We have 4,000 users globally, dispersed all over the world including at our manufacturing locations. The CloudGuard SaaS solution is protecting our Office 365 email environment as well as our Office 365 OneDrive environment from malware and other malicious content. Our CloudGuard Connect instance is protecting our remote plants and acting as a cloud-based firewall enforcement point that is 100 percent managed in the cloud as opposed to on-prem.
Manager Firewall and Security at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Daily phishing attacks are no longer negatively impacting us, and we no longer have data exfiltration
Pros and Cons
- "The feature I find to be most valuable is very much the zero-touch provisioning. I was able to be up, operational, and 100 percent functional in less than a half an hour."
- "if a phishing email were to get through and bypass the product — which very few do — it would be nice if, when a user clicked on that phishing email, they got a second-chance opportunity, a chance to double-check that they really wanted to proceed to that website."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Prior to deploying the product, we were getting daily phishing attacks which were directly impacting our business. We had data exfiltration. I can't remember the exact number of incidents we had, but since deploying the product we are now catching approximately 500 phishing attacks a day, attacks that are no longer negatively impacting the organization.
What is most valuable?
The feature I find to be most valuable is very much the zero-touch provisioning. I was able to be up, operational, and 100 percent functional in less than a half an hour.
I also appreciate the fact that the management aspect of it is all cloud-based and there's very little daily care and feeding and operational work to be done. It just functions.
What needs improvement?
One of the areas that I would like to see them develop into the product would be in the user feedback arena. Today, if a phishing email were to get through and bypass the product — which very few do — it would be nice if, when a user clicked on that phishing email, they got a second-chance opportunity, a chance to double-check that they really wanted to proceed to that website.
Buyer's Guide
Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
We were a CloudGuard customer in early availabilities, so we've been using the product for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The platform is extremely stable. Given the fact that it is cloud-based and SaaS, we have had zero downtime on the product in the years that we've had it.
The upgrade path has been 100 percent handled by Check Point. They send a notification letting us know when they're going to upgrade. Upgrades have taken very little time because they're able to do them on the back-end in the cloud and just switch our instance over. It's been one of the easiest implementations and products to maintain that I've ever used in my 30-plus years in IT.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I don't consider the question of its scalability applicable because it's very much cloud-based and it's elastic and it will expand to the size of the environment that you have. We're looking at just over 4,000 users running on the product without any issue and without any problem.
How are customer service and support?
Check Point's technical support for this product is fantastic. We have been a long-term Check Point customer using the firewall technologies for close to 22 years. And one of the things that Check Point brings to the table is the superior partnership and superior technical skill sets to support their product line. That has trickled down and come through into the SaaS-based solutions.
I would expect nothing other than excellence from Check Point and that's what has been delivered in any technical issue I've had with this product. There have been few to no technical issues with the product. I can't think of the last time I've had to contact support on this product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Check Point CloudGuard SaaS, we didn't have a solution that was capturing malicious emails.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the solution was extremely straightforward and extremely simple. You just connect your Office 365 environment into it, the policy is about a half-a-dozen check boxes of decisions that you make, and the product starts to function and starts to inspect your mail and protect your mail immediately. You will see immediate results. I make the joke that it takes 30 minutes to deploy, and that's with a cup of coffee in the middle. It's a very, very, very, easy product to deploy.
Our implementation strategy was that we went in using Detect mode. We let it run in Detect mode for approximately two weeks to get to a comfort level regarding the accuracy of the product, and then we turned it into Prevent (Inline) mode. Our concern was that we were going to see a lot of false positives. But in fact, we didn't actually see any false positives. Everything that it caught was 100 percent accurate and malicious. Over the time we've run the product, which is approximately three years, we have had to release from quarantine, in total, over those three years, less than 100 emails. That's impressive.
What was our ROI?
ROI is an interesting piece because, when you talk about security, the return on investment becomes a very intangible return. Security is a cost. It isn't something that's going to give you payback. But the intangible that we're seeing is a more productive workforce because we're not under cyber attack. We don't have to worry about how people respond to attacks or to have a team deal with them. And we no longer have data exfiltration and potential loss — be it reputational damage or financial loss — because of cyber exposure.
