Security Engineer at Down To Earth Technologies Ltd.
Real User
Top 20
The product protects organizations from phishing and malware, but the support team takes time to respond to queries
Pros and Cons
  • "The product’s ability to block phishing sites is valuable."
  • "Sometimes, the product is very slow."

What is our primary use case?

I'm using the solution on my laptop and desktop in the office.

What is most valuable?

The product’s ability to block phishing sites is valuable. It protects me from malware.

What needs improvement?

The product is a bit heavy on the machine. Sometimes, the product is very slow. When we connect an external hard disk, it takes the product quite some time to go through the files and allow us to access them.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for more than six months.

Buyer's Guide
Check Point Quantum SASE
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Quantum SASE. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
770,458 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability a seven out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is quite scalable. We have around eight users.

How are customer service and support?

We have had a couple of issues for which we contacted the technical support team. It takes long for the team to respond. It takes some time before the initial point of contact, but after that, it is fine.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The deployment is quite easy and fast. I rate the ease of deployment an eight out of ten. The solution is deployed on the cloud. The deployment took us an hour.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is neither cheap nor expensive. However, it is a bit more on the expensive side. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

People who want to use the solution must start with the minimal features possible and scale up slowly, depending on how it interacts with their system. Overall, I rate the tool a seven and a half out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Diana Alvarado - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Admin at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Excellent product - HC modern security tool
Pros and Cons
  • "Protection against threats like ransomware is very effective."
  • "Regarding the support, the schedules can be improved since they are generally in another geographical area, and it is difficult to solve the problems with the time differences between them and us."

What is our primary use case?

This tool is of great help and allows us to provide security assistance to our users who work remotely. They connect from any site, secure or insecure, accessing applications and business email without protection as they are outside the company perimeter.

It gives us granular security through web control policies, reports, and monitoring. We manage to avoid user vulnerabilities from anywhere. It is managed with Harmony Connect in the Check Point Infinity Portal, a very good tool.

Users are quite happy with the applied security performance.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Harmony Connect has improved the protection of computers outside the office. It offers implementation that is simple. 

Also, with the monitoring dashboard, we can make decisions to improve the control policies and web access so that we can better protect our teams.

This tool does not require being on the same network. Everything is verified thanks to a small Check Point protection agent that is installed on the client.

Protection against threats like ransomware is very effective.

What is most valuable?

We really liked the Check Point Harmony Connect tool and the monitoring, since we can make the right decisions thanks to the records observed in a simple way through the dashboard. The portal is really very intuitive.

The policies applied to users are quite granular, which helps a lot with the differential protection of users, generating managerial profiles and normal profiles efficiently.

We have also put VPNs into practice through harmony connect, having secure user connectivity. It is a very robust, modern, and secure tool.

What needs improvement?

They should include the ease of implementation or installation of the agent through an Excel list, where all the users can be loaded and added to be able to send the agent by mail.

I would also like it if they could include more documentation from the manufacturer to be able to implement it more efficiently and follow all the best practices.

Regarding the support, the schedules can be improved since they are generally in another geographical area, and it is difficult to solve the problems with the time differences between them and us.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this tool for approximately two years now. It is an excellent security tool to protect telecommuting users.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is an excellent cloud-managed Check Point tool; no server is required.

How are customer service and support?

Problems are always solved, however, with modern security applications, specifically those that are in the Check Point Infinity Portal, it is a little more difficult to solve with support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have not had a modern solution like this before. Check Point has innovated our processes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is important to associate you company with a partner who can work with prices and documentation in order to find the security application that best suits the company's requirements.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before acquiring any company-level security tool, we undertake the task of investigating several solutions. In this case, Check Point was the best.

What other advice do I have?

All Harmony solutions are excellent. I really recommend this option.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Check Point Quantum SASE
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Quantum SASE. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
770,458 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sr. IT Network & Security Manager at Cloud Seven Trading and Contracting Co.
User
Good pricing, easy to use, and very secure
Pros and Cons
  • "The integration that this solution has with the different routers or perimeter equipment is exceptional."
  • "The suspend feature needs more control."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Harmony Connect (clientless and client) with Harmony Mobile, Harmony End Point, Harmony Office security.

Before we were using Fortinet Client with Token and we are now using Harmony Connect in Saudi Arabia. 

