Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Reviews

We are primarily on-premise. We also use Azure for cloud services, mostly for VPN. We use it as the active directory to authorize access to the VPN, which is helpful. 

However, as a healthcare organization in Germany, it is very challenging to get cloud solutions like CloudGuard approved. Cloud solutions must be located in Germany or Frankfurt, where all the data centers are situated. This requirement makes it somewhat difficult, however, otherwise, it is manageable.

We have a lot of audits in the healthcare industry and Check Point has become an industry standard.

One aspect I appreciate is that it is not overly complicated. Many solutions are sometimes difficult to set up. Check Point has been very straightforward. Especially in the last one to two years, it has become easier to manage with each patch. I have several coworkers who have used it for a long time, and they all mentioned that it was much more difficult to use or update five years ago. It has become less complex to use yet more complex in terms of infrastructure. 

Check Point offers unified security management across hybrids, clouds, as well as on on-premise. We have Azure for cloud, however it is mostly for VPN. We have the active directory to get to authorize yourself into the VPN. CloudGuard helps with that. As a healthcare organization in Germany, it's very difficult to get approval for clouds. If you want to have the cloud approved, it has to be in Germany or in Frankfurt where all the data centers are. That makes it a little bit difficult to be on cloud vs on-prem. Other than that, it's fine.

I honestly do not know how it can be improved anymore. There are probably people with more knowledge or experience who could suggest improvements. Most of the solutions we have used have been straightforward and effective. 

Occasionally, there is a strange bug, however, we just contact Check Point for a hotfix if we are a significant client. And since that is our situation, the solution works. 

There might be a possibility for Check Point to offer more training opportunities for users to get to know the solution better, perhaps through courses or similar resources. However, it depends on our company's arrangements with Check Point. In our case, we have a vendor involved. Everything we do with Check Point must go through the vendor first, which is somewhat inconvenient. It would be easier to deal with Check Point directly, however, it depends on the vendor. 

There is a wealth of material available online for those technically inclined. In this fast-paced industry, we must continue learning. Courses or online meetings, like Zoom or Teams sessions, for one or two hours each week, would be helpful. 

Despite using it for a long time, there are always new features. For example, just last week, I discovered a new feature that had been in the software for years yet it was not visible due to its placement behind multiple menus. Teaching sessions would be beneficial, yet it is our responsibility to learn, so we cannot entirely rely on Check Point.

We have been using Check Point for at least ten years now. Our organization has used it for that long. It's a healthcare system with 130 hospitals. 

The solution is stable. Most Check Point solutions are stable.

Since we are primarily using Azure, scalability is not currently a concern. It could become relevant in the future, but as a healthcare organization, transitioning to the cloud is challenging, especially in Germany.

Customer service depends on the issue. Sometimes, there are bugs, and we have to wait for a customized patch. For instance, we had a random bug where CPU usage spiked inexplicably, preventing access to the appliances. Restarting resolved the issue, but the cause remains unknown. 

Typically, we deal with our partner and they advise us to create a Check Point ticket. It raises the question of why we have a partner. I do not deal with customer support often, however, if I report a bug, it is resolved within a month or two. It is not usually a critical bug, just minor issues that prompt curiosity.

Positive

90% to 95% of our infrastructure is on-premises in order to connect it to the cloud. 

The deployment was handled by someone else. I simply work with it. 

The point of Check Point isn't necessarily to gain an ROI. A company just has to pay the price. You don't get money out of it. 

I'm not directly aware of the pricing. Most Check Point solutions are costly, however, they are the industry standard, so the cost is necessary. Especially in a healthcare organization, skimping on IT security is inadvisable. Losing patient data could cost four percent of an organization's annual revenue. 

For an organization with twenty billion euros in revenue, four percent is significant. Also, we have limited flexibility with licensing, though we sometimes receive better prices through vendors. The company likely paid over thirty million euros to Check Point. However, the technology ensures a high-security standard. 

Many large German companies also use Check Point.

I'm unsure if the company has evaluated other options. 

I have never been involved in the decision to use this solution; I am just the end user.

Flagger Network Security and Check Point work effectively. I would rate the solution nine out of ten.

We use the solution to secure cloud infrastructures and manage incoming and outgoing traffic. Our clients operating in hybrid environments must ensure robust security for their applications and data.

The platform has significantly improved our organization's security posture by providing comprehensive threat detection and response capabilities, enhancing the overall security of our cloud applications and data.

The solution's most valuable features include sandboxing, application control, and the remote access blade. Sandboxing is essential for isolating potentially malicious files, while application control allows us to manage user access effectively.

