Check Point Security Management Reviews

I am using Check Point to secure my home office because I'm doing all my work from home. 

The company uses software called Harmony. Check Point integrates nicely, whether on an endpoint or mobile device. It integrates well with the firewall and can give me reports that I can check without going to an online portal.

You need some technical expertise to use the solution. I don't think it's accessible to the typical end-user. You need to access the box and use some command lines or the web interface. It would be nice to have a user-friendly dashboard and comprehensive reporting. 

I started using Check Point last year.

I contacted Check Point because the device wasn't logging into the portal to download the license I purchased. It took them about three days to answer.

I was using Untangled and switched to Sophos. I decided after a year that Sophos wasn't for me, so I tried Check Point. 

It took me about two hours to do the initial installation, but the total deployment took a day. I did it myself and found it somewhat complicated. You need to know what you're doing. Check Point doesn't provide enough guidance and assumes you know everything. 

I pay for a yearly license, but you have the option of a three-year or a five-year license. 

I rate Check Point Security Management seven out of 10. I recommend it if you're a technical person experienced in WFM security devices. 

We needed a solution that had the things required to keep the company secure, like confidentiality, centralization, and a range of technological services. 

There weren't many other leading solutions that allowed us to achieve our goal of centralizing most security resources in one place to achieve rapid, unified management and control of our assets, achieve our annual goals, and provide the best service. 

Security Management gives us complete visibility into our security operations, allowing administrators to identify and address problem areas, reduce unnecessary costs, and improve efficiency. 

It offers detailed reports on network usage and security, which helps my company to monitor and control its security expenses. 

Many excellent solutions can be plugged into Security Management to help us prevent threats and manage network security, such as the firewall. The firewall is one of the most powerful because it enables us to guard against attacks and threats on our perimeter in real-time and centrally manage everything to maintain a robust security posture. 

Check Point's hybrid cloud integration needs significant improvements. These resources need to evolve as data transfers to the cloud increase, so hybrid cloud models are easier to implement. Better hybrid cloud integration would improve how we manage our security logs and provide our administrators with a low-cost solution that enables them to meet all our essential requirements. 

I have used Securit Management for a year.

Check Point Security Management is highly scalable. It can adapt to the changing needs of your business, allowing your business to maintain a set spend without going over it annually.

I rate Check Point Security Management eight out of 10. 

We use Check Point Security Gateway GAIA R 80.40 as our secure gateway firewall. We have configured two gateways as active-passive in cluster mode. We also use R 80.40 as our security management server to configure the policies on the firewall. We use it primarily to control traffic and secure our network perimeter against unknown attacks. The different rules and policies for the SSL VPN connections are configured on the mobile access blade. We use the policies to segregate and filter the traffic flow. 

Check Point Security Management GAIA R 80.40 tremendously helped us in securing our network perimeter against various threats. 

We have used the access rules and application/URL filtering blades to filter and restrict unwanted traffic. 

The IPS blade, Antivirus blade, Anti-bot blade, Threat Emulation blade, and Threat Prevention blades are helping us tremendously in preventing attacks and thus take care of the threats at the gateways themselves. 

At the time of COVID, the Mobile Access blade has helped greatly in the smooth running of production.

We have found all the security blades very helpful. The IPS blade, Antivirus blade, Anti-bot blade, Threat Emulation blade, and Threat Prevention blades have been most useful in securing the network. 

With the antivirus, IPS, and Anti-bot blades signatures being automatically updated regularly on a daily/hourly basis, the network is always safe. 

The URL and Application Filter blade offers a daily update of the database which helps us control the traffic. 

Mobile access has helped us cater to more than 4000 users so that they can work from home.

The Security Management server could be improved. If it provided an inbuilt authenticator for multifactor authentication, that would be ideal. Currently, we have to depend on a third party for multifactor authentication. 

It would help us greatly in securing the remote access users if Mac binding can be done for remote access VPN users in mobile. It would be helpful if we could enable URL and application traffic control remote access. 

The logging and reporting are good, but it would be helpful if more report templates were available.

I have been using Check Point Security Gateway for more than 7 years.

The stability is great.

The scalability is great.

Technical support is good.

Positive

The company has been using Check Point for a long time. It's been more than 10 years. I have been with the company for past 7 Years.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We had assistance from our Vendor Team (ISecurenet). They are very good.

Our ROI has been above expectations.

The price is high but worth it.

Check Point is one of the top leaders in security solutions.

We deployed the Check Point firewall for protecting our web servers and intranet servers. We used a management server as a centralized device for Check Point Gateway firewalls.

The best aspect about the notion is that we can push policy, IPs, or any other functionality to all or a subset of gateways. Alternatively, creating a distinct tab for each gateway gives a clear idea of the configuration changes and makes them less complicated.