We use Check Point for application control, IPS, and web filter on-premises and wanted an in-kind solution for off-prem users. The primary requirement was for the Harmony policy to be able to be managed from the same SmartConsole instance as our on-premises gateways are managed.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution is secure, scalable, and easy to handle with good support

The Check Point portfolio showcases very strong products.

It very easily allows users to leverage their home office via safe access. If they had any type of issue with the machine, the disk is already encrypted.

The client's requirements were that the solution could:

  • Be designed to prevent the most evasive cyberattacks
  • Have Zero-Trust network access to enterprise applications
  • Secure Internet access for remote users
  • Protect branch office (SD-WAN) connections to the Internet and the cloud

What is most valuable?

Harmony Connect Client is very powerful tool.

I find it very easy to implement and deploy in the organization. One point to note is that it is a very user-centric solution.

The integration that this solution has with the different routers or perimeter equipment is exceptional. We were able to implement the solution on the same hardware as the SD-WAN equipment in each branch and central site.

Mainly, Zero Trust Network Access is one of the most important features of this Check Point Harmony Connect solution. It's of the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) type since it gives us secure access to the organization as if we were physically in the organization.

What needs improvement?

The suspend feature needs more control.

Zero Trust Network Access can be a security breach if not used correctly. I have implemented it and it turns out that access to the organization's applications must be complemented with user awareness.

It is important to note that the Zero Trust Network Access feature is an important feature for the solution, however, at the same time, the organization's applications can be accessed if user access is available. A double authentication factor could solve this gap.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for one year.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Fortinet Client Token Solution. We switched as CP gives more control and visibility.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool is very handy at a good price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not look at other options.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Sonali Dhende - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
Real User
Provides high performance along with ATP prevention and policy management but firewall configuration could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution offers ATP features and management features."
  • "The solution provides high performance along with ATP prevention, policy management, remote activity, and IoT support."
  • "When it comes to firewall configuration, sometimes we encounter issues."

What is our primary use case?

The solution provides high performance along with ATP prevention, policy management, remote activity, and IoT support. We have all these features integrated into our security gateway for every business year, like the SASE model. Cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated nowadays. We have this next-generation firewall, to protect all your network, cloud, data centre, IoT devices, and remote connections. Due to these reasons, we prefer Check Point's network solution. It helps improve the remote workforce security.

What is most valuable?

The solution offers ATP features and management features. We have a smart console and GIA portal. We used to manage all policies on the smart console. We do have the URL filtering and prevention part. We used to do the policy databases and all that configuration from the GIA portal. We have intrusion prevention, application consultant, filtering options and web filtering. It works as a next-gen firewall.

What needs improvement?

Firstly, there are different consoles involved. If someone is selling another product that already has a single console for managing everything, that would be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point Quantum SASE for 6 months.

How are customer service and support?

Support is handling requests via email. Additionally, they share documents. We haven't encountered any major issues requiring support. They are available 24hr/day along with alerts, reports or security issues.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup depends on the organisation. Let's say they are currently using FortiGate, but they want to migrate to Check Point Quantum SASE. We have different options for migration. We can either perform the migration manually or upload existing tests. Manual deployment can be time-consuming. We have two types of configurations: basic and advanced. Basic configuration can be completed quickly, but advanced configurations may take more time. Our deployment process is relatively easy, but managing traffic and other aspects can be challenging. We need to align with the organisation's flow during this process.

Deployment takes about a month depending on the number of firewalls.

What other advice do I have?

The zero trust aspect is being used for VPN purposes. It replaces your VPN, assisting anyone trying to access VPNs.

We are using it for large organisations and enterprises. For instance, if some organisations are using Check Point hardware for their firewalls but don't want to switch to other vendors, they can opt for this solution. Especially for big organisations with data centres facing numerous network issues, it's highly scalable. When it comes to firewall configuration, sometimes we encounter issues, but we can't always blame the firewall.

Check Point offers SmartConsole and other tools. If you compare Quantum with FortiGate, FortiGate doesn't have separate controls for various functions like policy publishing and control. In FortiGate, within one console, you can manage everything by enabling features.

Overall, I rate the solution a 7 out of 10.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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Cloud Support at a tech company with 1-10 employees
User
Top 5Leaderboard
Easy to implement in branch and main office.
Pros and Cons
  • "The application control and granular access feature are very easy to use, intuitive, and effective."
  • "They could improve on the available public documentation."