The solution's future releases would benefit from incorporating more advanced machine learning capabilities for real-time threat detection and enhanced user interface options for ease of use.

I have been using Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for six years.

The product is highly scalable and easily adapts to the growing needs of our clients' cloud environments.

The technical support team is knowledgeable and responsive. 

Positive

The initial setup was relatively straightforward, requiring careful configuration to align with our security policies.

We implemented the product through our in-house team, which was well-trained in the solution's features.

The return on investment has been substantial, as the enhanced security features have prevented potential breaches, saving costs related to security incidents.

I evaluated other options, including Palo Alto, but ultimately chose Check Point for its robust security features and user-friendly interface.

I highly recommend CloudGuard for organizations looking to enhance cloud security due to its comprehensive features and strong track record.

I rate it a ten out of ten. 

When we build security for companies, we use the cloud of services for building and configuring networks and Security on the company Network, including EDR or XDR on the computers, routers, and switches.

The customer gets reasonable security for their network at a reasonable price, except for Check Point's expensive router. Overall, the product is reasonably priced.

The router's anti-bot feature and network security for detecting malware and preventing its spread are critical components. Additionally, there are other features like antivirus, anti-malware, and a firewall. The anti-bot feature can detect if one device is hacked and has malware. It monitors the communication to and from this device and can detect and block the malware when it spreads to other computers on the network.

Every good security product requires a company with many research departments and staff. This ensures that the product is always up to date on the most relevant security threats. An excellent expert team of researchers on vulnerabilities and new cyber threats could exist.

They should start integrating AI more into the product to make it easier to use

I have been using Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for one year and a half.

The product is stable if deployed correctly. I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

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

The initial setup was neither easy nor difficult.

The product is expensive.

Check Point is a reliable company for network security. I trust them to protect my resources when using their products. However, their solutions could be improved to be more user-friendly and easier to integrate.

I recently implemented Check Point CloudGuard Network Security for our company's new customers. I installed the features and products after consulting with them. Setting up the network configuration was moderately complex and required careful attention. Check Point offers extensive configuration options, providing enhanced control and security, although it may require more setup effort initially.

I advised others to configure their product correctly.

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

We offer a full security and connectivity solution leveraging SD-WAN and SASE technologies. We partner with service integrators and providers who, in turn, sell the solution to business customers. Our solution is built on SD-WAN and SASE, facilitating the connection of offices and home users to the organization through various WAN connections. By aggregating multiple connections over the Internet, we deliver security and connectivity to meet the needs of retail and finance. We can help any vertical that needs a connection between the branch and the cloud.

We primarily secure our network using CloudGuard Network Security's next-generation firewall features, including anti-spam, IPS, and URL filtering. Our chosen package for the go-to-market strategy is NGTP. For customers seeking more features, we provide options to upgrade to the tool's advanced packages.

The product serves as a complement to our solution. While we integrate some firewall functionality into our edge device, we do not develop complete security solutions for the cloud. The combination of CloudGuard Network Security with SD-WAN connectivity allows us to offer a holistic solution.

The product needs to offer multi-tenancy. 

Eight months ago, we initiated the integration with CloudGuard Network Security, and currently, we are taking it to the market and presenting it to customers. We have three customers who are on the verge of signing agreements with us.

Currently, the technical support we receive is from the US. While there is a team in the US supporting us, there is a need for this support to extend to other regions.

Positive

We got discounts on pricing. 

We utilize the tool's SmartConsole integrated into our management system. However, we encounter challenges with multi-tenancy. Since we integrate it as an application on the cloud we can integrate it with any other provider. We do think that the synergy with Check Point is very good because we also allow Check Point to move from the edge to the cloud while we provide security connectivity from the edge to the cloud. So we can support its transition from on-prem security solutions to the cloud. It looks like a very good win-win situation for both Check Point and BBT, and we see it in the market, bringing us big deals in Japan and France.

We can go with others as well in terms of architecture because our architecture is very open. We are a small company and cannot engage with everyone. We have good connections with Check Point in Israel. We also have some connections abroad. So far, we are getting good support. 

We have an application that is running on our cloud. Normally, our main cloud provider is Google, but we can run over any cloud. It could be a private cloud or any data center that provides virtual machines and connectivity. We are agnostic.

We are in several POCs in France, Japan, and Thailand, and they are progressing well. However, we need more presales support. There is a lack of knowledge about the solution in the regions, and we are finding it challenging to get sufficient support from those regions. There seems to be a gap in support that needs to be addressed.

It seems that the product is the answer that we need. We haven't identified any missing components in the security suite, apart from the operational challenges related to working in a multi-tenancy environment. I rate the product an eight out of ten. 