Still, when you talk about a return on investment for this kind of product, that's very intangible. Can I say, "Yes, we're getting paid back for what we put into the product?" No, I can't say that. But what I can say is we are not losing because of not having the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's hard to advise people on pricing and licensing. It's priced per user, although I do not remember what the list-price per user is and I don't even remember what we pay per user. But Check Point has always been very good about its licensing models. One of the nice features is that the licensing model is elastic, so if you go over your license count, you can add users during your billing cycle and true-up later. That type of policy is great for a company such as ours that does M&A activity and sees the occasional burst in employee count.
There are absolutely no additional costs to the standard licensing fees. One of the wonderful pieces is that CloudGuard SaaS is all-inclusive in its licensing. There's no a-la-carte functionality. You're getting 100 percent of the product for the licensing that you're paying.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did do an evaluation of other solutions before putting this product in. We looked at a Microsoft-based solution and we did a bake-off, head-to-head, between the Check Point solution and the micro Microsoft solution. The Check Point solution was superior in its catch-rate and accuracy.
In comparing the two products, what I have found is that structurally, the way Check Point is approaching the catch rate, they're looking more behavioral-based, whereas Microsoft was looking at a signature-based type of solution. That means that the Check Point data is always fresh and current, while Microsoft had to wait to develop its signature and had to wait for somebody to report a malicious content email. It's modern technology with Check Point versus old-school and archaic with Microsoft. That is the best way to describe the two approaches. Clearly, Check Point is a security partner. Microsoft is delivering an application.
What other advice do I have?
They have two different products. One is CloudGuard SaaS, the other is CloudGuard Connect.
The biggest advice I would give is don't go in with fear. Go in confident, because the product is almost too good to be true and it's simple. It really is as simple as it seems, and you will see value within the first 30 minutes of the product running.
The biggest lesson I have learned from using this solution is that visibility is key, and this product has given me more visibility into the attack vectors that our company is under on a daily basis. It has enabled us to then pivot and look at other security solutions. So I would advise to look at the data, understand the data, and understand who your adversaries are. Because once you understand that, you can then leverage your investment in the Check Point product line to further protect your organization.
The reporting functionality has greatly improved over the time I've used the product, so I've been very pleased with that, and I have provided that feedback to Check Point. I'm very tight with R&D at Check Point, so most of the feature functionality that I've needed has been released into the newer versions of the product.
Because I was part of the EA program, I had a lot of input into how the product was developed. I worked very tightly with R&D, as a customer. The partnership between our two companies, between Grace and Check Point, was a great advantage to both companies. I can't say enough about it. It has just been phenomenal.
Currently, our CloudGuard SaaS is managed by two different groups. It is managed by our information security group, which is what I'm part of and lead and manage, as well as our messaging team, which has insight into the content as well as the email flow. When we deployed this product, we thought that it was going to take a lot of people to maintain it and to manage it. We actually have two individuals who are into the product part-time, and spending very little time per week on it. And one of those individuals is just running reports out of the product to provide them to the senior management. There is a very, very low footprint from a workflow and employee perspective, to manage a very powerful product.
I would rate this product at 10 out of 10 all the way. I have nothing but good things to say about the product.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Network Security Engineer at NTT Security
Enables us to efficiently and confidently implement necessary solutions for our various email configurations
Pros and Cons
- "The email security solution boasts an exceptional success rate in filtering out junk, spam, and phishing emails while ensuring that legitimate emails reach their intended recipients. The setup process is straightforward and user-friendly"
- "Initial Learning Mode takes a while."
What is our primary use case?
We mainly use this product for Email Security, and it has an extremely simple setup. We have it installed at one of our client's locations to detect and respond appropriately to common threats such as phishing, scams, and data leakage. This comprehensive coverage allows us to protect the services running within the organization.
Check Point Harmony Email Collaboration enables us to efficiently and confidently implement necessary solutions for our various email configurations. The support services available are outstanding. When we sought a product demo for Harmony Email and Collaboration, it was very thorough.
How has it helped my organization?
The product is incredibly easy to set up and deploy, even across multiple tenants. Once we completed the connection process, we selected our policies and configured them to notify users about spam/phishing emails.
It provides recommendations but also allows for customization to suit our needs. After the initial setup, we rarely need to make adjustments.
We've contacted support a few times, and their responses have been quick and helpful. The user interface is very intuitive, and our technicians didn't need formal training because of how well it's laid out. We've implemented this across multiple tenants and have more than 1,000 users, with fewer than 10 tickets about potential false positives/negatives. This has significantly reduced the number of "Is this Spam" tickets from our customers.