What is our primary use case?

It provided us with the way to provide governance, control and monitoring of the visited sites, see vulnerabilities and find out how to deal with them in order to avoid cyber attacks. 

With this tool, we can guarantee that the equipment will not be an easy target for cybercriminals. It is really simple to implement.        

How has it helped my organization?

Checkpoint Harmony Connect helped us to guarantee the protection of equipment not covered by a Check Point Gateway. For example, when a vendor goes out and connects to the network from anywhere or is the target of cyber attacks (which can generate a loss of equipment functionality in addition to infiltrations or loss of company information that is confidential) which is why we decided to use this tool. It generated everything that was needed at the security level. It is an excellent tool.

What is most valuable?

The most valued features for us are:

The ease of implementation, of installation in the equipment, and the low performance of the equipment that the agent requires to provide security.

Its administration through a portal. Infinity Portal does not need to be implemented in an additional management server; rather, it is web-based and manageable from anywhere.

The application control and granular access feature are very easy to use, intuitive, and effective. It does not require equipment updates, policies are updated quickly.

What needs improvement?

They could improve on the available public documentation. The most modern applications or features of Check Point are difficult to find in their documentation for implementation. According to the manufacturer, sometimes it happens that the manual is applied, yet the desired implementation is not achieved.

Also, as seen in our support cases, it is somewhat slow to solve problems. There are other manufacturers that have better support. They can improve on that part and prevent customers from complaining about how they provide solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used this tool for about two years.

It is an excellent security tool that provides additional features to our existing GWs. We can provide web security with it.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had not really used other tools; when we had the need, we investigated, and we found Check Point Harmony Connect.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost is difficult to find, however, our seller can solve these issues. The cost is normal. It is per protected user.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We validated some security solutions, however, Check Point Harmony Connect was perfectly suited to what we needed.

What other advice do I have?

It's a very modern tool and can be used to achieve security for old and new vulnerabilities.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Solution Archietect at Roost
Real User
Top 20
A stable solution that offers good technical support along with great scalability options
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a very stable solution."
  • "The complex initial setup phase of the product is an area that can be improved"

What is our primary use case?

My company integrates the solution into other companies where we are required to do a project for them per the requirements. I had the opportunity to suggest Check Point Harmony Connect two years ago at the Bank of Brazil.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the solution vary and depend on what our company does. For example, I may work with a big water distribution project where everything revolves around IoT. In general, I can say that everything depends on the type of project where I need to be working as an architect.


What needs improvement?

In our organization, we use two managed SaaS products or technology at a time when everything appears to be moving to the cloud, and we still work with tools like Check Point Harmony Connect that require a license since the problem related to the product lies in the licensing part, the aforementioned details should be considered to improve the product.

The complex initial setup phase of the product is an area that can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience with Check Point Harmony Connect.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution since the SaaS licensing part of the solution is by the number of users and not by the number of assets or people or everything you need to manage it.

How are customer service and support?

My company provides customer support. We have an operations center with all the tools to provide the necessary support to our clients. I remember that the technical team from Check Point was very supportive when I was working with the Bank of Brazil. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Check Point Harmony Connect was very complex and complicated since our company had to integrate 17 different applications into one console.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Security Architect at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
User
Great anti-phishing, anti-bot, and URL filtering features
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution has many valuable aspects, including anti-Phishing, which blocks phishing attacks in all applications (email, messaging, and social networks)."
  • "The product needs to work on the integration of alerts with different SIEM or security solutions."

What is our primary use case?

The development of mobile devices and wireless technologies in recent years has revolutionized the way people work and communicate. The growing use of these technologies makes mobile devices one of the main targets of cyber threats. 

The proliferation of mobile devices in recent years, together with the increase in their capabilities, features, and possibilities of use, makes it necessary to evaluate in-depth the security offered by this type of device. On top of that, the mechanisms for protecting the information they manage, within the Information and communications technology environments are key.

How has it helped my organization?

Harmony Mobile has enabled us to provide the necessary information for the evaluation and analysis of the risks, threats, and security vulnerabilities to which mobile devices are currently exposed, as well as the technology used to address these risks.

