Check Point NGFW Reviews

My primary use case of Check Point's firewalls is to provide in-depth network filtering with advanced threat prevention, which can be set up simply using autonomous threat prevention where the firewall learns about the environment and then actions threat prevention based upon that. The threat prevention can also be custom-built for your environment. 

I also use the Check Point Always On VPN for remote endpoints, which allows users to authenticate and connect to the VPN pre-login without any input from the users.

It has improved my organization due to the in-depth security it provides. Check Point has a lot of security-focused features that provide a great level of network security. It has improved the security posture of the organization due to the granularity that can be set in the policies, such as using access roles to set user-based access, and time-based rules to only apply a specific firewall rule at a specific time. It has also improved my organization because of the in-depth troubleshooting steps that are made available to the end user, meaning we can troubleshoot issues easily, and troubleshooting steps can get very advanced.

I have found the VPN and the application control/URL filtering the most valuable features. The main reason for this is that the VPN blade allows easy VPN setup between two VPN gateways, allowing for not only site-to-site VPNs but also for remote users to connect to the Check Point gateways. This feature is easy to set up. Also, users can troubleshoot the VPNs very in-depth.

The application control and URL filtering features are valuable since they allow very granular control of what is coming in and out of a network. Instead of just allowing certain Layer 4 ports in/out of the network, specific applications can be allowed, which not only can tighten a security posture. It makes administering the product easier as, when a new app is rolled out, it can simply be added to the policy.

One feature that could be improved is the internet object in the application control/URL filtering blade. In most deployments, this works as it says it will. However, the object is based on topology, not internet IP ranges. This means that in certain scenarios (and likely a non-standard deployment), the internet object can not refer to the internet. This can be bypassed by creating a networking group containing class A, B & C networks and using this in the policy, right-clicking the group and ticking 'negate.' 

Another improvement would be to improve the simplicity of deploying SAML as an authentication option when connecting using a remote access VPN. Check Point's deployment guide is very in-depth. However, the process could be simpler.

I've used the solution for three years.

The stability is very good.

The scalability is good.

Support is very good from Check Point.

Positive

The initial setup can be straightforward or complex depending on the complexity of the environment. Usually, it is fairly straightforward.

We implemented the solution in-house.

We needed a perimeter solution that would add value to our organization by safeguarding our information, equipment, users, and all the infrastructure we have within our entire organization. We needed something that, in the future, had the capacity to be scalable as well as something that was easy to configure. We wanted to ensure that it could be configured in a way that, if high availability is required, it would be fine. In that search, we decided to try the NGFW from Check Point.

With the Next-Generation Firewall disable solution, we have been able to solve not only the issue of perimeter security. We have also managed to incorporate a real-time search and analysis into our organization, which allows us, in some cases, to even enable the emulation capacity and solution in real-time. 

It is giving us a greater reach for greater prevention and is proactively protecting our employees. 

Check Point is a business ally in our organization. We have many users outside of it who are dedicated to the sales part. In my case, in my experience, I have been learning about the solution for a short time. That said, it has been a learning experience and constant evolution as I learn to function in this new position.

The most valuable feature is the ability to emulate the attacks of all those attachments or events that we have. That way, we can find a quick and easy way to clean, examine, and analyze what is happening within our organization. It ensures the end user is given an attachment that is a clean document - both safe and reliable. 

Today, Check Point invests a lot in technology, and that gives us the best security and clear confidence that we are working with a first-world company that will always be at the forefront of security and analysis. They protect us as an organization by providing us with quality services every day.

Innovation is one of the most important things they must adhere to. I have liked seeing how innovation evolves and how security teams protect themselves proactively while always being efficient. Hopefully, in the future, these will be much more plug-and-play and orchestrated from a single administration console. 

Today, I am learning a lot about the cloud. I know that this is one of the solutions that can be placed in any cloud, so we will soon see if it will continue with the virtualization of Web3 equipment.

I've used the solution for seven months.

The Check Point firewalls are used to protect both the edge and datacenter firewall environment.