What is most valuable?
The email security solution boasts an exceptional success rate in filtering out junk, spam, and phishing emails while ensuring that legitimate emails reach their intended recipients. The setup process is straightforward and user-friendly. The vendor is highly engaged with monthly meetings to introduce new features, and the account manager is notably responsive. In addition, the pricing offered is remarkably competitive compared to other options available in the email security market.
What needs improvement?
The ability to customize based on existing organizational goals, milestones, and current or future state designs is important. Customizable policies regarding how to handle specific email files, their contents, and appropriate remediation steps are critical in product selection. In larger organizations, the sheer volume of emails can be daunting when evaluating solutions. Ensuring the integrity of communications and proper collaboration is crucial to establishing the CIA triad. This solution has reduced insecurities and made scaling this product rather seamless.
Initial Learning Mode takes a while. I would like to have protection go live immediately and then have learning mode kick in after the initial scan Email Search can be clunky at times. It would be nice if there was a way to auto-fill recipients or sender fields with known users' payment options.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have several clients, and one of them uses the Harmony Email gateway. We also plan to use this product because many of our clients are experiencing issues with their mail gateways and are considering using this product for using it against a variety of Cyber threats including malware and ransomware.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Scalability is 10/10 as with a larger organization, the sheer volume of emails can be quite intimidating when evaluating the scale of solutions. Ensuring the integrity of communications and proper collaboration is critical to establishing the CIA triad. This solution has reduced those insecurities and made scaling this product solution rather seamless.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My impression of the stability is 10/10 for this solution.
How are customer service and support?
So far, we have received very good support for our issues, and the TAC for this product is really good. They provide a solution quickly.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes, we have used different products but have switched to this for below features and services.
- Cost management
- Enhance decision making
- Improve supplier or partner relationships
- Improve business process outcomes
- Drive revenue growth
- Improve compliance & risk management
How was the initial setup?
The solution has an intuitive user interface which makes it easy for users to navigate around. it can streamline our work to become a more efficient organization.
What about the implementation team?
We have an in-house professional services team who do the implementation part for us.
What was our ROI?
It's worth investing in this solution. We have a client who has recently acquired this solution and they are really happy with this product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
- Overall cost is really good as per their services and features.
- Product functionality and performance
- Accuracy of protection.
- Ease of setup and ease of use. No complex policy-building
- Inline protection
- Overall reduction in both spam and malware attacks.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have multiple clients so do have other vendors as well like Proofpoint and Mimecast.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, we are impressed with how this product allows us to be efficient, confident and successfully implement necessary solutions to our diverse range of email configurations
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jun 30, 2024
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Cloud computing at ITQS
Good DLP and threat prevention and helpful centralized management
Pros and Cons
- "It is fast and quite effective in terms of preventing any security incidents."
- "Although it has good characteristics, it should improve the graphical interface and the latency that it sometimes presents."
What is our primary use case?
The company handles confidential information, such as clients' financial data, and it is important to keep that information secure to comply with certain regulations.
One of the important challenges was to counteract the amount of phishing, ransomware attacks, and accidental leaks of information through email and collaboration applications.
We did not have a tool that would provide this security, so we chose to look for one and apply it to our environment.
How has it helped my organization?
The company handles a large amount of client information, some of which is confidential, including account numbers and sensitive information. This tool provides us with the features to meet the needs we have.
One of these features is real-time threat prevention. It uses advanced analytics to detect and block malicious emails, phishing, and unwanted content before they reach inboxes. It also has DLP. This helps prevent the leak of information. In this way, we can reduce vulnerabilities.
What is most valuable?
The tool has many important features. Some of them are very valuable.
One of the most valuable is real-time prevention, which constantly analyzes and provides results. The leak control that comes with DLP is excellent.
It provides us with a more centralized management where we can monitor everything that happens in our environment and in this way, can manage the security policies necessary for our organization in real time.
It is fast and quite effective in terms of preventing any security incidents.
What needs improvement?
The product is a very effective tool. It provides a lot of security to ensure the confidentiality of the information.
Although it has good characteristics, it should improve the graphical interface and the latency that it sometimes presents.
They should also improve the quality of technical support since, in the last few years, they have lowered the quality of SLA response and do not provide concise solutions.
