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Head of IT Department at AS Attīstības finanšu institūcija Altum
Real User
Top 5
Easy to set up and use, has good reporting with lots of detail
Pros and Cons
  • "The reports are well written so that you can understand what type of attack has occurred, the originating IP address, and other details."
  • "Occasionally there are glitches and errors like false positives, which would be a nice area of this solution to improve upon."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Check Point IPS for securing our internal networks and our website, as well as all of the traffic that goes through us. The traffic is analyzed by the IPS, which checks for things like malicious files and different attack patterns.

We are using the virtualized version.

How has it helped my organization?

Our old IPS was much more difficult to administer so the adoption of Check Point has helped us in this regard.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is ease of use.

Check Point IPS has quite a decent database of attacks.

The reports are well written so that you can understand what type of attack has occurred, the originating IP address, and other details.

What needs improvement?

It is always possible to improve the speed of an IPS, although there is always a performance penalty when using additional security software.

Occasionally there are glitches and errors like false positives, which would be a nice area of this solution to improve upon.

The pricing could be improved.

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Check Point IPS
March 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point IPS for six or seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is quite good. The product itself is quite good and although we had some issues, they were usually hardware related. Since we upgraded to the virtual edition two or three years ago, we have had almost no incidents. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We do not have a very big scale so I cannot comment on scalability. The performance is enough for us and to test scale, you would need a bigger connection speed. We have a 500 megabit internet connection and it is almost never saturated. We have tested ours and it works well. The only time we hit a bottleneck is when we are transferring large amounts of data or creating many connections, but that is not our typical use case.

We have 205 employees and they are all protected by Check Point IPS. They are all end-users except for our one system administrator. We do not plan on increasing our usage at this point.

How are customer service and support?

With Check Point, we have had quite good support. They usually respond within two or three days with some kind of resolution or at least they collect logs and analyze them.

Most of our cases are solved with first-level support, which is local. They are our partner who sells this product and they have their own technical people who know our infrastructure. We generally do not need to escalate our issues to Check Point.

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

Prior to using Check Point IPS, we were using a solution by IBM. It was much more difficult to administer. However, we had already been using the Check Point Firewall product and moving to Check Point IPS was a logical choice. It was easier in terms of administration because it is the same console and we did not need additional servers. In fact, our infrastructure got a little bit smaller and the performance, I would say, is better.

With respect to the performance, having the solutions on the same machine means that the traffic is analyzed once instead of twice. There are fewer hops.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite straightforward. We had to add the license and enable the policies, which was done within two days. After that, of course, we had some fine-tuning but I wouldn't say that it's a headache. In total, it took about a month before we had the configuration ready and it was in production.

One person was responsible for the deployment and one person is enough to take care of maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We had some trouble doing all of the troubleshooting and setting up some of our rules, so we had assistance from technical support during this part of the setup. We took care of the main deployment but they guided us when necessary.

What was our ROI?

It is difficult to calculate ROI for an IPS or a firewall because you can actually live without fancy security if you don't have any data to protect.

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

This is an expensive solution. I am not exactly sure of the pricing because we have a package deal that has the licenses included. I think that the price of support is around $40,000 USD or $50,000 USD per year.

How it works is that we license a pair of virtual CPU cores, as well as the firewall, and then the IPS is included along with the antivirus and additional products.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate several IPS products by different vendors but they all had trouble integrating with our Check Point Firewall. We made the decision that even if the other products were cheaper to buy, they would need additional integration and custom development, so ultimately it was not worth it.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is researching this type of solution is that they need to choose the product carefully. Most importantly, I would look from a performance perspective. Secondly, I would consider it from a pricing perspective because there are cheaper solutions available like Sophos and Fortinet, and they are good at what they do. If there is no firewall in place at all and this is their first project with protecting the enterprise, then it is reasonable to look at all of the vendors and look at what features are needed. The most important part is what your administrators are used to using because if you need to train them then it's additional costs.

The next thing that I would suggest is to make sure that you get a good partner because it is important to have good first-level support.  

The biggest lesson that I have learned from using Check Point IPS is to be quite careful about which features you enable with it, and which protections to use. You need to balance performance with security, finding exactly the right configuration for your environment and requirements.

Overall, I would say that this is a decent product. If the pricing were cheaper then I would say that it was perfect.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head of IT Department at AS Attīstības finanšu institūcija Altum
Real User
Top 5
User-friendly, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is user-friendly and the interface is easy to configure."
  • "The price has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

Check Point IPS is an IT security solution that offers insight into potential attacks and helps to prevent them from occurring. This solution gathers various signatures and receives new updates when a new vulnerability is identified, thus safeguarding us from potential threats.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has helped improve our security by blocking threats.

What is most valuable?

The solution is user-friendly and the interface is easy to configure.

What needs improvement?

The price has room for improvement. The solution's firewalls are quite expensive.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five 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 scaling of our system depends on the type of hardware we are using. If we are using a virtual environment, it is easier to scale as we can just add more virtual machines. However, if we are using a hardware appliance, we will need to purchase additional hardware to scale it.

