Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) Reviews

We are primarily using it for access control for our various cloud environments from our on-prem resources.

By implementing CloudGuard Network Security, we wanted granularity and control of the traffic going through our different BDCs within AWS. We use one there. We also wanted identity awareness for going into cloud resources.

CloudGuard Network Security gives us access and visibility into what is going on in our cloud environments. Previously, we did not have any cloud instances. We were just managing the on-prem and then letting it go. It gives a lot of visibility. We could realize its benefits instantly.

CloudGuard Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid-clouds as well as on-prem. We were able to manage all of our cloud environments from one central place. We have got CloudGuard in Azure and AWS restricting traffic between those hybrid cloud environments.

We feel very confident in our cloud network security by using CloudGuard Network Security. We get what we would expect with an on-prem firewall. We get all of the functionality and security that we would expect from an on-prem firewall in the cloud. We did not go with our cloud vendor's cloud firewall because they were not able to meet a lot of the security standards that we needed.

The ease of deployment has been nice. It is like managing any of our on-prem firewalls.

The only pain points we have had with it were when we did major version upgrades. Rather than being able to do incremental upgrades on those, we had to completely redeploy. I know that has changed recently, but we had some hiccups when we did the upgrades. This is the only issue we have had.

We have been using CloudGuard Network Security for over four years.

It is very stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.

It scales pretty easily. At this time, I am not aware of any plans to increase its usage.

Their support is great. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

We did not use a similar solution previously.

It is a private cloud. We have it in both our private Azure and private AWS restricting access between the individual BDCs and on-prem environment and between the two different cloud environments as well. 

It is primarily deployed by one team, but multiple clients use the cloud services.

I believe we have seen an ROI. We are able to manage it from an already existing management server that we are using for on-prem. Not having to have another product that we are managing outside of Check Point is a big plus.

We looked at cloud-native firewalls. They were not able to meet the security standards that we were able to get by using CloudGuard.

We looked at their IPS solutions with the cloud-native firewalls, but we could not go as granular. With CloudGuard Network Security, we could see the individual protection and fine-tune it.

CloudGuard Network Security is also easier to use than other solutions.

I would rate CloudGuard Network Security a ten out of ten.

We use it as a CSPM (cloud security posture management) solution. In particular, the main use case it to identify misconfigurations in our cloud environments. 

We have different cloud providers, and it monitors all of them: Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. For each workload or subscription, Check Point Cloud Guard checks whether the configuration is in line with the sector standards and guidelines or not. 

It also checks for each subscription to see if it is compliant with a given policy. It has multiple policies for Europe, the USA, and even Australia.

With Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP, we are able to monitor the security of all of our cloud environments. Moving to a more and more cloud-centric environment is vital for us to ensure security. 

In addition, we have to comply with some standards that require us to guarantee compliance and overall data security and safety in the cloud environments that host our exposed applications, databases, servers, and virtual machines. 

With Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP, we are able to identify which remediation actions need to be taken in order for us to be compliant with the standards and to secure our environments better.

The feature that I value the most about Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP is the possibility of checking compliance with different standards. This compliance check can be performed for each subscription or service that we have on all the different cloud providers that we use. The result of the compliance check is having a list of issues, misconfiguration, or vulnerabilities that need to be fixed and addressed. The list is detailed with severity, description of the issue, risk, and how to mitigate it. It also points out the exact bit that needs to be addressed, so there is no guessing game, and when we address the issue to the technical team, they already know what needs to be done

The service is already top-notch; both on the commercial side and on the technical side. I had the luck to be put in contact with a very talented and skilled technical after-sales team that guided us step by step through the configurations. Also, the commercial team was very comprehensive with our situation and allowed us to create a package that best fit our needs.

One feature of the product that I would like to enhance is the possibility to connect to vulnerability management platforms so that the issues that emerge from the scans can then be ingested directly into the vulnerability management process. It would be very nice to provide, on top of API connections, built-in plugins for the major ticketing systems.

I've used the solution for three years.

No, we have not used any solution before.

