Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) Reviews

The main use case for Check Point NGFW involves securing organizational network parameters from a wide range of cyber threats, such as those associated with malware, unauthorized access, and data exfiltration.

Check Point NGFW has positively impacted my organization because, as a security provider, we have business from multiple nations worldwide, but certain nations where we do not have any business relevancy require traffic blocking.

Check Point NGFW helps us significantly by preventing sophisticated cyber attacks, controlling user access to application websites based on policy and user identity, segmenting the internal network, and providing centralized firewall management. These features have helped us manage and strengthen our security posture.

We have observed improved network visibility and control with detailed reporting and logging after implementing Check Point NGFW, along with a stronger compliance posture and reduction in incidents.

In my experience, Check Point NGFW offers excellent region-wise blocking capabilities, which proved particularly valuable during recent tension between India and Pakistan border crossing issues.

The IPS, anti-bot, threat emulation, and URL filtering features are working exceptionally well from a prevention perspective.

Check Point NGFW deployment in our organization showed that the initial setup and policy design can be complex, especially for teams unfamiliar with Check Point's architecture. Licensing can be confusing and expensive, so segregating it into a simple format would be helpful.

Software updates and hot fixes require compatibility checks to avoid disrupting the production environment.

I have been using Check Point NGFW for almost a year and a half.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Check Point NGFW has been straightforward, as everything is better and convenient to use.

I work in Secure System Private Limited as a security analyst for the last six years. I can share specific outcomes and metrics I have seen since using Check Point NGFW.

I use the solution in my company for cybersecurity, securing perimeter networks, giving the user access to VPN, URL filtering, antivirus, sandblast, network segmentation, and monitoring purposes.

Regarding the benefits of using the tool, I would say we spend less time investigating security incidents because we have fewer of them to deal with because Check Point works quite well. The tool offers greater visibility when it comes to network traffic.

The solution's most valuable feature is its adaptability and configurable nature. The software's security posture, I would say, has reduced vulnerabilities than other vendors, and we value that greatly in our company.

The product's support is an area of concern where improvements are required. Sometimes, there are bugs in the software, and the speed at which the product resolves those bugs could be improved. The system is quite complex, and you need to be an expert to get the most benefits, making it an area where the tool could be improved.

It would be nice if Check Point could update its own agents, for example, VPN clients or identity clients. I think the product has a very large number of features.

The product's price is an area of concern, making it an area where I would like to see some improvements.

I have been using Check Point NGFW for a bit less than fifteen years. I use Check Point R81.20.

In the past three months, my company has had stability issues, but the impact was quite low, which is great because we have a cluster environment. When one node fails, the other one picks up the job. When changing from version to version, sometimes bugs show up that need to be resolved.

The tool allows you to add as many nodes as you like or can afford. If it is virtualized, you can also give it more resources.

In my company, I think we have four nodes, which are the main nodes, and then we have eight smaller regional nodes. We have around 260 users and 280 endpoints.

I rate the technical support a five or six out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase was so long ago that I don't remember how it went. The product is not the most intuitive and easy to set up because of the large number of settings you can configure and the ways how you can configure those settings. Without an expert or consultant, I wouldn't recommend implementing the tool by yourself if you value your time and don't want a big downtime later.

The tool's ROI is almost impossible to calculate because it's a security product. If nothing happens, then you always feel like you are paying too much, but you don't know how the situation would change if you use cheaper firewalls and have to face a security breach.

The product's price is on the higher side but I also feel that it is more secure than the other solutions in the market.

In the past, my company had tested Fortinet and Sophos, but we did not migrate to them. Though the price of the firewalls from Fortinet and Sophos were better, from a security perspective, Check Point was better. In the recent years, there have been a lot of critical vulnerabilities detected in those firewalls and breaches because those vulnerabilities were detected and we didn't get them. So we value that greatly.

The tool requires maintenance. You need to update the product version. If we don't encounter any bugs in the installation process, I would say that the maintenance process is quite straightforward.

I recommend the tool to others. If you value your data and it is a mission-critical project, then Check Point is the right choice.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

The most valuable feature of the solution is its efficiency.

You have an administration tool that is not on the appliance, and it should be in line with the appliance. You can put your modification online and compile it again before applying.

I have been using Check Point NGFW for seven years.

The solution's technical support is good.

Positive

We previously used Cisco. We switched to Check Point NGFW because Cisco was comparatively a bit outdated.

Check Point NGFW is a little expensive. We paid around 70,000 Euros for it, and the solution's maintenance fee is expensive. We also have to pay for technical support.