In addition, the document presents a list of general security recommendations aimed at protecting mobile devices, their communications and the information and data they manage and store.

We are using malicious application detection to identify known and unknown threats through threat emulation, advanced static code analysis, application reputation, and machine learning. The solution captures apps as they are downloaded to devices and runs them in a cloud-based virtual environment to analyze how safe they are.

What is most valuable?

The solution has many valuable aspects, including:

Anti-Phishing, which blocks phishing attacks in all applications (email, messaging, and social networks).

Safe Browsing, which blocks access to malicious sites in all browsers based on dynamic security intelligence provided by Check Point ThreatCloudTM, the world's largest threat database.

Conditional Access, which blocks infected devices from accessing corporate applications and data, regardless of UEM solutions.

Anti-Bot, which detects bot-infected devices and automatically blocks their communication with command and control (C&C) servers.

URL filtering, which prevents access to websites deemed inappropriate by an organization's corporate policies. It allows companies to blacklist and whitelist websites at a granular level of detail, and to enforce policies on mobile devices across all browser applications as well as non-browser-specific applications.

Wi-Fi network security, which detects malicious network behavior and man-in-the-middle attacks and automatically disables connections to malicious networks.

What needs improvement?

The product needs to work on the integration of alerts with different SIEM or security solutions. Harmony provides visibility of device security, yet, precisely due to the growth of attacks and threats on these technologies, it is important to integrate the information it generates with the rest of the intelligence handled by cybersecurity areas.

In the same vein, it would be important to have detailed information on the type of threats and new intelligence that the platform is providing, so that it is easy to alert users when it provides value.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for one year.

How are customer service and support?

The solution offers excellent support service.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a different solution. Instead, we were just using an MDM solution but although we can make configurations oriented to protect the devices, it is far from being a complete solution like Harmony. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'd advise a potential new user to talk with their account manager.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated McAfee and Cortex, but Harmony fixes better with my company requisites in order to run in background for end user.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Support at a security firm with 51-200 employees
User
Top 5Leaderboard
Harmony Connect has great functionality and protects against attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "The monitoring and granular policies are very helpful."
  • "In order to be able to invite users, send the agent and implement it, the user input must be generated manually."

What is our primary use case?

Check Point Harmony Connect is a modern security tool from the prestigious brand that helps us provide web filter or web gateway security to our employees, from the office or anywhere they can be covered with the security of this application.

It is a tool with great potential. It gave us access to security and user control to enhance productivity.

In the company, we are pleased with the functionalities and benefits provided by Check Point Harmony Connect. It is an excellent option and an excellent tool.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps us daily with access and restrictions due to business policies, generating access and restriction profiles, we have guaranteed greater productivity and better security for the institution's teams.

This has helped mitigate the latest attacks, malware, and even ransomware that are all too common these days.

Thanks to this tool, we managed to solve all these vulnerabilities quickly. It offers a clean implementation and a Check Point agent that does not cause any concern at the level of requirements on the server.

What is most valuable?

There are too many positive things that I could mention. Some of them are more impressive than others, however, the best include: 

  • The ease of implementation. It offers easy steps for the implementation of security tools, all through a web portal (Infinity Portal from Check Point).
  • It has comfortable licensing. It adapts per user and really for all the functionalities they are of great value. It is worth implementing and acquiring.
  • The monitoring and granular policies are very helpful. We can generate site blocking policies and specific applications for some user profiles. Monitoring is incredible. It helps decision-making and security improvements in an easy and intuitive way.

What needs improvement?

Check Point Harmony Connect has basic improvement areas, such as the following:

  • In order to be able to invite users, send the agent and implement it, the user input must be generated manually. It would be easier if we could add them automatically via automation.
  • The guides for some capabilities are limited or do not represent the reality of the application. It is difficult to find 100% reliable documentation. It is not always possible to perform all the steps due to some problems. Some manuals are not so intuitive.

For how long have I used the solution?

This is an excellent modern security application. From the web portal, it is easily accessible.

We've used it for more than a year and have been satisfied.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have not previously used such a complete tool.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Finding a Check Point vendor or partner who can provide you with costs and advice on current tools is best.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated the requirements of the company. However, after seeing the different options we understood that Check Point is the best option on the market.

What other advice do I have?

I really liked this application. I would recommend it without hesitation.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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