The firewalls have been deployed in a high availability design and are virtualized using Check Point VSX VSLS. This means we have multiple virtual firewalls protecting different parts of the data center (e.g., DB, Edge, WAN, pre-production.)

We have activated multiple software blades, including firewall, VPN, URL filtering, Application Control, compliance, reporting, and threat emulation, to name a few.

A similar design has been deployed at the DR with a similar set of firewalls.

The following has been improved:

1) The edge security posture has greatly improved. We are now able to detect and prevent threats coming from the public internet. The firewall is able to block know threats using the inbuild Intrusion Prevention blades.

2) We can connect with other organizations using site-to-site VPNs to enable inter-organization communication.

3) Check Point comes with a strong management solution that allows us to monitor and track threats that are detected and prevented. It also helps us be in compliance with industry standards.

The following features have been valuable:

1) IPS - The edge security posture has dramatically improved as we can now detect and prevent threats from the public internet. The firewall can block know threats using the inbuild Intrusion Prevention blades.

2) VPN - We can connect with other organizations using site-to-site VPNs for inter-organization communication.

3) Management Blades - Check Point comes with a strong management solution that allows us to monitor and track detected and prevented threats. It also helps us be in compliance with industry standards.

The following can be improved:

1) The management solution is currently using a desktop client for administration purposes. This should be improved by ensuring configuration on the firewalls can be done 100% using a web-based approach. This is currently a work in progress in R81.X, yet should be fast-tracked.

2) The Check Point TAC support has, in recent years, deteriorated. Getting support is usually a pain as the TAC engineers don't seem to understand our issues fast enough and are not readily available. This is in contrast to the amount of money paid for the support.

I've used the solution for five years.

A lot of improvement is required in how checkpoint TAC engineers handle their assigned cases. Tickets can be opened for very long without clear solutions.

Neutral

We previously used Cisco ASA 5585 Firewall.

The setup was fairly easy as the team is well trained.

We worked with Check Point professional services.

This is a premium enterprise product, hence the price is very high.

We looked at FortiGate Firewalls.

Check Point should review their pricing models especially for the African market.

The solution is primarily used as an edge firewall safeguarding any organization or company which are really considering it as their number firewall of choice. In addition, there were also companies that are only using the specific blades, for example, IPS or IPsec, only as their primary solution. It is mostly used as an edge firewall. Sometimes, all security blades are utilized. As a significant part of the whole network infrastructure, Check Point delivers high detection and prevention rates when talking about suspicious and cyberattack types of activities.

Primarily, Check Point played a very vital role in protecting our whole network infrastructure. Having been able to implement such a solution will keep one's organization's security posture well guarded. The best part of Check Point NGFW's operational mechanisms were the Threat Extraction and Threat Emulation blades respectively. The former delivers documents with zero malware in zero seconds and the latter analyzes the original document in an isolated sandbox, identifying unknown threats. 

I'd recommend this kind of firewall for companies considering it since the detection rate for any cyberattacks/suspicious activity is very high (more than 90%).

Check Point NGFW has all the security blades a certain company would want to implement for a network firewall facing the public internet. The upsides of choosing this kind of firewall are traffic acceleration, core acceleration, and interface acceleration which would help in maintaining smooth sailing activity, giving administrators less dilemma. 

Administrators always find it hard and disturbing when such a network bottleneck occurs spontaneously out of nowhere. With that said, Check Point still ranks first among other vendors.

It would be best if the security management server console access is simpler for ease of management. System administrators find it really difficult for the management settings to incorporate easily. Most administrators nowadays are looking into something that offers easy access to a management console or GUI. 

I could not think of other areas for improvement. This is the firewall that I liked the most among other vendors in the market. It's by far the best firewall in the security industry.

I've used the solution for three years already - since the start of my Network Security Engineer career.

Stability-wise, it is perfect! 

When you perform sizing, make sure that the necessary scalability is considered. There's no going back when things like this are compromised.