Check Point's solution cuts down on the time it takes to manage multiple firewall devices.

Our organization has faced multiple attackers daily which causes high-impact performance, even though the previous firewall blocks. This leads to an impact on customer satisfaction with our services.

However, after deploying Check Point firewalls in our organization we found drastic changes in the performance of our network   

The management server helps us to reduce the time to manage multiple firewalls.

It's easy to push configuration changes to each of the gateways.

We can track logs of each firewall which is very helpful.

The importance of centralized administration cannot be overstated. As a network security engineer, I must mention that it allows us to manage all of our Check Point devices from a centralized point. 

Although there is certainly room for improvement in the UI, I am pleased that Check Point continues to correct and enhance. 

Furthermore, they provide some new features that will revolutionize security administration.

Initially, I was not a huge fan of Check Point's SmartConsole; I'm not sure why; perhaps it was because I was used to using only the web interface in other vendor firewalls like Palo Alto, Fortigate, and so on.

Now that I've tried it, I have to say that it's the greatest way to handle firewalls. There are some flaws, however, Check Point is working to correct them with each version.

They need to make a Mac version of the SmartConsole, in my opinion.

Aside from that, I'm satisfied with Check Point solutions.

I've used the solution for two years.

Check Point Security Management is primarily used for managing our security gateways that are deployed in multiple offices around the world. We have 20+ gateways in total. 

Security management also has reporting functionality which can be passed off to our internal security team as well as our senior leadership team. 

SmartView is also a handy utility that allows our system admins to have insight into the network traffic which reduces the need to contact the network support team each time something is not functioning.

Check Point Security Management has improved the organization and it assists with easy manageability of all of our globally deployed gateways which if they were not centrally managed, would be very time-consuming to manage. 

The compliance blade provides detailed reports in regards to our policy configuration and global configuration of the gateways which can be easily read to determine if something needs to be actioned. It also contains multiple different other reports that can be utilized by various other departments.

The compliance is great. It verifies the overall compliance of all of the gateways and attached policies against standards. It offers ready-to-use reports that are detailed.

The SmartView monitor is helpful. Having the ability to give read-only access to our system admins where they can look into the firewall logs is a huge plus and reduces the load on the dependency of the network admins. Also, it is very handy in that it is a web console and not an application that needs to be installed on your computer to view the logs. 

It displays very nice dashboards.

Being a security appliance, there should be the ability for the Security Management server to send email alerts via authenticated email. One of our requirements from the organization is to not use unauthenticated email and to only use authenticated email which this does not support.

SmartConsole should be available for MacOS machines. Not every Network/Security administrator utilizes a Windows machine. Being a Mac user, I need to have a VM with SmartConsole installed in order to be able to manage my gateways. I have heard the newer versions allow management through a web version however I have not tested it as of this moment.

I've been using the solution for more than three years.

The solution is very stable.

In terms of scalability, the licensing is restrictive and are cookie-cutter solutions for a number of gateways.

The L1/L2 agents seem inexperienced. Cases often need to be escalated. 

Negative

Yes, we did use something else. We switched as we were looking for something that had a bigger feature set.

We looked into SonicWall and Palo Alto.

Throughout my professional career I have operated, implemented, and designed solutions with Checkpoint's NGFW for clients of all kinds - public and private, small and large.

For all scenarios, there is a suitable solution with this manufacturer. Its decades of experience make it one of the undisputed leaders in the industry.

In recent times, the platform has evolved significantly to meet the latest threats. I would recommend at least valuing it as an option whenever an opportunity arises to cover cybersecurity needs.

Having a central point to manage all its capabilities makes it much easier to react quickly and accurately to a threat, which is essential in this day and age where attacks can be lethal to our network if not dealt with quickly.

I have actively participated in the defense of very important customers who were able to overcome the challenge thanks to the great visibility that the console offered them. The other additional capabilities that we can integrate into the platform are also a very important added value.

One of the features that attract me the most is being able to activate different functionalities through its blades, having centralized point access to all of them, and being able to activate and deactivate them as needed.

In addition, the fact that everything starts from the same unified management console makes it very easy to integrate new equipment or functionalities once the operator has become familiar with it, as everything will follow similar management or operation mechanisms.

This is one of the aspects I value the most.

In my experience, the place they can improve the most is in the technical support where I have had some serious problems that could not be solved in time due to a lack of knowledge of the assigned engineer.

It would be a good policy to try to assign senior engineers when it has been verified that an incident is critical and urgent for a client and not to resort to less-experienced technicians that can put at risk the recovery of the attacked assets.

Apart from that, at the architectural level, it is a very competent and versatile solution.

I've used the solution for more than 15 years.

Overall, it is a very mature and stable solution.