The setup cost is really low compared to the license cost. However, it's a good investment if you want to secure the cloud ecosystem.

We evaluated other options, among which Prisma Cloud and Orca Security.

Our primary use case is for segmentation and next-generation protection. 

Our clients choose CloudGuard as a natural progression of their solutions. They understand Microsoft and CloudGuard fits. They are vendor-oriented. They stick with Microsoft. They have a lot of experience with Check Point and this fits in. 

Check Point Management is the best and Azure management is also very good. It's simple and has high security. There are no additional costs which is one of the advantages. 

Compared to other solutions, CloudGuard is easier to use. 

I don't see much need for improvement. 

In Czech, we are a little behind the USA and Germany so we have matured in our mentality to move towards the cloud. 

Check Point could show us use cases that would help us in Czech and could help us with security threats in our specific country.

The level of confidence our clients have in their cloud network security using CloudGuard Network Security depends. Some are very confident but some are worried about information being exploited. When compared to other vendors, CloudGuard is the best when it comes to threat protection.

I have been implementing CloudGuard for our clients for four years. 

It's stable.

It scales well for our clients' needs. We have deployed over 2,000 servers.

Support is good for CloudGuard. It could depend on the support person who is helping us. Different regions offer different levels of support. Israel and US offer the best support.

Positive

It's easy for me to deploy. 

Every project needs different pricing. I believe that when we talk with the particular guys, we will find a price for the customer. They are flexible in terms of that because we need to be flexible, and we have many companies who are aggressive with discounts. 

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten. 

We mainly use the firewall part. We use it to interface with our cloud environments.

We have a CloudGuard firewall in place, and we have Azure or AWS networks at the backend. We use it to secure workloads and be a bridge to our on-prem as a hybrid solution.

It makes securing our cloud workload super easy, and we are able to push any sort of policy changes we need pretty quickly. It is a lot better than the native cloud firewalls that are available in terms of ease of use and features. Check Point IPS is way more advanced than the native cloud firewall solutions.

CloudGuard Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid clouds as well as on-prem. It is fantastic. It makes our security operations a lot smoother because we only have to push policy once to our cloud firewalls and our on-prem firewalls. We can select whichever firewalls we want and hit install. The changes are made across all different types of devices. We had evaluated the native cloud firewalls for a specific use case, but we saw that Check Point firewalls were superior in the aspects that we were looking at for our requirements. 

We just set up the firewalls and forget about them. We only have to do jumbo hotfix upgrades on the major version upgrades. For the most part, the uptime on them is fantastic. We do not have any downtime on them, so we never have to worry about them, which is why I do not have a lot of experience with them. We just set them up and forget about them.

CloudGuard Network Security has been fantastic in terms of identifying threats. Being able to log those cloud firewalls to the same place where all of our other Check Point firewalls are is a huge plus because we can see where something gets prevented by IPS or something like that.

We only use it for the firewall, so it is about security.

I want the upgrades of their CloudGuard solution to major versions to be easier. We have had a few small hiccups. They have different types of cloud clusters called Geo Clusters, and those just cannot be upgraded past a certain point, which is a hurdle that we are currently experiencing.

We have been using CloudGuard Network Security for four years.

Its stability is amazing. We have never had any weird downtime issues with our CloudGuard firewalls.

We do not use any of the auto-scaling features that Check Point provides. We do not have a use case for it, so I cannot attest to that.

When you get the right person, Check Point TAC is fantastic, but sometimes, it can take a while to find the right tech engineer to be able to answer your problem within a reasonable amount of time. Most TAC engineers can answer a question, but some might take longer than others. I would rate their support an eight out of ten.

Positive

It is super easy to deploy. In a few clicks, it is up and going. 

I deployed it myself.

We have definitely seen an ROI, but I am not sure how to quantify that. I am satisfied with it. 

It is definitely easy to use and simple. Compared to the native cloud firewalls where if they do not have a feature, you are out of luck, I feel that Check Point has a very superior feature set.

