Check Point Security Management Reviews

Our use cases are protection infrastructure in a financial corporate environment.

Check Point firewalls meet all the PCI guidelines that regulate players in the financial market.

The support is pretty incredible.

There is room for improvement in reliability. 

I have been using this solution for ten years. I worked from version 840 to 8120.

I would rate the stability a six out of ten.

It is very scalable. I would rate the scalability for this solution a ten out of ten.

I initially took Cisco training for routers, switches, and firewalls. I did actually work up the Cisco firewalls long enough to convert them to Check Point.

The initial setup was complex. But that was really the fault of Check Point just because we deployed it into the Google Cloud environment, and their environment is a little different.

We have security management deployed on-premises and on the cloud.

The pricing is about par for the enterprise-class firewalls.

Palo Alto and Cisco. And the reason for going with this solution was the price.  So, with Cisco, it was priced. We actually checked the overall price of the cost of ownership. When you talk about support costs and everything else, was cheaper than Cisco. And with Palo Alto, also had reliability issues that could not be overcome by their support.

I definitely recommend it, but unless you're fully trained and experienced on Check Point, you should get the better support program. 

Check Point has support rep programs that go all the way up to putting one of their own people in your business to help you. Then, they have support programs. If you're an expert, you just need to be able to download updated files and stuff. They have support programs like that, too. The worst possible situation is if somebody isn't really skilled with the thing and they cheap out on the support program, and they'll just flounder.

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

We have physical Smart-1 appliances and virtual appliances in our environment. We merged all of the old managers into these managers and managed to centralize the management of firewalls and see the logs altogether.

We are using management API to apply large configs, clear rules, block malicious IP addresses with SAM rules, and migrate the VLANs with it.

We deployed a management HA to provide rulebase synchronization to our DRC firewall segments. We also distributed logs to different Smart-1 appliances to gain performance.

First of all, centralized management is great. With this, we are managing all of Check Point products from one central management. Applying rules, nats and managing app&URL Policies, threat prevention, and IPS protection rules. 

Secondly, centralized log and report management. We can distribute logs to our log appliances with centralized management and view logs without logging additional devices. 

HA Structure provides good coverage and works fine. With HA structure, we can manage two data centers as one, and this is helping much.

We can keep old revisions, and with that, we can check or revert to one when needed.

It's useful that we can find unused objects. This helps us to get rid  of unused objects in our database,

Proxy support is valuable for us. We can apply centralized proxy settings to get additional databases when we need them.

Revision history and detailed audit log is a good feature with this we can always feeling safe if somethings go wrong, I'm sure that I can go back the old one.

Smart Event is a very good feature. It provides a graphical view of the traffics and provides history.

The filter syntax is very good and helps control when we need it.

I am happy with Check Point Security Management. However:

1- In order to work management console, you need some good appliance or you need to provide more CPU and Memory to the appliance.

2-If you overload your appliance with detailed log, you need additional appliances. For big companies even smart 5150 kinda devices is not enough.

3-I normally had trouble updating licenses automatically. We always need to add manually and this is tiresome.

5- API seems to be fine but need some improvements and Check Point should provide scripts to its customers for tiresome jobs.

I've been using Check Point Security Management for about five years.

Most of the time, it works well. However, if you overload appliances with old policy revisions, objects and rules, install times will vary. You will have a slow GUI interface and have trouble viewing logs. 

For virtual appliances, you have the option to increase your disk, CPU, and memory for your needs. This will provide a very good opportunity to improve the performance of the Security Management.

Most of the time, technical support is good. We can easily open a case, and they can assign an engineer quickly. However, you will have problems if something is very odd. You may need to connect with R&D to address the issue and get a custom fix.

Neutral

For Check Point, I did not use something different. However, for Palo Alto firewalls, I am using Panorama, and it's also doing its job very well.

We have a professional service provider that we work together with to apply changes to Check Point appliances. Also, Check Point's knowledge base is very vast and provides lots of information if you need some help. The community is very helpful as well.