Lately, Check Point support is nowhere to be found.  We are always attending other customer sessions when, in fact, support is needed for a P1.

Neutral

Mostly, they are the Gartner leaders for NGFW. A switch was made when customers found the solution more secure per doing the proof of concept.

I could say that it is complex even though they are already CCSE and Check Point Expert. There is no way I could find its management easy to use.

We handled the setup in-house.

That there is a money-back guarantee for their business. A business being secured is a business of high return.

There are a lot of evaluations to be done prior to choosing the solution. It caught the customer's attention when the threat extraction/emulation blade really did well during the proof of concept activity.

So far I have mentioned all the things needed to be given importance with regard to an NGFW solution.

Check Point NGFW is great in terms of functionality. We use it to control the infra outbound/inbound traffic and with it and we can block suspicious IPs directly on our SAM database instead of creating or adding in firewall rules. This not only saves time but also provides immediate protection from malicious traffic without deploying the changes in firewall gateways. 

We used to check who is doing what changes and when. We can now check logs to find why any traffic is blocked, and, if blocked, it gives good details of each error. We can easily organize all firewalls through one smart console.

Its GUI platform is very good. It helps us to divide up the rule base which made it easier to recognize the rules. Its SAM database gives us the amazing ability to block suspicious activity without waiting for the next change window to push the changes. In packet flows, it first checks the SAM database beforehand in order to process the packet further.

The logs give us plenty of detail as to why any packet was blocked or allowed. It really proves the purpose of getting a stateful firewall, showing the context of every packet.

The SAM database, URL/application filtering and IPS, Data Loss prevention, VPN and mobile device connectivity, stateful packet inspection, and unified management console are all useful features. 

It allows us to avoid having to go and log in to each firewall device for creating the rules as it can be done from its central console. We can manage all the firewalls and create rules and deploy them through the smart console which is really good. It helps us avoid creating the same object in each firewall. 

Its auditing features are also good for checking who did what changes and when.

The URL objects take significant time in processing compared to other products like Cisco FTD; it would be better if they could improve it. 

We have seen that whenever we configured URL objects, the CPU percentage went higher. Therefore, we started using IKP-based objects, however, in today's cloud world where every application is in the cloud and they change IPs on a random basis, whenever each new IP change happens, it's too risky to allow the whole cloud subnet (like Google or Azure). They need to therefore fix URL processing times. 

I've used the solution for four years.

Check Point firewall is used as edge protection.

Traffic to the internet and from the internet does go through the firewall where IPS, URL, and app policies are applied.

Check Point was also used as an internal firewall to segment traffic between the data center and the user network. Basically, all traffic from any user will have to be inspected by an internal Check Point firewall before any server is accessed.

Check Point is also used for PCI-DSS credit card checks within any email sent or received. This is effective in detecting credit card numbers within any email sent by a user in error and blocks that from being exposed. 

The product has improved visibility into the traffic going through our network.

For all traffic leaving the network, Check Point provides the capability to inspect and permit traffic using not just ports but application IDs, which is more secure than simply permitting TCP/UDP.

Check Point has a robust IPS Blade which has added an additional layer of security on connections to the data center.

Check Point's compliance blade also helps in checking how Check Point's appliance configuration is in compliance with any requirement that we need to provide evidence for.

Check Point application control is very useful. This blade detects traffic and provides the ability to grant access based on the application and not the port as TCP/UDP can easily grant access for more than what's required.

The Check Point compliance model is also great. We can easily check firewall configurations against any compliance standard. It has made it easy to provide evidence and reports.

Check Point integrates with third-party user directories such as Microsoft Active Directory. The dynamic, identity-based policy provides granular visibility and control of users, groups, and machines and is easier to manage than static, IP-based policy.

Support for customers really needs to improve.

Check Point also needs to create a study license that will enable the customer to install a firewall (maybe with reduced connectivity) for a bit longer so that one can simulate scenarios without having to re-install it every 15 days.

We had a lot of problems with the VPN blade on the solution. We sometimes have trouble with the performance of the solution. Maybe some performance tuning options could be added in a future release.

