecured applications would not pose any risk to the organization's effectiveness if carried out efficiently by application control security.

In my view, more efforts are required with the business development and customer service team to create more and more awareness across businesses of all sizes on the benefits of deploying the Check Point application control security across all business verticals and improving the performance outcomes for the organization.

More and more product specifications should be infused with new incumbent features in the market to stay relevant and concurrent with the organization's needs.

They need more and more secure integration features should be included with less cost so that the adoption rate can be increased multifold amongst new business users.

I've been using the solution for over six months now.

The product is stable and highly recommended.

The solution is highly scalable and replicable across multiple platforms and systems.

We get great support and services from business and corporate customer service teams.

Positive

An in-house solution was utilized for application security previously.

The product is easy to comprehend and deploy.

We implemented the product through the vendor only.

We've seen an ROI of over 80%.

To every business out there, I strongly recommend trying Check Point Application Security and analyzing the utilities independently. It's one of the best security application software with advanced features to strengthen security with integrated applications and other platforms.

We evaluated McAfee and Trend security applications before making a final selection.

I'd advise users to go for its mandatory trial and explore the gamut of facilities on their own.

Our primary use case of Check Point Application Control is to filter which application categories we want to allow our organization members to have access to so that they are secured. 

For example, we don't allow access to malicious applications and some categories that could be threats. We only allow organization members to access secure applications and applications that are aligned with the company's strategy. 

The user interface is easy and dynamic. You can drag objects around the screen to facilitate their use. Besides, it is quite easy to understand and apply changes.

It also enables us to save internet bandwidth by filtering applications that are not work-related and helps us to easily create granular policies based on users to identify the usage of applications.

We can easily switch from a classical firewall to a next-gen firewall using application security. 

We implemented application control at MDM global security policies, which helps us set general security standards for all managed devices. 

Identity awareness module integration is to be used for user/group-based controls.

Application control and having features like completeness and validity, identification, authentication, and granularity with unified layers is awesome. The most important aspect is that it allows users to define policies based on source IP and user role, quickly identifying traffic flow with SAML.

You can allow or block traffic coming or going out to the internet for specific applications or websites.

It offers user notifications for blocked access, time-defined policies, and bulk categorization of malicious applications.

Sometimes, documentation is not accurate and with the support issue we have to wait a long time for an engineer to understand the errors. I would like to see if they can help with the issue of service and more qualified staff. They need to have good service with Check Point products.

The load balancer functionality for application traffic might be a better option.

Configuration and deployment are a little bit difficult. 

This product works only when the user is in traffic flow through NGFW. 

Sometimes there are more than one category tag to an application which can be tricky.

We have been using the product for more than 12.5 years.

We are satisfied with the stability.

We are satisfied with the scalability.

The product provides the largest database about application control and we can create granular policies to identify the usage. Overall it's been a very good experience, working with this product.

Positive

We didn't use any solutions previously. Check Point Application Control is easy and user-friendly. We're able to control and manage all applications with it.

The initial setup is straightforward.

The help we had was excellent.

The pricing has to be more economical.

Not all of the company's web traffic goes through Check Point, however, on the significant web traffic side, we solve security needs with Check Point. 

Especially if you are going to give broad permissions, you need to block dangerous applications at the very beginning of your rule set. In this context, we use Check Point to block on an application basis. Sometimes there are general accesses. Like Azure, we can only give access by selecting the relevant applications. Check Point is a very good solution because these applications are constantly updating the IP lists on the backend.

It does not require a lot of work to be activated and used. It is quite simple to open the application layer blade and activating it means you are ready to use it. 

The concept of NGFW is actually used exactly for this feature and I can say that it does justice. Once you are ready to use it, you can optimize your rule set by selecting the desired application name in the rule. Since the objects used are updatable, the need for you to return and update is very rare. This structure really saves you time.

First of all, to use this layer, you don't need to struggle and make changes to your structure. It is enough to have a firewall with NGFW support and turn on the application layer filtering blade. Apart from that, the objects in the rules you wrote have very little margin of error. In other words, the accesses of the application you put are passed or blocked as necessary. In fact, some applications have separate objects for download and installation, so you can write the rule set you have in mind more easily.