I am generally satisfied with the solution. The new Check Point products are more powerful than the previous appliances. The product is good but perhaps more adapted to big firms than small companies.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

The primary use case for the Quantum Spark Security Appliance 1570 in our organization is unified threat management, firewall protection, intrusion prevention, anti-virus, and anti-malware defenses to secure our network against external threats. We use its remote access solution, to secure remote access through VPN capabilities and mobile device support, ensuring our employees can connect safely from anywhere. Additionally, the appliance features content filtering, application control, and bandwidth management to optimize network performance and enforce usage policies. 

It enhanced our organization's security posture compared to our previous solution. It offers superior protection with advanced threat management capabilities, including robust firewall defenses, intrusion prevention, and real-time anti-virus and anti-malware protection. 

This has markedly reduced our vulnerability to cyber threats. Additionally, the appliance's content filtering and application control features have enabled us to manage bandwidth more efficiently, prioritizing critical business applications and preventing unnecessary traffic. This optimization has not only improved network performance but also reduced operational costs by eliminating bandwidth wastage. 

The WatchTower feature is particularly valuable, providing real-time monitoring of incidents, which enhances our ability to promptly address and mitigate security threats, ultimately leading to reduced overheads and improved overall efficiency. 

The WatchTower app is accessible from mobile devices, providing administrators with the flexibility to monitor and manage security on the go. This mobility ensures that security management is not confined to the office, allowing for rapid response even when off-site.

They should improve integration with third-party security tools and software for a more unified security ecosystem. 

They should enhance compatibility with various network environments and cloud platforms can be valuable. Offer more comprehensive support options, including extended hours and more accessible resources.

They should provide more extensive training materials and documentation to help users maximize the appliance's capabilities. Integrate user awareness and training modules within the appliance to educate employees on security best practices.

We have been using it for more than two years. 

Stability is exceptionally positive. Since its implementation, the appliance has demonstrated remarkable reliability and uptime, consistently maintaining our network's security without disruptions

It provides a robust and scalable solution that meets both our current requirements and future growth plans.

Customer service is overall good, but we would like it to be more enchnaced. 

Positive

We previously used a different security solution but we switched it because of a phishing attack. Though we had a solution, it had not done its job perfectly. 

The setup is straightforward.

We implemented it through a vendor. I would rate it an eight out of ten.

It helped us reduce operational costs associated with network security. By optimizing bandwidth management, preventing security breaches, and streamlining administration tasks, we've minimized wastage and improved resource utilization. 

Setup cost is not much, hence pricing and licensing need to be considered. If pricing gets lower that would be great. 

We previously used a different security solution but switched to the Quantum Spark Security Appliance 1570 due to several issues with the old system. Our previous solution lacked advanced threat management features like real-time anti-virus and anti-malware protection, and had ineffective bandwidth management leading to network performance bottlenecks. 

This is a best solution for us so far and we recommend this to anyone. 

Our customers primarily use it to safeguard their organization's network against malicious activities and closely monitor user internet usage. The key objectives include implementing controls on web and application usage to restrict unwanted activities among users.

The primary advantage stems from the precision of the application engines. Customers can rest assured that unwanted infiltrations into their organizations are unlikely due to the advanced nature of the IAV engines. The algorithms employed are notably stringent, and while they may not be publicly disclosed, they play a crucial role in thoroughly scanning all incoming network traffic. Leveraging this technology, customers can swiftly and effectively protect their LAN network with Check Point.

Its most significant strength lies in its superior threat detection engines.

I would highlight the need for enhancements in technical support services.

I have been working with it for four months.

I found it to be reliable and stable.

It provides good scalability. In total, we are responsible for around three hundred and fifty endpoints.

Our experience with their customer support is not very satisfactory. We've encountered an incident at one of our customer sites, and despite reaching out for support and raising the issue with them, we haven't received a satisfactory solution from the support team in the past three months. I would rate it three out of ten.

Negative

Compared to other vendors such as FortiGate and Kaspersky, Check Point's protection engines stand out for their intuitiveness. However, the drawback lies in the pricing.

In our deployment process, there are two methods available: standard and distributed. The predominant choice in our country is the standard deployment, utilized by approximately ninety-two to ninety-five percent of our customers. In the standard deployment approach, a separate server is configured with three ports, situated between the firewall and the switch. Configurations are not directly applied to the firewall; instead, they are made on the server. After completing the configurations on the server, the changes, such as creating new firewall rules, are not immediately connected to the firewall. Instead, they go through the server, where calculations are performed, and the configured rules are loaded. If a misconfiguration is detected, the server notifies us, highlighting any inaccuracies in the rules or policies. This preventive measure helps avoid applying flawed configurations directly to the firewall. Regarding the ISMP modules, I believe a single individual is sufficient. Given some time for research, this person should be able to deploy it efficiently for me. The deployment time varies depending on the configurations. Maintenance primarily involves updating the firmware; aside from that, there are no additional requirements.

The greatest value is evident when an immediate threat targets your organization. Check Point firewalls excel in preventing such attacks, thanks to their highly advanced protection engines.