You should analyze your needs and purchase regarding to that analysis. Most of the time, you want to use only some features. Don't pay too much.

For Check Point firewalls you don't have any alternative.

We use the solution for VPN with multifactor authentication, IPS protection, and threat emulation. We have deployed the product in the cloud data center.

It's very easy for management to understand workflow and everything.

Check Point Tech Support will not assist with new configurations if we encounter any issues during the configuration process. They only provide support if there are issues with existing configurations.

I have been using Check Point Security Management for four years.

The solution is stable.

It is 100% scalable. Behind the firewalls, around 25 web applications are accessed daily. Each application can be accessed by up to one lakh people every day.

Support is good.

Positive

Previously, I worked with FortiGate, and integrating that product with cloud platforms was very difficult. The workflows were overly complex, and the documentation was inadequate.

Check Point is superior to other security vendors. Their signature database, which includes antivirus, IPS, and anti-malware, is highly advanced. The system is easy to understand, and deployment via the web interface is also straightforward.

For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new vulnerability known as Log4j emerged. While many vendors were unaware of this vulnerability, Check Point promptly emailed all its customers to inform them. They reassured customers that their gateways already had predefined prevention signatures to protect against this threat, requiring no additional action. 

The initial setup is straightforward. Fresh deployment and creating the gateways will take approximately three to four hours.

With Fortinet, managing the product through cloud formation can be difficult to implement in a cloud environment because it's not straightforward. First, we need to spin up some VMs and configure everything manually. In contrast, Check Point provides a more seamless cloud formation process. With Check Point, you click on the cloud formation option, and the VMs and necessary configurations are automatically set up. You will get GUI access quickly.

Only two resources are required. One knows Check Point, and another guy knows the cloud platform where they want to deploy the gateway.

The integration process is straightforward. If you have some knowledge of your cloud service provider, you can easily integrate with it.

It has improved over the past four years. Previously, pushing any policy from the management server to the security gateway could take around ten to fifteen minutes. However, this task is now completed in about one minute with the new firmware version. This improvement demonstrates the substantial advancements made in the Management of Check Point products. It continuously updates its products to align with security standards and market awareness. They implement these updates in their own unique way. It is a strong player in the security market and has a long-standing presence. Their solutions are reliable and trusted for real security needs.

Maintenance is very easy.

First, we will thoroughly understand their requirements. Once we understand clearly, we will design tailored solutions for them. Next, we will present these solutions to the customer for review and discussion. Following their approval, we will run POC, collect evidence as required, and submit the comprehensive report.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

One of the recent use cases for this solution has been related to a power company, which was facing issues but was able to get its infrastructure secured and get back its business continuity and growth. In addition, its management was able to get back its confidence with solutions or services provided by Check Point.

The client was able to quantify its security elements. As a result, a strong defensive framework was developed. Deployment of Check Point's solution resulted in the evasion of any existing and potential threats.

Check Point is not just a firewall. They deliver everything including IPS, application control, threat emulation and extraction, identity awareness, and more. In line with the quantum security gateways, other elements and services as provided by Check Point have also proven to be very helpful and reliable in keeping the company environment secured. The organization has also gone a great mile to tag itself as a proactive threat elimination expert in the industry viz a viz its competitors.

Harmony Endpoint is one of the great solutions by Check Point; it ensures compliance with policies and minimizes the risk of threats entering through endpoints. 

It's a great complete endpoint security solution that prevents the most imminent threats to the endpoint such as ransomware, phishing, or malware. 

It has proved to be very successful in identifying ransomware behaviors such as file encryption or attempts to compromise operating system backups and safely restore ransomware-encrypted files automatically. 

While the console and administration work well, they have to work on performance since it consumes a lot of CPU and memory. There is also latency in the administrative panel when entering. There has been a problem with updating licenses as well. There is ground-level feedback based on interaction with the relevant stakeholders that states implementing it would make a major difference in the overall experience.

I've used the solution for two years.

The solution has not caused major deviations and the historical experience has been quite good. The stability and reliability of the solution is pretty much appreciated

The overall impression of the scalability is good and impressive.