I like the flexibility because I am pretty sure you can use the same license on Azure or AWS. I forgot the name of the license, but there is a specific type you can use that lets you interchange them, and that is pretty good. I like that. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. The only reason it is not a ten is that sometimes there are hiccups when we have to interact with it, such as while upgrading. These are small things, but I wish it was more seamless than it already is. It is already pretty seamless, but there can always be improvements.

We use it to analyze all the traffic in our network. It is the main tool for security services and networking in our company.

We increased our security score by introducing the tool. We are continuing to grow and improve. In terms of policies, we have a lot of benefits in terms of the security cluster and how it works.

CloudGuard Network Security provides unified security management across hybrid-clouds as well as on-prem. We have a hybrid scenario in the company. We have 3% of services in the cloud, and we can use the same clusters and the same policies that we have on the on-premise side for our cloud services. We have the same benefits for both.

We are pretty confident in our cloud network security using CloudGuard Network Security. We are not exactly an Internet-exposure company, but we have a cloud setup. We are pretty confident with its configuration assessment. With Check Point as our partners, we are protected, and we can be confident in our security.

Microsegmentation is very useful for us because we minimize the surface attack. The easy management of the policies is great for us because we are a small team and having easy management is great and useful for us.

At this point, we are very happy with what is happening with their horizon. At CPX, we heard that we can see all the things on the same platform. That is what we have been asking for, and hopefully, we are going to start seeing it this year.

I have been using CloudGuard Network Security since 2020.

It is stable. I cannot remember a time when we had any issues with it. Our operations are 24/7.

It is scalable. We do not have any problems with it.

We have had a good experience with the support and customer service, and we are happy with them.

I would rate them a nine out of ten. A unique issue that we have is related to the language. When the first level of support cannot resolve an issue and the issue needs to be escalated, we have a language challenge because the team is based in India. There are some limitations on both ends.

Positive

We used our cloud vendor's security but did not get as many details when we had any issues. We immediately moved to Check Point, and we are more confident of Check Point.

At first, we used Azure and Defender, and before we changed to CheckPoint, we used ESET. So, we had ESET and then we started rolling out Check Point. We had a mix with the cloud vendor solution, and then we went for Check Point.

We have a mix of on-premises and cloud. We use the Infinity services.

My team deployed it. I have three security engineers on the team, and with the help of Check Point, we deployed it. We upgraded very recently in December, and it was a good experience. It has been running well.

We used the services of a company based in Panama. With the Infinity contract, we had some professional time with Check Point, and they helped us set up some of the things. They reviewed some of the things that we deployed, so we have all the best practices.

I do not have a lot of details on that, but our uptime is pretty high. 

It is an expensive product, but when you realize that you need it, it does not feel so expensive.

We have had a good experience with them as partners. They have helped us with designing and having good architecture and the best equipment at the best prices. We find it a good deal. 

We evaluated Microsoft's security suite. The thing that made us decide on Check Point was that Check Point had the least zero-day attack score. We have a lot of solutions from Check Point, and we stayed with Check Point.

We are now not evaluating other solutions because, since 2020, we have chosen Check Point as our partner. It continues to be the best solution for us to improve our score. We are not looking for software solutions from other vendors.

We always keep track of the service and the score, and with Check Point, there has always been the highest score.

I would rate CloudGuard Network Security a ten out of ten. We are happy with the uptime and management. It is a good tool, and it provides a lot of value for us. We are happy.

We use Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management to maintain our organization's security posture.

With a bit of upscaling, it is possible to write custom rules and policies using the GSL Builder. We used the GSL Builder to build the rules for our playground environment and internet-facing environments.

It takes a couple of weeks for a nontechnical person to learn how to use GSL Builder.

The Unified Security Management console is helpful because it provides a single pane of glass. 

From a control plane perspective, the solution offers excellent visibility into our framework, enabling the identification of non-compliance.

CloudGuard provides good value for money in terms of automating our security across multiple clouds.

The agentless workload posture analysis, which primarily focuses on our cloud platform, provided valuable insights into our organization's overall security posture.

CloudGuard helped to eliminate some manual processes for a few teams, freeing up some of their time.