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

Previously we used an IBM solution but it was expensive and hard to configure compared to Check Point IPS which was a common sense model, and easy to implement with our firewall.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. I give the ease of setup an eight out of ten.

We first deployed the license and configured the rules in test mode. After making sure there were no false positives, we switched the rules to prevent mode to block any incoming attacks. The last part of the process was to configure a certificate for HTTPS inspection.

The deployment took one month to complete.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed with the help of consultants. Two people were required to complete the work.

What was our ROI?

Calculating a return on investment for cybersecurity products can be difficult. However, we have not experienced any concerning cyber incidents in the past five years; this is likely due to our strong firewall and comprehensive production system. All in all, this is a positive outcome.

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

We pay for a bundle subscription that includes additional solutions.

I give the price of the solution a five out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

For maintenance, we need to review the log, identify any new signatures, and configure them accordingly.

The solution is used to protect 250 users.

We could potentially cause disruptions to our infrastructure if we do not use a good consultant to guide us through the implementation process.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Check Point IPS
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Check Point IPS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Network Security Engineer at I Dream networks pvt ltd
Real User
It prevents attacks and has a log feature; stable and has a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like best about Check Point IPS is that it can prevent attacks. I also like that it has a log feature."
  • "The hardware-based version of Check Point IPS could be more scalable. Right now, it's not scalable."

What is our primary use case?

I use Check Point IPS to prevent attacks, such as malware, spyware, and any other malicious activity.

What is most valuable?

What I like best about Check Point IPS is that it can prevent attacks. I also like that it has a log feature.

What needs improvement?

The hardware-based version of Check Point IPS could be more scalable. Right now, it's not scalable.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Check Point IPS for two to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, Check Point IPS is eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Check Point IPS is a scalable solution if it's cloud-based, but if it's hardware-based, it isn't scalable. Scalability-wise, it's a six out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The Check Point IPS technical support is excellent portal-wise and callback-wise, so it's a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Check Point IPS is straightforward.

Before I deploy Check Point IPS, I'll put it on IDS mode, and then I'll see the current user activity, any malicious activity, and the logs. I then switch to the IPS mode.

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

You can pay for Check Point IPS yearly, or you can go with a three-year license. There's no extra cost apart from the standard licensing fee.

What other advice do I have?

My company has two hundred users of Check Point IPS.

I recommend Check Point IPS to others because it's scalable, reliable, and easily managed by all users.

My rating for Check Point IPS is eight out of ten.

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: Partner
PeerSpot user
Support at a security firm with 51-200 employees
User
Good functionality, real-time protection and reduction in costs
Pros and Cons
  • "Protection in real-time is very good. It helps us detect things on time and make decisions to improve perimeter security."
  • "Sometimes Check Point documentation is not always updated, which is why when some implementations change, it generates confusion about details."

What is our primary use case?

We first saw that this blade was available to use in our Check Point gateway. Later, we understood that there are advanced threats that are in charge of exposing weaknesses. We did not have our perimeter completely covered, which is why we decided to use this technology.

This technology helps us to detect and prevent attempts at exploiting vulnerabilities. It also helps a lot as the tool poses very few false positives, giving the tool good credibility.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point IPS has helped us to have greater perimeter security through our Check Point Gateway. It offers us an easy implementation and has great protection across our infrastructure.

By means of Smart Events, we can carry out very advanced monitoring of the threats that have tried to enter our infrastructure.

It is a great tool. It is totally recommended by us. It really covers many areas of security, such as anti-malware, data loss, improper use of protocols, and preventing known exploits.                             

What is most valuable?

One of the characteristics that we liked the most is the functionality and easy implementation via the Check Point Gateway.

The cost is reduced to being a blade. That is a good detail of the product in terms of licensing.

Protection in real-time is very good. It helps us detect things on time and make decisions to improve perimeter security.

Also, a very good feature is the optional mode of putting it only in detection mode. They are ensuring in that sense that they are not so intrusive at the beginning of the implementation in production environments.

What needs improvement?

Sometimes Check Point documentation is not always updated, which is why when some implementations change, it generates confusion about details. In addition to extending some implementations, it would be good for Check Point to keep its documentation public and updated.

This product, as a blade, does not include the license with the Check Point gateway.

Some errors are generated in the implementation of the Smart Cloud in the Infinity Check Point Portal. When that happens, cases of withdrawal must be carried out without embargo for a long time in response.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for about two years and have received the expected results. We are satisfied with the product.

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

Previously we did not use another brand or tool. This is our primary solution now.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate other options. It is always important to evaluate various options to see how they adapt to the client's system and infrastructure.

What other advice do I have?

We recommend the product. It is highly safe and easy to use.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1670154 - PeerSpot reviewer
Firewall Engineer at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
User
Scalable with convenient pre-defined profiles and an easy setup
Pros and Cons
  • "IPS signatures can be set quite granularly depending on your environment. You can filter on performance impact, severity, and confidence which makes sizing and adapting easier."
  • "Threat Prevention policies are not very easily manageable as there are several profiles/policies/etc. Therefore, there are several ways to add exceptions and check the configuration."

What is our primary use case?