Check Point needs to create a certification program that involves practical applications. 

I've used the Check Point firewall for three years.

Customer service really needs to improve.

Positive

We used Cisco ASA for Internet-facing Web applications, however, Check Point was used at the EDGE ( all user traffic to the internet), internal firewall ( all user traffic to datacenter), all internet traffic to PCI-DSS applications instead.

Implementation was done with the help of Check Point's professional services.

If you have the budget, it's a good idea to go for the Check Point Firewall.

We also evaluated Palo Alto.

We support various clients in the government sector in Mexico. We provide different solutions in terms of network security, data security, and perimeter security. The NGFM Firewall is available locally and different offices and/or institutions of the government sector pass through a more secure and controlled infrastructure.

This type of infrastructure has different zones or areas that are managed and keeping them centralized has helped us to maintain and control them. In addition, we are generating fast and safe solutions for our users on each site.

Check Point has provided us with an easier way to control all of the access traffic for more than 50 segments that we have within the organization. In addition, we have been able to maintain stricter control of the users and/or equipment that are had in all the institutions that make up the government sector of the entity.

Check Point technology has allowed us to keep the organization and distribution of the network in order within the institution. In addition, the VPN service we have has worked correctly for users who want to work remotely from their homes, which was of great help during the pandemic.

Within the organization, the inspection of packages has given us great help in detecting traffic that may be a threat to the institution.

The configuration of policies has allowed us to maintain control of access and users for each institution that is incorporated into our headquarters. It is well organized.

Some other of the services that have worked well for us are antivirus, anti-bot, and URL filtering. Together, these have allowed us to maintain control and organization amongst the users.

Another one of the pluses that have helped us a lot has been the IPsec VPN, especially in these times of pandemic.

Using the tool is somewhat complex when teaching new staff, although after practice it is quite easy to get used to this technology.

One of the improvements that could be included is to have a help menu to obtain advice or help for the different options that are presented in the application.

The equipment is complex, so you need guidance from specialized people or those who constantly work with Check Point. Better forums and information manuals could be provided so that users from different institutions can have more access to the information.

The company has been using the Check Point NGFW for more than four years.

Compared to other networking equipment I have used, I would say that Check Point's NGFW is just as stable. We rarely have problems, and they can all be properly fixed without affecting productive or critical network elements.

There are currently more than 5,000 users within government facilities in Mexico. This team has provided us with the necessary resources to provide services to users in record time.

With the teams that we currently have, we have not considered increasing the number of technicians. If the need should arise then Check Point is still a very good option.

Technical support has been available when we have problems, and they are always there to help us get back up and running as quickly as possible. In addition, the equipment is kept up-to-date with the latest versions, or alternatively, those recommended by the provider.

This solution was deployed before I entered this governmental organization. What I have heard is that prior to this, the security and segmentation control was not ideal and they wanted to improve it. With the implementation of Check Point, great improvements have been provided to the infrastructure, maintaining order within the organization.

When I entered the company, the equipment was already installed. With the passage of time, some configurations have been improved and some extra services have also been achieved for mobile users.

It was implemented through a provider that has been guiding us towards the correct use of the equipment and the best practices to keep it updated. The service has been excellent, both in common day-to-day ticketing situations, including the most serious incidents.

It has been well worth the investment, as the Check Point technology is there to help when we need it.

One of the main reasons that Check Point is used is that it helps us to administer security at a reasonable price. This is naturally in addition to meeting the expectations of the institution.

An annual technical support fee is paid to maintain the equipment with the most updated licenses and versions and thus avoid vulnerabilities

Check Point is the option that has always been considered for its good firewall organization, which allows us to have excellent security.

My advice is to always have a supplier with whom you can resolve doubts or more specific technical questions. Since the equipment requires many very technical parameters, it is helpful to have a person who understands and uses this technology correctly.

I work as an internal network team member. We protect the company environment from outside threats, outside viruses, and ransomware attacks. It is kind of an IT administrator job.