With the arrival of Quantum Maestro, the platform's expansion capabilities have increased tremendously. Its new architecture is promising.

In general, they work very well, however, it should be prioritized and they need to assign senior technicians when the issue has been verified that it is very critical for the customer.

Due to working in an international MSSP, I have worked and continue to work with all manufacturers.

We always try to do the implementation work with our own SOC of experts.

It depends a lot on each case and on the customer's needs and capabilities.

It's not the cheapest solution, but one of the most advanced and competent.

We always evaluate alternatives and try to see what fits the client best. Fortinet, PaloAlto, Checkpoint, Cisco, et cetera.

The use of this tool is for the administration of policies, control, monitoring, and all the management of our gateway security tool. The separation of these environments has given us a robust solution in which we can apply and protect all the configurations created in our gateways without being afraid if we lose or damage the Check Point Security Management solution. Nothing bad would happen since we can create the environment again at the Microsoft Azure level and later restore the backup without being affected.

It also provides us with the required reports on perimeter security.

Thanks to this incredible tool, we have been able to generate all the control configurations in which we determine which applications or sites can be accessed on the networks that are under the supervision of the Check Point gateways. In addition to the access policies, we have allowed access to servers in a granular manner to such a level that it is allowed at the port level.

With the generation and review of logs, we have verified some vulnerabilities and attempted attacks to generate improvements in our infrastructure and policies to help avoid issues in the future.

The features that we liked the most about the solution are its audits and logs, where we can validate the problems, accesses, connection refusals, vulnerabilities, or malicious accesses that are generated in our infrastructure. All of this helps to improve our safety after being analyzed.

Another excellent feature is its granularity both in policies and access control. It helps us establish good policies.

There are some improvements that can be generated in this solution. For example, their internal environments and dashboards should all be updated to look pleasant on a visual level.

It would be helpful if the documentation and good practice guides are updated. Many are still from R77.

At the support level, they should expand the languages of attention to be able to expand support in countries where the English language is not standard.  They could improve the response time when it comes to providing customer support.

This tool has been used together with our Check Point Gateway for more than four years. It is excellent and the administration has been great.

The support at the technical level is very good. That said, sometimes it takes a long time to get a response. In general, it is good.

Neutral

Previously we did not use a management tool like this.

It is one of the best solutions that exist today. The costs are high, yet, in general, any GWs solution is. 

It is good that they support themselves with partners. Partners help clients understand the product and can request tests of the product before purchasing it to know if it is what the business is looking for.

It is always important to look for options available in the security solutions market. We really like how Check Point is managed, which is why we trust this manufacturer.

It is an excellent administration tool.

As a consultant for a security infrastructure consulting firm, I install and integrate this solution at client premises. There are many types of client domains, such as financials, government, healthcare, etc. 

It's a stable and complete product that is easy to use and capable of managing their next-gen firewall infra around the globe without compromises. 

Once the Check Point infra is up and running, clients really appreciate its capabilities of centrally managing security rules, making traffic flows visible, and quick detection and response capabilities in case of issues.

It allows clients to quickly learn about the product and its capabilities and thus focus quickly on what really matters, security. 

The concepts are easy to understand but powerful. As the management is easy and fast, the workload is less compared to other products. Access can be restricted granularly so different types of profiles can access the management solution without the risk of breaking anything. The helpdesk people can investigate the first line and provide findings to other teams for solution implementation. 

The rulebase management and the shared layers concept are implemented well. It avoids double work and reduces the risk of human errors. It makes the management solution very scalable.

Working with multiple administrators is possible. Changes are visible to others once you publish changes.

Investigating logs is easy and fast. The search results are provided with all details, so an in-depth analysis of problematic flows is easier.

Installation of policies is fast. For R81.10+ releases, it's a matter of seconds (compared to many minutes in the past).

The upgrade procedure already made huge improvements, yet it remains more challenging compared to other products. However, everything is well documented and the Check Point support is very skilled, so risks are rather limited. 

As this is probably the most complete product within its segment, no huge improvements are required from my point of view. Another problematic point, the policy installation duration time is solved since version R8x, so that's good. Clients always tell me: "Check Point is the Rolls Royce within this segment, it is outstanding". 

I've been using the Check Point Management solution for more than 15 years.

It's very stable with no remarks. Fixes are provided on a regular basis and are easy to install. 

Scalability is very good. Hardware appliances are available and virtual instances can be installed. It is possible to install, for huge deployments, the multi-domain Server. Multiple instances can be installed for redundancy purposes. 

They have excellent support which has improved a lot during the last years.

Positive

We implement other solutions, such as the Fortigate (Fortinet), PAN, and Cisco Secure Firewall (Firepower) with FMC.

The initial setup and installation are easy.