We have a hybrid infrastructure with an on-premise data center, cloud data center, and multiple branch offices. All of these firewalls are managed via Check Point Multi Domain Management as well as Smart Event to see security events across our environment.

IPS is set primarily to prevent and only some signatures are set to detect (only after some false positives) so we still see them and get notifications via the Smart Event reports.

IPS is updated automatically and pushed to all gateways every two hours. 

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point's IPS simply works and is continuously kept up-to-date on all gateways. Via the management, it's possible to let the gateway update the IPS signatures itself, instead of letting the management update itself and then push the updates to the gateways.

If there's a new data center or branch office and everything is still in the test phase, it's possible to set the IPS policy to detect only so you can gather data and create a baseline without completely disabling IPS. That way, you can still see log entries.

What is most valuable?

Automatic updates can be done either via management or the Gateway itself, without any user interaction. The gateway is up-to-date with the newest signatures.

If you're unsure which profile to use, Check Point has some pre-defined profiles according to its best practices. Each one adds a different load to the relevant gateway, so you have to first check the current load and then decide on the right profile.

IPS signatures can be set quite granularly depending on your environment. You can filter on performance impact, severity, and confidence which makes sizing and adapting easier.

What needs improvement?

You can't turn off IPS completely as there are some signatures that are set even without activated IPS. If you know that, you can act accordingly. But sometimes you have to do a general exception instead of a granular one.

There are always some false positives with non-RFC traffic. This is good for security, however, it will cause some effort in day-to-day business as there will have to be exceptions for certain applications.

Threat Prevention policies are not very easily manageable as there are several profiles/policies/etc. Therefore, there are several ways to add exceptions and check the configuration.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for over ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is quite good, depending on which IPS profile you're using.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is easy to set up.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're a Check Point partner and use their products as well for our own environment.
PeerSpot user
Orlando Dos Santos Junior - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Tempest Security Intelligence
Consultant
Great and easy to work with firewall, and prevents important attacks
Pros and Cons
  • "The Check Point IPS feature I find the most valuable is the firewall. It is great and easy to work with."
  • "What I would like to improve in IPS would be the capacity of the hardware. I would also like to be able to sort signatures by severity. This would greatly impact how well I can manage my environment."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case for Check Point IPS is very simple: I first identify some signature behaviors and secure levels and then I apply some signatures. I usually do not deploy IPS from CheckPoint. Overall, I manage signatures.

What is most valuable?

The Check Point IPS feature I find the most valuable is the firewall. It is great and easy to work with. 

What needs improvement?

I'm not sure what I really like in IPS because it's automated. You read the permit and you try to apply the signature and read the behavior of the solution and find how to fix it. So I don't think Check Point IPS is a great solution. 

I don't I like working with it very much because there's other stuff you can do to have more information. However, Check Point IPS does prevent important attacks easily.

What I would like to improve in IPS would be the capacity of the hardware. I would also like to be able to sort signatures by severity. This would greatly impact how well I can manage my environment. 

In the next release, I would like to see automatic signature deployment. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point IPS for nearly a year now. 

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

On a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, I would rate Check Point IPS an eight. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
System Engineer/IT Support at Starlabs Limited
Reseller
Great functionality, user-friendly and easy to implement
Pros and Cons
  • "User-friendly and easy to implement."
  • "This is an expensive solution, higher than other products on the market."

What is our primary use case?

Most of our clients have the majority of their critical resources on prem to protect their DMZ, so we use IPS for that. We are resellers, implementing and providing support to our clients. I'm a system engineer IT support.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution helps our clients because once IPS is implemented, they don't have to worry about the security of their most critical infrastructure, and they can focus on their core business rather than the IT side of things. They know that once the solution is in place, they can have full trust in it.

What is most valuable?

The product is user-friendly and easy to implement. We receive training on how to onboard and when we are onboarding clients, we have the option of engaging Check Point to assist. It's a good provision to have. In terms of functionality, it's one of the best solutions on the market. 

What needs improvement?

Most complaints for Check Point relate to licensing fees. You need to be prepared to pay extra for implementing this product. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been dealing with this solution for over a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and robust. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is easily scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is quite straightforward and they provide documentation that is of good quality. Deployment takes around 30 minutes and maintenance is easy.  

What other advice do I have?

This is not a difficult tool to use as long as you understand the basics of networking and security. I rate this solution nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Ajenthan Aiyathurai - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - IT at NVCL Group
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Good notification, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The notifications are the most valuable feature of the solution."
  • "The installation documentation has room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution as a firewall to monitor and prevent intrusion into our system.

What is most valuable?

The notifications are the most valuable feature of the solution.

What needs improvement?

The solution is expensive and the cost has room for improvement.

The installation documentation has room for improvement. We can use more detailed information because sometimes it is difficult to understand.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for 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 solution is highly scalable.

We have 100 people using the solution in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

I have had issues with the technical support not contacting me back.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The configuration is completed with a few clicks. After the configuration, we can access the portal and start using the firewall. 

What about the implementation team?

We used a vendor for the implementation.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

The maintenance is easy.

Check Point IPS has zero-day detection and next-generation servers which make it a good solution and I recommend it.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point IPS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point IPS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.