They should also generate a knowledge base where the unified information or the most common errors are found so as not to depend so much on support.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience using the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability presents as efficient.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is new; it is multi-cloud.
How are customer service and support?
The experience has not been very good since we have had problems with the SLA.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There was no previous solution in the organization.
How was the initial setup?
The initial implementation is complicated when you do not have experience with said tool.
What about the implementation team?
It was implemented with the seller and his engineer in charge, which was very fast and friendly.
What was our ROI?
The investment is somewhat high. However, it will provide security for all customer information.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is somewhat competitive with the others on the market. The installation has an average learning curve.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Several solutions were evaluated, such as Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Proofpoint Email Protection, and Cisco Secure Email.
What other advice do I have?
It is an excellent tool for information security. Before acquiring it, you must analyze whether it meets company needs.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
System Analyst at a university with 201-500 employees
Has an initial setup phase that is simple and automated for users
Pros and Cons
- "The product's initial setup phase is very simple and automated. Everything can be made ready within a few clicks."
- "If Check Point finds something to be described as a clean email, it should have the option to automatically release it to the user. At the moment, we don't have that option."
What needs improvement?
Some emails, specifically false positive emails, are, at times, detected by Microsoft under the phishing category. Check Point also detects phishing emails. Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration is a tool that does not pass emails through the user's inbox, even if it feels like an email is not spam or involves phishing. Suppose a tool like Microsoft Defender detects any phishing activity. In such scenarios, emails are quarantined by Microsoft, and then Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration cannot pass such emails to the user. I feel it is an area that can be improved. There are good options with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, as one can still quarantine suspicious emails, and the users can see those in just a few clicks. The false positives are an area where the tool can introduce certain improvements they can improve by releasing emails to a user's inbox if it feels that there are certain areas consisting of false positives.
In the future, it would be great if it is possible to use the tool with Microsoft to help in the area revolving around false positives. Check Point should be able to release emails to the inbox even if there are some phishing emails. If Check Point finds something to be described as a clean email, it should have the option to automatically release it to the user. At the moment, we don't have that option. They have an option for spam emails but not for the emails associated with phishing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have four months of experience with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration. I am unsure about the tool's version, but I know it is a cloud platform. The technical people handling Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration take care of the upgrades.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 500 people use the tool in my company. Two administrators are needed for the tool.
The product's usage would have to be increased if the organization grows.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for the solution is good because, so far, I have seen that they are very fast. I raised only a couple of tickets in the last four months, so it is not much, but I have seen that the support team is good. The product is very simple to manage and is not very complicated. It is a very straightforward tool. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I know that my company was using a custom Linux-based system. I am not sure if it was managed by different administrators in our office. As it was a legacy system, my company wanted to go for a professional one that is more of a cloud-based solution.
How was the initial setup?
The product's initial setup phase is very simple and automated. Everything can be made ready within a few clicks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
As we are a non-profit organization, we got the tool with a good offer. On a yearly basis, we pay 10,000 Euro for 500 users, which also includes the technical support part.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Our organization was comparing Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration with Proofpoint, which is an expensive tool, making it not so cost-effective for non-profit organizations like ours, where we have our budget limitations.
My company had Mimecast and Proofpoint as optional products when we evaluated the tools in the market, but we didn't go with the proof of concept model for both. Proofpoint was expensive when compared to Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration. Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration was a little bit better compared to Mimecast.
What other advice do I have?
Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration is good, especially if you use Microsoft 365. The tool works well with Microsoft 365, which is why I feel it is a good product, as it offers compatibility. I can recommend Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration if you are a Microsoft 365 customer.
My company has never tried to see if Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration is compatible with other products. In our organization, we just write this Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration, which is our first product as an email security platform. We were satisfied with Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration.
I would recommend the product to others. If people don't use Microsoft 365, then Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration won't be a compatible tool in their environment. Exchange Online users can use Check Point Harmony Email & Collaboration.
I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Jul 16, 2024
Flag as inappropriateTechnical Associate at Seamless Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
Allows safe inspection of links and their destinations within a controlled environment and easy workflow integration
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the sandboxing feature. It provides a sandboxing environment where you can open links and see where they lead. You can see what is presented in the link after opening it."
- "Maybe Check Point can work on the DLP part."
What is our primary use case?