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security helps resolve potential regulatory and compliance issues when moving to the cloud. The high-visibility rule base's granular approach helps us with potential security leaks and highlights items to focus on for immediate action.

The functionality that we're using it for is the cloud firewall piece.

For this reason, it was necessary to implement this tool in our organization and the results have been very positive, providing the necessary security throughout the infrastructure.

One of the main characteristics that Check Point CloudGuard Network Security has given us is granularity and visibility. The data that enters our Azure environment integrates in a great way in the cloud and in on-premises. This is important for the alerts and the response to incidents that arise in our platform in the cloud, for the moment, we are very satisfied to have acquired this solution and to have implemented it in the cloud and with other systems on-premise that have given us a lot of security and peace of mind.

One of the features that I liked the most and that I feel is very useful is auto-scaling. Our Azure cloud environment is constantly growing and this allows us to expand as well. 

Another very accurate feature is CloudGuard's malware prevention and exploit resistance rate and they have given us a lot of security since the database is very large. 

It is easy to manage CloudGuard from on-premises and offers the same protection as we can provide to the rest of our environments, which is a great advantage for us.

One of the areas that should be improved is the updates of the products. It is somewhat problematic in the area of the cloud. In the case of migration from on-premise to the cloud, it is difficult to replace the licenses. It should be something very transparent and thus save us the time to go to support but in general, the tool is shared very well in security and protection of privacy and if they are lucky they can add more features that help us our security would be great they should always be one step ahead of cyberattacks.

We have implemented it two year ago.

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security maintains very good stability, and, best of all, maintains excellent compatibility with Azure.

The scalability is great. You can make a network scale up or down. This allows you to have good control of bandwidth in the organization or to be able to distribute it in the different departments of the company.

Currently, since the implementation, not much support has been used, therefore, I rate it as excellent.

Positive

The Check Point brand has always been used in our organization.

The configuration was very simple since the tool and the wizard are very interactive and user-friendly. It was not very difficult to do the installation and configuration.

The implementation started with a vendor and the IT team. The engineer that worked with us presented great knowledge of the product.

By using a tool of this type, the cost of personnel decreases since the tool performs quite well with the functions that it was designed for.

The price and the licenses have been good. They maintain a competitive price with the other companies.

Other options were not evaluated as we like to keep the same brand across solutions.

When doing a cloud deployment, remember you are doing this in the cloud so treat it like a cloud device, as good configuration brings good results.

We use it for security in public cloud implementations, specifically in AWS and Azure. 

For my customer's organization, it's important because they can work with the same kind of solution. They don't need many different solutions in many different use cases. And then they have better management of the solution in general.

CloudGuard Network Security provides unified security management across hybrid clouds as well as on-prem. It's very important because when I have unified security, I have better control of the situation. 

If there's an attack or something like that, we can react faster. It's easier for everyone in the organization to work with the Infinity platform.  

The integration in the Infinity portal. It's very important for someone to consider the solution if you need to work through a purchase partner. Because they can manage the entire solution consistently with the on-premise Quantum solution and the cloud solution in Azure or AWS without that integration, it's valuable.  

It needs to cover additional kinds of infrastructure, like containers and serverless options. It's somewhat limited in that area.

I have been using it for six months. 

It is a stable product. I haven't heard any problems or complaints from my customers. 

It's quite scalable because we scale by compute units. It's very easy for us to make a new deployment.

We used to replace cloud-native solutions from Azure directly or AWS. We don't implement those originally.

It's important for us because we have had a lot of traditional customers. Then, it's a good way to extend this security to the new deployments in public clouds. It's very important for us. 

Additionally, the customer is going to find another choice in the market.

The deployment is easy.  

The price is fair for most of the customers. We don't find the price excessive. It's okay. We can sell it. It's not really hard.

So, the pricing is good. 

I would recommend using it. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. It is very good. Because it's very well integrated with the traditional platform, especially the Infinity portal part. The unified security concept is very sound for that.

However, there is always room for improvement, we always have to extend the capabilities to other use cases.

I use CloudGuard Network Security to enhance our cloud exchange points' security. Our customers can seamlessly connect across multiple clouds within the region, and CloudGuard provides next-generation firewall services to ensure their data and applications are protected.

CloudGuard Network Security has significantly improved our organization by helping us tap into the Check Point customer market.

The VPN features in CloudGuard Network Security have been the most valuable for us. It allows us to scale securely within our infrastructure, providing both strong security and VPN capabilities.

In the next release, including VRF support would be highly beneficial. Many customers have been requesting this feature, as it is currently lacking in Check Point's offerings, which can make architectural designs more cumbersome compared to competitors.