Our organization's security operations were able to save time by using CloudGuard's unified platform.

The most valuable feature is the ability to apply common tools across all accounts.

The integration process could be enhanced by enabling integration at the organizational level rather than requiring the manual setup of individual accounts. The current workflow of creating and linking each role is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Streamlining account onboarding by allowing CloudGuard to identify and integrate at the organizational level would significantly simplify the process.

I have been using Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management for one year.

Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management is stable.

CloudGuard Posture Management is scalable, as it is a SaaS product.

Before implementing Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management, we relied on the native CSPM of AWS Config.

For beginners in the field, AWS might be a good starting point due to its simplicity. However, for more experienced users who require more advanced features, CloudGuard offers a more mature and comprehensive solution.

I would give Check Point CloudGuard Posture Management a rating of seven out of ten. Consolidating additional capabilities into CloudGuard, along with Fusion, would create a comprehensive package offering for customers. This, along with maintaining compatibility with the evolving AWS service, would help to avoid complicating any integration issues.

While developing our tools, there is always a need for ongoing review and updates. However, compared to AWS, the maintenance required for CloudGuard is minimal.

Positive

My company uses the solution as an Edge firewall and East-West firewall. 

The tool's most valuable feature is its management console. 

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security needs to improve the management of the actual firewalls. Improvement is also needed for the consolidated UI of different security aspects. 

I have been using the product for a year and a half. My company has been using it for eight years. 

We recently had some issues with stability, so it's hit or miss. It seems to have more minor bugs than other platforms, but overall stability is the same.

The speed of the support's response varies. Sometimes, you can get a good engineer who can give you the right answers. 

Neutral

I have used Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto, and SonicWall. The worst ones on the list are Cisco, Fortinet, and SonicWall. Palo Alto is better in some areas. Check PointCloudGuard Network Security is top in terms of actual security. But in terms of managing the whole platform, I would put it below Palo Alto.

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security's deployment is easy and takes two hours to complete. 

I did the solution's deployment myself. However, I connected with the consultants whenever needed. 

We've been secure and haven't had any security breaches.

The tool's pricing is been higher than other solutions, but it seems like it's turning downwards.

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten. 

We are using CloudGuard Network Security to protect North-South traffic or VPCs. We are using the CloudGuard firewall between the Internet and VPCs. All the traffic needs to pass through the firewall.

CloudGuard Network Security provides features, such as threat emulation, that native cloud solutions do not offer. AWS, Azure, and GCP have a lot of features, but you sometimes need to pay charges for specific features. With Check Point products, you have all these features in one license. You pay once and you can use everything.

CloudGuard Network Security improves our security against advanced threats. Others do not offer features like threat emulation out of the box. CloudGuard Network Security protects very well against advanced threats.

We have a high level of confidence in our cloud network security by using CloudGuard Network Security. The product is similar to what we use in traditional data centers. The infrastructure is almost the same. The way to manage the policies is the same. It is very easy to implement and manage CloudGuard networks. There is some difference when you are using auto-provision, but in the end, it is the same technology. It is easy for a traditional network engineer to work with CloudGuard.

We did not go for the cloud vendor's cloud firewall because we wanted to be able to manage all the firewalls, policies, and other things from a single point. 

The most valuable feature for me is that you have just one license. You can test and implement everything you need with one license. You do not need to pay for separate module licenses when you want IPS or other features. The license includes everything that you need.

The version upgrades need improvement. We faced issues while upgrading our CloudGuard Network Gateway. When we tried to use the template that Check Point offers on their site, it was not available for the second to the latest version, so I was forced to upgrade my management server. That was very challenging for us.

I have been working with Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for 8 years.

I cannot remember the last time I had an issue. It is stable, but every product has a few bugs. If you maintain the configuration and the versions, everything is fine.

We do not have any problems because we can use the auto-provision templates. If I need to scale up or scale down, I can do this. If there is any issue, it is very transparent. For example, if I lose my gateway, the manager will automatically create a gateway and bring everything up.