They are protecting internal security as well as giving us security from the outside world or public environment. 

It protects the environment. It gives advanced features to our company, like Antivirus, more granular security policies, and more control over the traffic, e.g., what we want to allow or deny to our environment. 

What I like about this firewall is it has a central management system. We can configure or monitor a number of firewalls at a time from the central management system. 

They have a logging system where we can have our logs visible. The logs are easy to view and understand. 

While the logs are very good and easy to understand, when you want to download these customized logs, they don't have as many features compared to competitive firewalls. 

Check Point has a very good Antivirus feature. However, compared to the competition in the market, it is lacking somewhere. In my last organization, I worked with Palo Alto Networks as well. I found that while they both have an antivirus feature, the Palo Alto antivirus feature is much better. Check Point should improve this feature. It is a good feature, but compared to Palo Alto, it lacks.

I have been using it for the last three years, since 2017.

Check Point is already a very big name in the market. Our software updates, even the Antivirus updates, are very stable in the market. There are no problems with its stability.

Performing maintenance for a solution takes around 12 people. Maintenance is something that our team is capable of. Internally, we have had many training sessions on Check Point Firewall. Our seniors have managed that for us so we are capable of doing it. Most of our BAU is done by us.

Scalability is very easy. I haven't found anything that is the issue with the scalability of this firewall. If you have complete knowledge of it, the scalability is not tough.

I used their assistance many times. The experience with them is sometimes very good. They give the best solution in a short amount of time. Two out of 10 times, I feel that they are only looking to close their tickets. They are keen to do that. My personal experience with the support is an eight out of 10.

We currently use Check Point and Cisco ASA. The purpose for the company is to increase the security. They were only using Cisco ASA Firewall, which is kind of a degrading firewall right now because it lacks many features, which are advanced in Check Point Firewall. With Cisco ASA, we need to purchase additional IPS hardware. But, for Check Point, we do not require that. Also, if we want the same configuration for multiple firewalls at a time, then Cisco ASA does not support that. We have to create the same policy in each firewall.

We have our own on-premises firewalls, not cloud-based. The production time took around nine to 12 months' time. The setup was completed during this time.

We follow the three-tier architecture for this firewall, which is also recommended by Check Point. We have the central management device as well as the web console and firewall.

For the deployment process, there were only four senior network engineers involved from our company.

It is easy to control from the central management system. For example, if we have 10 firewalls, and we want to push that same configuration among them, we can use this solution's central management system to do that simultaneously. So, there is time saving in that way. The time savings does depend on the situation. For example, if I am running half an hour of work on each firewall, that will take around 300 minutes. However, if I do this work from the central management system, then it will only take 30 minutes to push the same configuration to those same 10 devices.

They sell it in one box. In that one box, they sell Antivirus and Threat Prevention. They have everything, so we are not required to purchase additional IPS hardware for it.

The cost of the pricing and licensing are okay. They are giving me a good product as far as I know. It is more expensive than Cisco, but cheaper than Palo Alto, which is fine. It has many good features, so it deserves a good price as well.

I have experience with Palo Alto Networks Firewalls and Cisco ASA Firewall. Compared to these solutions, Check Point has a very good, understandable log viewer. It is easy to view and understand the logs, which helps a lot while doing troubleshooting or making new security policies for the organization. Also, it is very easy to create new security policy rules.

The Check Point Antivirus feature lacks in comparison to Palo Alto Networks. Also, compared to other competitive solutions, the training for Check Point available right now is very expensive as well as the certification is little expensive.

Get properly trained. When I entered this organization, I struggled with this firewall. There are very few good quality training programs available in the market. Or, if it is available, then it is very expensive. So, I advise new people to get properly trained because it has many feature sets, and if they do not use them with the proper knowledge, then it could worsen their situation.

I am happy with the organization's progress, as they work hard on their product. It is a good lesson from a personal level: We should work hard and improve ourselves. 

I would rate this solution as a nine out of 10.