It is a notably expensive product in our country compared to FortiGate and other servers. The support services, licenses, and the additional requirement for another license to avail 24/7 support from Check Point contribute to its overall higher cost.

My recommendation is to allocate time for thorough research when working with it. Relying solely on their support may not be sufficient. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

My primary use case of Check Point's firewalls is to provide in-depth network filtering with advanced threat prevention, which can be set up simply using autonomous threat prevention where the firewall learns about the environment and then actions threat prevention based upon that. The threat prevention can also be custom-built for your environment. 

I also use the Check Point Always On VPN for remote endpoints, which allows users to authenticate and connect to the VPN pre-login without any input from the users.

It has improved my organization due to the in-depth security it provides. Check Point has a lot of security-focused features that provide a great level of network security. It has improved the security posture of the organization due to the granularity that can be set in the policies, such as using access roles to set user-based access, and time-based rules to only apply a specific firewall rule at a specific time. It has also improved my organization because of the in-depth troubleshooting steps that are made available to the end user, meaning we can troubleshoot issues easily, and troubleshooting steps can get very advanced.

I have found the VPN and the application control/URL filtering the most valuable features. The main reason for this is that the VPN blade allows easy VPN setup between two VPN gateways, allowing for not only site-to-site VPNs but also for remote users to connect to the Check Point gateways. This feature is easy to set up. Also, users can troubleshoot the VPNs very in-depth.

The application control and URL filtering features are valuable since they allow very granular control of what is coming in and out of a network. Instead of just allowing certain Layer 4 ports in/out of the network, specific applications can be allowed, which not only can tighten a security posture. It makes administering the product easier as, when a new app is rolled out, it can simply be added to the policy.

One feature that could be improved is the internet object in the application control/URL filtering blade. In most deployments, this works as it says it will. However, the object is based on topology, not internet IP ranges. This means that in certain scenarios (and likely a non-standard deployment), the internet object can not refer to the internet. This can be bypassed by creating a networking group containing class A, B & C networks and using this in the policy, right-clicking the group and ticking 'negate.' 

Another improvement would be to improve the simplicity of deploying SAML as an authentication option when connecting using a remote access VPN. Check Point's deployment guide is very in-depth. However, the process could be simpler.

I've used the solution for three years.

The stability is very good.

The scalability is good.

Support is very good from Check Point.

Positive

The initial setup can be straightforward or complex depending on the complexity of the environment. Usually, it is fairly straightforward.

We implemented the solution in-house.

My company had the need to replace the existing firewall cluster of our data center, due to the end of support and end of life of the model. The choice of our next firewall depended on the following:

1) Ease of use

2) Ease of deployment

3)Centralized Management

4) Remote Access VPN Support

5) Strong Forums and Community

6) Strong Technical Support in case of any failure

7) Training of administrators via vendor certifications

8) Reporting capabilities for capacity planning

We have many site-to-site VPNs with our partners; they access our platform via site-to-site VPNs, remote access VPNs, and the internet.

With the outstanding capabilities of Check Point, we managed to have stable site-to-site VPNs with all our partners and with every other vendor's devices. The remote access capabilities and features are considered very strong, since the settings are excessive, and focused on each customer's need. 

The IPS engine and all threat prevention features are considered stable. Central management of every firewall spread all over the world is achieved by setting up an SMS server, which makes our lives easier.

SMS server is considered very valuable, as Central management of every firewall spread all over the world is achieved by setting it up.

Remote Access VPN is used by our company for work-from-home purposes of our employees and for partners that need to access our resources.

Reporting of network interface traffic is very valuable since capacity planning for the next quarter or year takes place, and provides us with valid data.

Firewall access rules contain the negative choice.

IPS engine protects our infrastructure from malicious events.

NAT counters, ACL Counters.

Monitoring of the site-to-site VPNs and administration of the site-to-site VPNs (bring tunnel down, bring tunnel up) should be improved, as this will make the troubleshooting process easier, if something goes wrong, in order to understand which side has the issue.

As a company, we have the need to pass traffic from one site to site VPN to another, and this is not achieved directly via ACL policies; we need to create another VS environment in order to achieve it.

SmartEvent Settings and Policy GUI, and the rest of external apps should be improved.

I've used the solution for three years.

In the search to establish the best perimeter security while achieving standards, protection, reduced expenses, and additional benefits, we found this product. It allows us to see a low return on the investment that could be established. We like the Check Point brand, thanks to the characteristic benefits, evolution, and innovation that the brand has. It's allowed us to establish and meet the needs we have.

The state-of-the-art perimeter firewall we use today has great benefits and an outstanding number of available features put into place. The characteristics on offer have come to give an added value under a single investment, thus offering many advantages. We have achieved and a return on investment and the benefits are consistent with the expectations set in motion. We are managing to correct and protect not only one area, but we are putting into operation additional functions to achieve an appropriate level of security. 