The customer has a presence in different countries like India, Poland, and the US. They use Office 365 as an email solution, and on top of that, they use Harmony Email & Collaboration.
How has it helped my organization?
All API email security or gateway security solutions work the same as API based. You create an API with the vendor, and it works for all the same. It's just the approach of threat intelligence, how it is taken and how much threat intelligence you have.
Pushing was a big challenge for email security. Cisco has done that, but now Check Point is also doing the same with the quarantine email. So, it's good. Previously, they didn't have the ability to find and detect the quarantine email, but they are doing it now.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the sandboxing feature. It provides a sandboxing environment where you can open links and see where they lead. You can see what is presented in the link after opening it.
Other advantages, like workflow integration, are quite simple and offered by other vendors as well. Cisco is also integrating virus totals into their products.
But the key advantage here is the visibility you get with the sandboxing feature.
You can see on a map, on the same dashboard, where the mail originated, where it is going, and from which relay servers. You can see everything visually on the portal, including who it's reaching and who is CCed or BCCed.
Every vendor has a different approach. But as far as I have seen with Check Point, it is quite easy and simple to manage. They have the DLP solution integrated with this email. For example, for email, DLP is zero.
What needs improvement?
Maybe Check Point can work on the DLP part. Proofpoint's email DLP is very good, so they can work on that more.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is not too bad. It's not glitchy.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is good. You can add users at any time. You can have hundreds of users in there. No issues or restrictions here.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service and support are okay.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Compared to other solutions, users have the advantage of cost because Check Point is very easy to handle. You can easily train anyone on Check Point. It's not complex.
How was the initial setup?
It's quite simple. Straightforward provisioning is required. You have to do it with a vendor, like Office 365 or G Suite, and you are good to go. Just onboard the users, and that's it.
You can deploy it in a day. For the refinement of the tool, it takes a little bit of time because all email security works by first keeping it on monitor mode and monitoring what you are getting as spam. You do an audit. It takes time with this. But for the configuration part, you can do it in a single day.
What about the implementation team?
For deployment, one person is enough. For maintenance, you need two or three people to check spam. Sometimes, emails get blocked, and users request them to be unblocked. You have to verify those things. But for deployment, one person is enough.
It's a SaaS portal, so you don't have any maintenance issues because it's all done by the backend OEMs.
What was our ROI?
There is an ROI. In the long run, you will have saved money because it's a cloud-based portal with no maintenance issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to other vendors, the pricing is average. I guess FortiMail is a little cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I would recommend using it because it is easy to use and manage.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSP
Last updated: Jun 10, 2024
Flag as inappropriateSenior Manager at IRMA Anand
Good support, impressive performance, and helps prevent data loss
Pros and Cons
- "It helped us to bring security compliance and ensure system robustness throughout."
- "The business team should be further expanded, and more peer feedback should be made available publicly to have better and complete visibility of the application globally."
What is our primary use case?
Check Point Harmony Email and Collaboration is a one-stop solution for providing the best enterprise security and protecting systems and mail servers from malware and threat attacks.
Also, It helps in URL protection and DLP quite efficiently without any issues.
It provides real-time protection to users and their devices from any incoming potential threats and malware sources.
It helps in bringing security compliance to the system end to end.
It permanently blocks phishing websites and any ransomware attacks.
We find that it protects all confidential information from any sort of data leak and ensures data robustness and keeps everything intact in the system.
How has it helped my organization?
It helped us to bring security compliance and ensure system robustness throughout.
It suspends and proactively blocks the malicious ransomware and threats before reaching the inbox.
The product prevents data loss or data theft and ensures that the system is secured end to end without any trouble.
Its API integration with other portals and applications goes smoothly without any hiccups.
They provide bulletproof security to systems and email servers and ensure round-the-clock security for cloud email servers and other collaborating applications.
It's an all-in-one security solution for businesses in this current era.
What is most valuable?
All the features offer great utility, and their performance is quite impressive.
They have more secure applications than cloud-native security and have a higher security compliance rate. Also, the prevention of systems and servers from phishing attacks and system threats is proactively traceable and immediately diffused with a catchment rate of almost 99.99%, which is great in today's era of cyber threats and attacks.
Their sound features of security for account protection and data leak protection works great for us, and we never face any compatibility or lag issue while working on the software.
What needs improvement?