Technical support has been pretty good.

Positive

I have been involved with a lot of other partners in parallel, depending on the requirements of the customers.

I am not directly involved in the setup and deployment of the product.

The implementation was handled by an in-house team.

I've witnessed an ROI of 25% to 30%.

Users should actively evaluate the existing options available in the market and finalize the one that matches their requirements, budget, and priorities. Check Point can definitely be considered based on my personal experience.

The choice to evaluate would not be my personal decision but the requirement raised by the customers.

We use Check Point Security Management for firewall management.

The solution is easy to use and comes with few vulnerabilities. You don't have to worry about release upgrades. Life cycle management is very easy. 

Check Point Security Management lacks some of the competitor features. 

I have been using the solution for six years. 

Check Point Security Management is stable. 

We have around 4,500 users for the product.  

Check Point Security Management doesn't have good support since it is difficult to get the right person. 

Neutral

The solution is expensive. 

We are managing Check Point firewalls worldwide, and establishing VPNs between the main data centers in geographic regions and the other agencies worldwide.

We also establish VPNs between agencies and customers depending on the need. Several different VPN communities are used. We also establish VPNs with customers and partners with different firewall brands (Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper, etc.).

We manage security policies for more than 300 hundred Check Point firewalls by using security policy templates and models.

Check Point Security Management has improved the way to manage several VPN communities depending on the needs.

We now have the ability to centralize the management and administration of about 300 Check Point firewalls all over the world. We are now able to interconnect easily those firewalls by establishing VPN communities.

We are now also able to monitor the different VPN communities in real-time.

We can use a security policies template to apply to our 300 firewalls and this is really time-saving.

The ability to easily mount VPN between firewalls, depending on the needs (star, meshed, or combined architecture) and depending on the type of firewall has been helpful.

We appreciate the fact that we can monitor the version of the managed firewalls in order to plan the firewall upgrades over time.

I like that I have the ability to apply a security policy model and template to many firewalls, depending on the firewall usage and architecture (DMZ firewall, LAN firewall, etc.).

We also like the way we can monitor the firewall traffic and we use this feature very often to troubleshoot user traffic.

We would like to improve the upgrade process in order to do mass upgrades to firewalls and to be able to upgrade target firewalls at the same time.

I would like to be able to use Check Point Security Management in a way where it is hosted on the cloud. I'd like secured Security Management directly reachable from wherever you are with no need to install the Check Point client software on the laptop.

I would also like to have the ability to easily export the Check Point security policies in order to exploit the data in other applications and have more compatibility with other applications.

I've used the solution for 12 years.

The solution is highly stable.

The solution is quite scalable.

They have good support that is reactive.

Positive

I also use Fortinet due to Check Point legal restrictions. Check Point is banned in some countries.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented it through a vendor team with a very good level of expertise.

We have a good ROI.

We also looked into Palo Alto, Fortinet, and Cisco.

One of our company's priorities was to have centralization of all the equipment in a single firewall. With the tools provided by Check Point, we were able to achieve it, and in this way we were able to centralize all the records.

With this implementation, we were able to make more centralized management and of all the rules. It was very comfortable to be able to configure them and manage them and thus be able to make the whole implementation more orderly and be able to carry out our organization along a good path of security administration

Check Point Security Management came to help us a lot. With this implementation, we were able to generate a firewall rule centralization and management. This helped our IT department to have an order in security and thus be able to centralize it efficiently across all our systems.

By having this implemented, our facilities' security has improved a lot since both employees and external users are audited before entering the network through Check Point Security Management and the rules that make these security filters possible, ensuring consistent protection throughout our infrastructure.

Check Point Security Management has a great feature that allows you to automate the request of the automated server. This helps us reduce the administrative effort of the IT department and thus give priority to other things like the security of the company or with the characteristic It provides us with centralization, which helps us with management.

The SmartConsole has provided us with excellent help with the application. It communicates with the administrator and allows us to create policies and also look at the traffic log.