I have been working with CloudGuard Network Security for two and a half years.

As for scalability, it could be even better with VRF support, as it would allow for more efficient scaling without the need to deploy separate firewalls for different workloads.

CloudGuard Network Security has been quite stable.

I would rate technical support for CloudGuard as an eight out of ten.To make it a ten, I would expect more proactive assistance and smoother transitions between support levels.

Positive

When comparing CloudGuard Network Security to other solutions like Fortinet and Palo Alto Firewalls, they are similar in terms of identifying security threats. They all offer robust features such as antivirus, deep packet inspection, and IPS. Some of our customers have transitioned from Palo Alto to Check Point. While I don't have specific reasons, it could be related to factors like pricing.

We deployed it across multiple locations, utilizing AWS for SMS management. The environment was designed to ensure security and privacy, with all deployments being private despite being in the public cloud. Our implementation strategy was flexible, depending on the customer's needs, focusing on workload security first and then gradually migrating workloads. The initial deployment was straightforward.

One significant difference between CloudGuard Network Security and other solutions is the lack of VRF support. This means that when dealing with customers who have multiple segments and exchange points, deploying new firewalls becomes necessary. Competitors' solutions typically include VRF support, making scaling much easier and eliminating the need for additional firewall purchases.

We chose CloudGuard over other vendors because it allows us to provide unified security across multiple cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Unlike native cloud firewalls, CloudGuard offers scalability and the ability to expand across different platforms, meeting our customers' needs for consistent security across diverse cloud environments.

We implemented CloudGuard Network Security to meet our customers' demands for enhanced security features and centralized management. They specifically requested Check Point CloudGuard for its robust capabilities, including SMS and MDS for global management.

Using CloudGuard Duo Security has provided us with the ability to manage globally through MDS, which has been a valuable capability. It is convenient to have multiple pockets of global management from UniFi OS.

We realized the benefits of CloudGuard Duo Security quickly after deployment. Understanding the architecture, especially the MDS setup for higher-level organization control, allowed us to establish multiple pockets of management efficiently.

Unified security management allows us to streamline our security operations significantly. With centralized management through SMS and MDS, we can efficiently oversee not only the firewalls within our cloud exchange points but also on-premises devices, enabling a cohesive and unified security architecture across all environments.

I'm very confident in CloudGuard Network Security because it helps us secure our global network. With CloudGuard, we can set up rules to protect against risks from on-premises traffic and ensure security through various measures like single sign-on integration and VPN restrictions.

CloudGuard Network Security is a great product that fulfills firewall needs effectively and provides detailed insights. However, in multi-segment environments requiring multiple VRFs, it can be cumbersome and costly due to the need for separate firewalls.

The best lesson I have learned from using CloudGuard Network Security is to carefully consider the scalability requirements of each environment. While Check Point offers robust features, the lack of VRF support can lead to increased costs and complexity, especially in multi-segment setups where separate firewalls are needed for each segment.

Overall, I would rate CloudGuard Network Security as an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for the ingress and egress, often for VMSS auto-scaling groups. This involves linking on-premises to the cloud and managing incoming traffic within the same cloud environment.

Customers appreciate the CME plugin for automatically understanding assets within the cloud. This information appears in the manager, allowing users to tag the assets and adjust policies and rules accordingly.

The IT personnel who transition from on-premises to the cloud experience the same understanding, knowledge, and comfort with the cloud environment, using the familiar interface they had on-premises.

People don't know about the tool's features. There's a lack of skill. Users require more knowledge on how to integrate it into the cloud environment and orchestrate routing. So, it's not necessarily a CloudGuard Network Security or Check Point issue but more about integration, knowledge, and understanding.

I have been using the product for six years. 

The product's stability is good. 

The solution's scalability is good. 

The solution's support is good. 

Neutral

The tool's pricing is good. Customers want it to be cheap. I consider the pricing to be elastic. CloudGuard Network Security is perceived as cost-effective compared to using the built-in tools provided by the cloud. Specifically, the VPN functionality is more economical in CloudGuard Network Security, where users can create multiple VPNs without additional charges for each VPN, paying only for the bandwidth. This is contrasted with cloud providers that may charge for each VPN on a per-minute basis, including Ingress and Egress costs.

Unified Security Management provides a consistent interface and knowledge base, allowing those who were trained in Check Point for on-premise use to apply that same understanding across various cloud environments such as Google, AWS, Alibaba, Oracle, and more.

I rate the product an eight out of ten. There is always work to be done. However, some customers may find other technologies more understandable, and there could be a perceived difficulty in the human-computer interaction with Check Point. This might create challenges in comparison to competitors, as customers may find competitors' solutions easier to use.