I would love to have their ticket resolution process as fast as possible. Fast and accurate ticket resolution can be a game changer for any industry, and the performance and confidence of clients go hand in hand with improved performance efficacy. This will definitely attract more loyal clients, and it helps with retention for longer periods.
The business team should be further expanded, and more peer feedback should be made available publicly to have better and complete visibility of the application globally.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for precisely two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product is scalable and gives users a great opportunity to replicate as well.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support are good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the first time we are using a solution of this kind formally.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was straightforward and easy.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the product through our in-house team.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is always better than other alternatives.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Check Point solutions are cost-effective and can be used effortlessly without any hassle. The renewal process for agreement is quite easy and can be done online easily. Licensing is smooth and price affordability is just great and can be recommended to all small and marginal start-up organizations for trial.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
A lot of security solutions were evaluated. We evaluated Cyber Protect Cloud, Duo Security, Splunk, etc.
What other advice do I have?
This is a must-have solution for all enterprises. People should try it now.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CISO at IMC Companies
Gives a lot of time back to admins and simplifies our overall operations
Pros and Cons
- "It is very intuitive. It is a point and click type of deal."
- "It provides visibility of events, what's going on with the environment, what we're missing with our other solution, and the user behavior."
- "The NAVEX metrics that I have been using on the CloudGuard dashboard cannot be exported. If they were to add report exporting capabilities on each of metric objects on the dashboard, that would be awesome."
What is our primary use case?
During the PoC, we have Office 365 linked to CloudGuard, which validates and checks all of the emails that come in and out. It is also checking and looking for anomalies during logon, e.g., in possible traveling type of scenarios, as we see business emails get compromised. Those pieces of it are really slick.
It also provides you with a lot of reports and visibility on the environment. Sometimes things are not native on Office 365 or you have to purchase additional licensing, but on CloudGuard you have a single pane of glass with all the metrics you need. It gives you a lot of information. For example, it tells you the successful/unsuccessful attempts to log on.
How has it helped my organization?
If we can reduce the number of malicious emails delivered to the inbox of our users, that is a big win. Over 90 percent of breaches start with an email, so the more you can protect your users with the mail firewall piece, the better off you will be. Then, you just do exceptions. That is where endpoint protection comes in. For example, typically, if the mail firewall that we have, which is not CloudGuard, misses something malicious, once a user clicks on that email, opens it, or tries to trigger anything on it, then SandBlast Agent will catch and stop it. Now, that is without using the mail firewall on CloudGuard. However, if we were to stay with CloudGuard and apply the mail firewall, then we will just see less items, messages, and malicious messages being delivered.
Having CloudGuard would allow us to reduce our vendor footprint. If you have less vendors and tools to manage, it gives a lot of time back to admins and simplifies our overall operations.
It provides visibility of events, what's going on with the environment, what we're missing with our other solution, and the user behavior.
What is most valuable?
The mail firewall and the Office 365 Control are its two most valuable features.
It is very intuitive. It is a point and click type of deal.
The other slick thing is it has a cleanup process. So, we can set it up and tell it to just deliver files that have been cleaned or transformed to a clean type of document.
What needs improvement?
The NAVEX metrics that I have been using on the CloudGuard dashboard cannot be exported. If they were to add report exporting capabilities on each of metric objects on the dashboard, that would be awesome.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been testing the solution for a month.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There have been no issues with stability so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Being SaaS, the scalability is limitless.
Everyone who has an email is using CloudGuard, which is more than 500 users. On top of that, there is also system email addresses. If you count the email addresses or SMTP containers, there are over 1000.
At the moment, on the PoC, we only have two administrators. However, that could easily escalate to around 10. Some of their roles would be troubleshooting with users. Other roles would be email, whitelisting, logging, etc.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not needed to use their technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We do have a current mail firewall. What Check Point is getting or receiving wasn't cleaned up or detected by our current mail firewall (Mimecast). In those terms, CloudGuard is detecting far more items than our current mail firewall. Therefore, it is really encouraging to look at CloudGuard as a solution because it's picking up what the other solution is not.
For the Active Directory on Usher, we were just using the regular Microsoft tools.
It is that time of the year when we have to renew licensing, so evaluating tools makes sense.
Once we get the CloudGuard licensing and get it configured, we will test it out for a month or so, then drop our other service.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was point and click. It was really easy. We just jumped on and did it. It took 10 minutes to get it up and running altogether.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it directly with Check Point.