The objects found now have large applications or general category definitions that are completely determined and organized by Check Point. It would be nice if there was a platform and small application owners could come and send their own applications' name and IP information from there. If we could use application objects directly in our rule sets in Check Point in those small companies, that would be ideal. A few more layered objects could be created for Azure in large applications. It would be nice if firewall administrators could see parser information such as IP behind these objects.

I've been using it for the past six years in different companies.

On our infrastructure, we installed the Check Point 6200 appliance as our primary firewall. It is deployed in a distributed mode, with the security gateway and management running on separate machines.

Our major purpose is to limit web access from internal networks.

Using application control, we blocked the use of peer-to-peer applications such as torrent from our networks and allowed only youtube.com from the media streaming category, resulting in a significant improvement in bandwidth.

Aside from these numerous categories, we blocked a large number of high-risk applications from access our network.

We can control bandwidth and high-risk application access from our network using application control.

We want our users to only be able to access certain websites during working hours. We accomplished this through application control by blocking social media, phonography, drugs, media sharing, and other sites.

We also restricted file sharing sites through application control and blocked file uploading, which helped us avoid data loss.

We set a usage limit for YouTube.com, giving us more bandwidth control.

The control options for an application are very specialized. We may thus ultimately decide what to access and what to prevent.

It is relatively easy to implement an application control policy, and it is made to integrate with the access policy.

The ability to see each application clearly in the logs is quite helpful.

Application control utilizes signatures similarly to how IPS does. It is an excellent feature.

It's pretty easy to schedule updates to the application control database. We can design a check for fresh updates every two hours.

Users can clearly understand the reasons for site blocking from the blocked message.

1 – Custom applications for internal applications must be defined frequently. This should be improved. It would be much better if Check Point could detect internal applications and automatically bypass them.

2- Without HTTPS decryption, the majority of App Control recognition features will be rendered ineffective, as everything has been encrypted thus far.

3-An application may have multiple category tags, which is confusing.

These areas should be improved. 

It satisfies all of our needs except for this. 

Check Point Application Control assists us in controlling bandwidth and restricting internet access for our infrastructure.

I've used the solution for almost two years.

Yes, we used a different solution. However, it did not satisfy us in terms of security. As a result, we decided to deploy Check Point NGFW for enhanced security.

Before migrating to Check Point firewall, we conducted market research and solicited feedback from my contacts who are already Checkpoint NGFW customers. We decided to use Check Point NGFW as a result of this.

Our ROI is that it increases the security precautions that prevent users from accessing websites that can harm our business. Additionally, it also reduces the use of the internet, which is often unrelated to business tasks.

Check Point's Application Control blade is a very powerful and useful tool. To use this tool we need to purchase a subscription for it or purchase a threat prevention package. 

Our primary use case is using Application Control with Identity Awareness feature to create granular policies for users, and groups. Hence, we can control access to applications according to our internet regulations and apply them to users/groups. With the combination, even wherever users/groups are in the organization, whenever they access, they are always under control

With Application Control, we can:

1. Block the applications with critical risks like proxies, malicious VPN tools, hidden IPs, hotspots, et cetera.

2. Save network bandwidth by blocking the downloading tools, P2P sharing, or limiting access to entertainment/IPTV/Social Networking (et cetera) that consume the bandwidth.

3. Increase work productivity by only allowing access to legal destinations while blocking unnecessary accesses like gambling, games, et cetera.

4. Control data loss risk through popular channels: Facebook upload, Instagram upload, public email services (Gmail, Yahoo, et cetera), file storage, and sharing.

5. Limit the usage of the application flexibly (like allowing users to log in to Facebook, and chat but cannot upload data, video, et cetera).

6. Create more granular policies.

We can combine Application Control with Identity Awareness and URL Filtering to create security policies for users/groups based on characteristics about security, productivity and network bandwidth. The most important thing is applying internet access regulations to the firewall system is easier than ever.

The Check Point database of Application Control is the largest library and is updated periodically.

Application categories in the SmartConsole are very clear and easy to search.

The application database is public in AppWiki. This helps to search the application information. This helps people that are considering what Check Point Application Control has before deciding to purchase.

All Check Point security features can run in a single gateway or gateway cluster.

It is expensive. The application control is a subscription type, not a perpetual license. Thus, to use this feature year-by-year, customers must purchase a renewal.