We like that we can create different VPN services connected from site to site or remote desktop connections to establish connections from point to site or from site to site, thus giving us a really high capacity to establish and manage simultaneously. This has allowed us to be a little more flexible, giving each of the members of the organization the possibility of working from home and being able to interconnect with the different branches of our central service quickly, safely, and efficiently. 

The policy installation module should be improved. It needs to be faster and have a complete interface to manage and apply changes more quickly when creating a policy or wanting to modify an existing one. 

One of the features that has been getting better over time is the way you install and apply your policies. Before, they were very slow. Today, it has improved. That said, it could be a little faster and more efficient and thus achieve a fast, light, and efficient installation in the services that are being configured instantly when they are applied.

I've used the solution for one year.

Check Point Next Generation Firewall is one of the most secure and stable firewalls present in the market. the integration & implementation of Check Point Next Generation firewall took place due to security concerns, and we were impressed by what this product brings with it.

The integration of Check Point Next Generation Firewall in my organization has taken over one year or so, and it helps to segregate the internal network and build a secure VLAN that separates every department.

Scalability, end-to-end resolution, and customized productive services make Check Point Next Generation Firewall far better than the alternatives present in the market. It has services like navigation, control, and filtering that ensure that all users stay connected to business applications and helps restrict traffic.

The integration of Check Point Next Generation Firewall proved to be highly productive and scalable, and everything was offered at a lower price.

Check Point Next Generation Firewall helped out us drive innovation and growth in our organization. It provided a safe passage for system and data security via its services of navigation, control, and filtering. The product ensures that all users stay connected to business applications and helps restrict traffic.

Overall, the Check Point Next Generation Firewall protects us from all types of internal and external threats while being easy to use and set up.

The integration of the Check Point Next Generation Firewall in my organization has taken over one year. It helps to segregate the internal network and build a secure VLAN that separates every department.

We like the scalability, end-to-end resolution, and customized productive services. This makes Check Point Next Generation Firewall far better than any alternative present in the market.

It offers services like navigation, control, and filtering, which ensure that all users stay connected to business applications.

Check Point Next Generation Firewall Protects systems from all types of internal and external threats.

Check Point Next Generation Firewall requires frequent updates. They need to build a more user-friendly dashboard and have the implementation of more active VPN support.

Apart from this, Check Point Next Generation Firewall customer support service needs to be improved. They need to offer quicker resolution and maintenance during downtime.

Check Point Next Generation Firewall Protects from all types of internal and external attacks and is a must-have software for professionals and organizations.

It has been more than one year since I integrated Check Point NGFW.

I haven't been in integration with any other solution.

We decided on this solution after looking at reviews and comparing prices. Check Point proved to be the best option in the end. 

I would advise others to go for it. It's easy to set up and available at lower pricing than alternatives.

No, we did not evaluate other options. We just compared other alternatives from some review websites and decided to go for Check Point.

It's a must-integrate solution for professionals and organizations.

The primary use of Check Point NGFW is as a firewall that gives us the control of allowing in non-threatening traffic in and blocking malicious traffic. It is also a valuable tool that allows us to interconnect our remote sites via IPSEC VPN. 

This, alongside all of the basic blades such as Application Control, allows us to be granular when choosing what applications we allow within our organization and additionally filters based on categories combined with identity awareness. This allows us to be as granular as we would like with specific users/departments within our organization.

Check Point NGFW was one of the top contenders when we were looking to implement a new firewall strategy. 

We have had some issues with VPN tunnels specific to AWS, which were eventually resolved after a lengthy case however, other than that, the features offered are all great, and the firewall has done its job to my expectation. 

It is, however, difficult at times to read the actual documentation for the blades/appliance as it would appear that sometimes the terminology is incorrect or skewed, which leads to a longer implementation time.

As with any firewall, IPSEC VPN is the critical functionality. Not every organization has the budget to implement MPLS or SD-WAN, which makes IPSEC the go-to for site-to-site connectivity. 

Another critical blade/feature is the application control blade in combination with URL filtering. These two security features, tied together with identity awareness, are a game changer and allows an admin to be as granular as possible when blocking specific applications or allowing a specific application to a specific user/department within the organization

Being on R80.40, I am sure a bunch of features have already been implemented that I am not currently taking advantage of. However, one feature I have yet to see implemented is authenticated email support for alerts generated via the GW or SMS. As a security product, it is mind-blowing that this is not a thing today, and it only relies on SMTP un-authenticated to send emails to administrators. However, I'm not sure if that really applies to the firewall itself or if it is more so a topic of discussion for the SMS.

I've used the solution for five years.

We switched from SonicWall back in the day due to the feature sets available at the time.

We also evaluated Palo Alto.