What was our ROI?
Hopefully, we will be able to reduce or maintain costs that otherwise would go up. We should definitely be able to reduce the cost on support and management. It should also give us a more robust environment, which doesn't have a price associated with it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing and licensing are always negotiable.
You can get CloudGuard as part of Infinity. When you do the solution through Infinity, it's a per user type of license cost. That is how we have been looking at it.
We are in a point in time where we are going to have to renew our Endpoint Security licensing. When we do that, we will take advantage of the SaaS management console and just concentrate there. At that point, we will have the SmartConsole, CloudGuard, and Gateway on the SaaS. However, we're not there yet.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't evaluate any other solutions because we're not trying to get more vendors. We are trying to consolidate them.
We were already using the Check Point Endpoint Security solution and are very satisfied with it. That is what brought us to this point. Now, we're happy with this solution, as it's doing well. It is easy to manage and support. It has also reduced our need to support users because we have less issues. We used to have Sophos, and our experience with their endpoint solution moved us to use the VPN with Check Point, and now do a PoC CloudGuard.
Most providers don't give you many options unless you pay for additional licensing. In the case of Microsoft (for example), you have an E3 or E5 Office licensed, which would only cover your usage of the Office Suite, the email, and collaboration tools, but none of the security will apply to it. While Microsoft gives a free version of their MFA solution, it is very cumbersome to have. You either need to bite the bullet and buy the additional licenses, have something like CloudGuard, or both. However, most cloud providers don't give you an out-of-the-box security solution. They rely a lot on you to set up the policies that you want them to follow for your tenant space.
What other advice do I have?
Do your homework. Make sure that you have a good understanding of what tools are part of the solution and make a decision whether you're going to go SaaS or on-prem. My recommendation would be just to go SaaS, as it's a lot easier. You don't have to worry about servers or resources, as it's just on the cloud.
If you use a third-party to help you implement the solution, it's good to use someone you trust and has experience on the product.
Check Point has a lot of tools for analysis. This solution is just as good.
Some of the the nice features that you can do with it, we're not doing them today. For example, maybe two or three years in the future when we will host our VPN gateways on the SaaS cloud, then we will use it for our users to remote into our environment. If they had that when we implemented it the VPN, we would have used that instead of the physical gateways.
I haven't seen any false positives.
I would the solution as a 10 out of 10.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Senior Information Security Engineer at Glidewell Laboratories
Good for preventing phishing with a nice dashboard and Explore page
Pros and Cons
- "The dashboard provides information to investigate more about malicious activity and blocked emails."
- "It would be good to have the option to export the respective record data from dashboards or logs to .csv or other files."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to prevent any phishing emails from reaching out to the end users. We also use it for URL protection and DLP, to protect the end users from ransomware attacks, and to avoid any issues that halt business activities.
We used to have another solution for email security and we used to find so many issues while using it. We could not stop some phishing emails from getting into the user's mailbox and were worried about losing data. We had to work on fine-tuning the solution all the time to avoid the issues. We came to know about Check Point and wanted to try for email security.
How has it helped my organization?
We have blocked more phishing emails since we started using Check Point. The solution works brilliantly in filtering and the amount of information provided is unmatched and helped us in various ways.
The Explore page provides multiple options for searching for emails and other information. Quarantine/removing from Quarantine has become so easy with search options
The dashboard provides information to investigate more about malicious activity and blocked emails.
Check Point has become our go-to solution for most of our issues.
What is most valuable?
We like the email search options, availability of information on various aspects, algorithms, and AI models that provide pretty useful data - and the list goes on!
The email search/explore option helped us find the required emails and logs easily with multiple filters to use.
Information provided in each and every email is very useful for investigating any activity. We do not have to use multiple websites for that information since everything is provided in Check Point itself.
AI-based models and algorithms provide more accurate and useful information.
What needs improvement?
It would be good to have the option to export the respective record data from dashboards or logs to .csv or other files. That will help in creating more filters and analyzing the data.
Providing more Training videos and documentation will be helpful for beginners to understand how checkpoint works.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for the past eight months.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used some other email security tools and we used to have multiple issues with email filtering and available information. We do not see any of those issues after using Check Point.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are good with the licensing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We directly chose Check Point since we could not find any better alternative.
What other advice do I have?
It is the perfect one-stop solution for securing the organization!
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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