Their support is very good. Their response is fast. You can contact an engineer in a few minutes, but it depends on the severity of the issue. In the case of a high-severity issue, you can talk to an engineer to assist you with an issue.

Compared to other vendors our company has been working with, Check Point has better support. They have the best technical staff.

Positive

We only use Check Point products. In our data center, we are only using CloudGuard.

It is very easy. With a few clicks, you can implement your firewall. 

It is fair. Its license covers all the features. There is a cost-benefit. The licensing for the cloud is better than on-premises because, with on-premises, you have to pay separately for different things.

Overall, I would rate CloudGuard Network Security a nine out of ten.

We use Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP for the application protection of our assets on Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud.

We implemented CloudGuard CNAPP to address data exposure, prevent exfiltration attempts, ensure compliance with frameworks like SOC 2 and PCI DSS, and gain improved oversight of our cloud environment.

We haven't had any cloud security incidents since implementing CloudGuard CNAPP in 2017. It's been a critical tool as we've grown our cloud usage, transitioning applications from data centers to the cloud. CloudGuard's scalability has kept pace with our growth. As the third-largest enterprise user of Azure, our cloud footprint is significant.

The benefits of CloudGuard CNAPP were immediately apparent upon deployment. Back in 2017, we found ourselves needing to catch up on securing our existing AWS assets. We required a solution that offered quick implementation and usability. CloudGuard was the first platform we considered, and we've continued to expand its use alongside Check Point's ongoing development of new capabilities.

We create custom rules to address our organization's unique security policies, in addition to leveraging the built-in rules within CloudGuard CNAPP's CSPM module. This flexibility is crucial for us.

While CloudGuard CNAPP's CSPM capabilities effectively provide compliance rule sets and security best practices, it's important to understand that this is just one aspect of achieving full alignment with security frameworks. To be fully compliant, additional measures outside of CloudGuard need to be addressed and implemented. However, CloudGuard CNAPP remains a valuable piece of the puzzle.

CSPM helps us identify the most critical business risks. It's a time-saver that translates into cost savings. CSPM provides insights from multiple perspectives. We can analyze what a breach would mean for the business, including brand reputation and the significant cost and time required for recovery. Even in terms of day-to-day operations, CSPM saves us employee hours by streamlining security tasks.

The security provided by the CWP for containers is good. We are extremely satisfied.

Our CI/CD environment utilizes some scanning capabilities offered by workload protection, but it's not fully integrated. This creates limitations in proactively identifying issues before deployment. When we do use the workload protection capabilities they are critical for us.

Cloud security posture management is the feature we've been using the longest. What we particularly like about it is the rule-based capability. This allows us to develop our own custom rules using the GSL language provided by the CloudGuard platform.

The platform would be significantly enhanced by incorporating data security management capabilities.

I'd like to see CloudGuard offer more agentless functionality beyond what's currently available.

I have been using Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP for over seven years.

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP is extremely stable and if there is an issue, Check Point is on top of it.

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP is scalable. We haven't run into any scale issues and we have scaled significantly over the last six years.

We plan on expanding it into some of the newer capabilities that Check Point is coming out with.

The technical support is good.

Positive

The initial deployment was straightforward. As a SaaS platform, it is extremely easy to deploy it into environments.

We can deploy CloudGuard CNAPP and use it out of the box within hours.

Our initial strategy was to implement a basic solution and then expand its capabilities over time. Check Point, frankly, has done an excellent job of keeping its platform up-to-date by continuously adding and improving features. This is why we're still using it even after six years.

I would rate Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP nine out of ten.

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP is predominantly owned by and controlled by the central security organization within our company.

Details matter. When comparing features to other security solutions on the market, the ability to develop custom rules is important to us, along with security posture capabilities. The ability to scale flawlessly is also important to us. The direct and overwhelming support that we received from the Check Point account team, the support team, and the leadership team has been fantastic.

Integrating with the cloud through APIs offered by a SaaS platform has significantly reduced the burden on our organization by eliminating the need for all the complex backend work we previously had to handle. This experience highlights the importance of embracing new ways of doing things.