To use it effectively, you must turn on the HTTPS Inspection feature. Almost all the applications are running on encrypted connections. Without HTTPS Inspection, Check Point Gateway cannot detect the behaviors of the application. This leads to the gateway's CPU usage being degraded. In an environment of high connectivity growth or using multiple security features on the same appliance, having to handle more encrypted connections will be very stressful for the CPU.

We've used the solution for more than five years.

It is very exact in application detection.

The scalability of Application Control is based on Check Point Gateway. Check Point Gateway has ClusterXL that supports up to five appliances. With the developing Maestro technology, it's very easy to scale up on demand. Using this technology allows us to maximize hardware investment and appliance capacity.

The support team is very professional.

Positive

I used Fortinet before, however, Check Point Application Control is the best. Check Point has the largest database that no other vendor can compare. Besides, the Check Point appliance is very stable.

It's a bit complicated in terms of the setup if you are combining it with Identity Awareness and HTTPS Inspection.

Our K-12 school district is currently leveraging the Check Point 6800 Gateway hardware appliance, which is running version R80.30.   

The management station runs as a virtual machine in our VMWare environment with Cisco UCS & EMC (storage) hardware and Cisco networking architecture. In addition to the exceptional performance of the hardware and extensive Firewall abilities, we manage end-user traffic related to the applications. We use the solution primarily in the social media and entertainment arenas. This feature allows us to reduce unnecessary use of our already limited bandwidth.

Prior to the newer Application Control tools, from Check Point, we didn't have nearly as much in-depth access to manage traffic in the port 80 and 443 pathways.  

As a result, we were regularly pushing the high end of our already limited bandwidth. Though we did have web/URL filtering technologies deployed, our users still had quite a bit more access to media resources that presented a distraction in our environment. The Application Control, allows us to better manage bandwidth at a more granular level.

Being able to choose specific applications in our policy rule base in order to better manage access and bandwidth utilization has had a significantly positive impact on our environment and saved a lot of management time. This feature allows us to apply all the relevant protocols from a single application "package."  

In years past, we used to have to spend a lot of management time manually diagnosing the end-user traffic in an *attempt* to determine what sites, protocols, and ports were being used by the resource. Then, we would have to create specific rules to affect that traffic, before we could regularly monitor the traffic for any unexpected rouge behavior.

One of our continued challenges is having a more accurate, real-time view of how our bandwidth is actually being used at any given moment. A feature that could really offer a lot of insight into the live traffic would be a high-quality, real-time traffic graphical monitoring module. Administrators could then "mouse-over"  any point on the graph to reveal additional information at a very granular level. The information that could be presented would include data such as the service/app used, the specific network or IP, the date/time, etc.

I've used Check Point since the late 1990s. I've used this solution for several years.

We've had zero issues. It's a solid product.

My impression is that with all the recent features and abilities added to the application control section, it should be able to scale very nicely.  I would anticipate that managing traffic at the application level would be far more efficient than in the past, with the option of creating fewer rules to accomplish the same goal.  Being able to group or, "package," together a number of similar applications that contain all the relevant protocols, will be a big benefit over time.

As the product has performed well, we have had little interaction with Check Point's customer support. We have been reasonably satisfied, during the limited times of engagement.

Neutral

We have been using the Check Point firewall suite of products, since the floppy disk installation days.

We had the guidance and aid of a partner vendor and it was not overly complicated.

We have worked with a vendor for years and have been very pleased.

ROI is difficult to quantify in terms of money.  However,, we can easily say that our management time has decreased and end-user activities have been more on-task.

Pricing is a bit high for our K12 organization. The setup is not painful. That said, planning is crucial - as well as a thorough understanding of your network architecture and desired outcomes. 

We did not evaluate other options.

I'd advise users to go with Check Point.

The product is standard software in our organization.

With this solution, you can actually control approved software for use by particular individuals in your company. You can offer it to certain users and disallow it for others. 

The product is great for allowing access to certain users for certain software.

The stability has been good overall.

The scalability is good.

Its initial setup is very simple and straightforward. 

Technical support has been helpful.

We haven't had any issues with the product. There aren't really any features missing.

We would like the product to be a bit more user-friendly in general.

We've been using the solution for one year. It hasn't been that long. 

The stability is good. thee are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. Its performance is reliable. 

You can scale the solution as needed.

We have 2,000 users on the product currently.

We do plan to increase usage and will add more of it as we add more employees to the organization.