The web administration tool that allows administration in the browser must be developed even more. When one tries to enter the panel, the loading delays us, which can be frustrating for users and reduce efficiency in daily operations.

They can also implement version updating to ensure that all users have access to the latest features and security patches seamlessly.

Another feature that could be improved is the export of configurations to .CSV. This would further simplify the management and compliance with rules, making audits and reporting much faster and more reliable for IT teams.

This solution has been used for approximately two year in the company.

The solution has excellent stability.

It is quite a scalable product.

The support experience has not been very good. We have had some problems with cases and meetings coordination.

Positive

There was no type of tool that would supply these qualities in the company previously.

The installation is easy. It is plug-and-play. However, the configuration must be done carefully.

The implementation was handled with the help of an engineer who had prior knowledge of the product. 

The ROI is there. Making an investment in security is always a very good idea.

Check Point offers a good price for its products. It is worth making the investment since this can prevent vulnerabilities.

Check Point was always our first option in terms of product choice. 

It is an excellent tool to implement in the organization.

We utilize the security management solution to oversee all our Check Point products, including firewall, IPS, and antivirus policies. It serves as our primary tool for managing all Check Point devices.

Check Point Security Management excels over Forti Management in daily operations, policy management, and graphical interface. It is easy to open and edit policies, search within them, and view logs.

The only issue is that, you need to install an application instead of managing it through a browser. Thus, it requires installation. Additionally, it can be slow when multiple users access the manager simultaneously. Even with increased CPU and memory resources, some performance issues may still occur when multiple users check simultaneously.

I have been using Check Point Security Management for ten years.

Sometimes, we encounter crashes while working on Check Point Security Management, necessitating application restarts. We also face connectivity issues with certain firewalls, making it less stable than other products.

The solution’s scalability is good ; adding more CPUs and memory can give you more gateways.

20 managers are using this solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

We currently have at least two or three cases open, and some are regarding demand. We struggle to find a good engineer who can truly help us instead of just sending some comments for us to run and provide feedback. They need to improve, especially in their initial client support.

Positive

The initial setup is complex.

Compared to Forti Management, Check Point Security Management involves much more work and is more difficult. You need to establish connections to all the firewalls manually, one by one. However, with the function manager, you point the firewall to the manager and accept it on the Management, and it's done. Additionally, you need to manage certificates on Check Point, making the process less straightforward than FortiManager. 

You depend entirely on the manager to edit the security gateway policies. If the manager encounters an issue with Fortinet, you can still access the FortiGate and delete policies. In Check Point, you cannot delete firewall policies directly on the firewall itself if you encounter a Management issue.

Deployment, including firewall synchronization, takes about four days to complete.

You usually need to create and use the VM Manager VM. So, you need to deploy the VM, configure the IPs, and install the Check Point console software. Then, you need to perform an SIP IT connection to all the firewalls to manage them. After that, you need to configure the firewall networks and public IPs. 

I rate the initial setup as seven out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.

The product is more expensive than Fortinet. We need to pay the license for the Management. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

It enhances our daily operational efficiency. Therefore, all management personnel prioritizing working on Check Point policies over Fortinet would benefit. However, maintenance upgrades, backups, snapshots, and synchronization between primary and secondary management can become cumbersome. These tasks tend to be more challenging and time-consuming.

The learning curve for Check Point is quite steep. Sometimes, when we recruit new members to our company, they take a lot of time to understand how our Check Point system works, including the connection between the Management and the firewall, among other components. With Fortinet, it takes only two or three weeks for them to get acquainted with everything. With Check Point, they need at least three months to become accustomed to upgrades, managing policies, and maintenance of the Management system. So, it takes at least three or four times longer than with Fortinet.

AI is essential for correlating logs and presenting the ones that matter. They could strengthen how they present logs by giving more attention to the ones that matter most.

Check Point is easy to use, allowing users to drag and drop objects effortlessly. However, it's essential to note that deploying and maintaining the solution may require a bit more expertise than some competitors.

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