Technical support is knowledgeable and quite good when it comes to helping out its user base. We are very satisfied with their level of support.

The implementation process is straightforward and very easy. It's a central department controlled by the console, the main console, which makes it straightforward once you populate it to all of the endpoints.

We do need to pay a yearly subscription in order to access the product.

We are internally using this product in our company. We are not offering it to customers. 

It's deployed directly on our laptops. 

I'd rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I would recommend the product to other users and organizations. 

It is one of the main solutions that we have applied in our offices for the administrative control of access to specific services social networks within the corporation, viewing of videos or services that in some way distract the worker from their activities. It's also facilitated us with the ability to separate the databases by a gateway which makes the administration and the permissions granted to the end-users much easier.

One of the ways it's helped us improve was in the administration and the permissions for specific services. This was very useful to us when making a database per gateway and configuring them through layers to have better visualization, control, and administration of the rules, which allows new administrators to have a better scope and understanding of the organization. This has undoubtedly been the newest thing for us as gateways administrators.

One of the aspects of the solution that has given us more value is the integration of a domain controller with the firewall through the dashboard which allows that through inline layers, LDAP.

The visualization of users, the administration, and the permissions that we can grant to users makes our configuration a more dynamic environment since, as organizational units of an active directory, we can grant permissions to users to specific applications allowed through the URL filtering or application control within the dashboard.

With Check Point we are more protected, however, one of the issues is the cost. They are expensive products due to the fact that we have to buy blades for each solution that we want to integrate into our corporate. Without a doubt, it is worth it, however, it is an important point that could be considered. 

Likewise, nowadays a 2MFA solution could be integrated to Check Point since nowadays remote connections made with remote workers are required to protect the extension from the office to your home through a VPN connection.

I've used the solution for about three years.

The Check Point solution is very stable, however, the installation of JHF at least once a month is somewhat annoying since that could be interpreted as not being a stable solution.

In terms of scalability, my impressions have always been good since there is a lot of scalability in this service. For example, you can integrate several solutions to a centralized administration.

They have an excellent support team. They are fast and it is easy to escalate any situation.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution.

The setup was straightforward.

We handle the implementation in-house.

We've seen a 40% ROI.

Despite the somewhat high cost, based on the blades, it is a reliable solution.

We didn't evaluate other solutions.

Before using this solution, I needed to have other network components that would allow me to block or restrict access to unauthorized sites, which generated a very high cost in terms of licensing and maintenance. Now, I can control authorized and unauthorized access to my end-users, and I can control bandwidth and assign a defined bandwidth to guarantee the operation of my company. 

With this solution, I was able to establish and guarantee the security of my end-users using the categories and definitions within the solution. I'm able to easily identify high-risk sites, as well as sites not allowed for explicit content.

In the beginning, I did not have control of the content that my users had access to, which put the integrity of my company at risk. With this solution, I was able to create explicit policies that would adhere to the rules that we established for access to applications. 

Previously, I had 2 appliances from another brand to control the traffic of applications and to control bandwidth. It is a very simple product to administer with amazing potential endowed within a large database of applications and is constantly updated.

The automatic updates of new applications and signatures guarantee protection at all times without the need to apply a change manually. This has been largely beneficial to my organization and only on a couple of occasions have I had a problem with legacy applications being applied to a filter incorrectly. We've solved this by documenting them in the Check Point portal to ensure they are not listed as a malicious application or IP. There is a large database of applications that have been incorporated together with the traffic control tool assigning a defined bandwidth for certain applications.

It's important that there is the option to validate the policies before applying them since it is very annoying and causes a waste of time to apply a new policy or rule and afterward receive an error that the policy has failed. 

It is important that, if you are being notified of the modifications in the automatic policies that were updated, it's clear in terms of the content that is included as well as the applications that have been modified for being malicious or not. 

Without a doubt, these would be contributions that would greatly benefit the solution's operation within my company.

I've worked with the solution for 5 years.

In some equipment, the scaling is very good, however, it depends on the equipment that is purchased and if there is correct sizing.

Yes, I made the change because I tried a demo and it seemed like a great product.

It is a very safe and stable product.

The licensing is very good. We always rely on an authorized dealer to ensure proper operation and sizing.

Yes, I evaluated Cisco, Palo Alto, and Fortinet.

Not at this time.