Check Point CloudGuard Network Security Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We have implemented it two year ago.

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

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

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

Positive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This application provides security intelligence in advance to caution teams from engaging with insecure data. It has upgraded the company's security systems with modern assessment tools. 

The networking system has developed a secure infrastructure for exchanging content and sharing information among colleagues. 

Check Point CloudGuard Network Security secures our database from ransomware attacks. 

Integrations with other applications took place efficiently. It has enhanced the reliable management of workflows and effective communication.

Since we deployed this application, there have been no reported attacks from any external forces. Employees can fully focus on more productive duties without fear of being attacked by cybercriminals. 

Network Security has been fundamental in the implementation of most projects and tasks across the enterprise. 

The security tools deployed by this system detect attacks in advance, enabling members to take necessary precautions. 

It provides notifications on time, alerting members to avoid downloads and engagements from unsafe online sites.

Real-time monitoring of the security situation in all the applications has enhanced compliance and saved the company from unnecessary risks. 

It has prevented the organization from most attacks that could destroy data and slow down workflows. When browsing, it scans sites to ensure that they are safe and that no harm can be caused. 

The overall production of set features has set a reliable way to track down security threats and offers automated recovery. 

It provides real-time analytics on network security and excellent prevention measures.

I am satisfied with the performance of this platform. 

The network security situation in the company has improved since we deployed this application. The next release should be flexible and easier to integrate with other applications. 

The overall performance of this application has been efficient, and I totally recommend it to other companies. 

The networking process has to be simplified further to enable users to better understand how the system works. 

The threat scanning system should categorize the level of threats to enhance reliable data interpretation. 

The customer service team sometimes delays their response when there are emergencies that require immediate solutions. 

There is a need for timely updates to meet the current technological changes in data security management.

I've used the solution for nine months.

I am impressed by the overall output. It has been stable.

The performance has been excellent since we deployed this solution.

The customer service team provides excellent guidelines 24/7.

Positive

I have used NordLayer; however, the cost of maintenance was high.

The initial setup was straightforward.

The implementation took place through the vendor team.

There has been a positive ROI since we deployed this solution.

The cost is excellent, depending on the size of the organization.

I evaluated other software. Check Point CloudGuard Network Security offered the best performance.

This platform is good for cloud security management, and I totally recommend it to other organizations.

Currently, we were counting on a hybrid cloud and we needed to integrate the latest generation of security. We came to lean towards one of the security leaders in the market. These powerful capabilities position it and allow us to increase cloud security elastically while keeping up with the dynamic requirements of our business. 

We use the cloud to integrate it into our hybrid cloud. It dynamically provides us with advanced security and consistent policy enforcement that automatically grows and scales with our cloud environment. With CloudGuard IaaS, we can easily protect workloads and applications.

Being able to move computing resources and data to public clouds means that security responsibilities are now shared between us and our cloud provider. While the cloud provider provides infrastructure protection, we as customers want to be able to control our own data and protect cloud assets while complying with internal regulations. On the other hand, we required complete traffic visibility and reporting, as well as proactive protection from even the most advanced threats within virtual network environments. CHKP offered us advanced threat protection to prevent the lateral spread of threats within defined data centers.

There are many important characteristics that for me are the best of the solution and come to support an emerging market:

• It improves the productivity of the company.
• It performs very complex or high value manual operations intellectual in a controlled and neglected way.
• There's a simplicity when performing tasks.
• It improves the availability of engineers to carry out projects.
• To all this we can add the ability to connect via API, and integrate solutions from developers trained for management from any location.

The solution from my experience is very good. What I would like for future updates would be faster updates to apply, and perhaps a greater presence in the local language for the regions of Latin America. These are markets that have been growing, however, the teams need a lot of time and training and in that period a specialized technician in the local language is required to support the constant requests. After that, I accept that Check Point surprises me as it has always done with its excellent work in innovation.

I've used the solution for around two years.

We place our CloudGuard Network Security gateways at the front on Azure, positioned with a load balancer. The configuration includes a load balancer and gateways on a virtual automation scale set in Azure. 

The solution is easier to manage than an on-premise firewall. It is easy to manage. The use of dynamic objects for these gateways made it easy to create the right rules and the right policies. Integration with Azure is also easy where we have to just add the subnets. In an on-premise setup, we have to add everything from scratch. We can automate a lot of actions.

We have the product deployed on Azure China. One crucial concern is the version limitation; unfortunately, in Azure China, we are restricted to running version R80. Our architecture has a Load Balancer, VMSS CloudGuard, etc. The duplication in this setup prevents the application from seeing the original client IP. This poses a problem for certain applications that require the original IP for login purposes. Although we managed a workaround with a different architecture involving a WAF, it is not as straightforward as the standard Azure setup.

I have been using the product for two years. However, my company has been using it for five to six years. 

CloudGuard Network Security's stability is high. 

The solution's scalability is good. 

We typically open tickets with our partner, but there was one instance where they couldn't provide a solution. In that case, we opened a ticket with Check Point directly, and they responded within four hours, resolving the issue.

We initially used on-premise solutions, starting with Juniper firewalls. However, when we migrated to Check Point for IPS protection, the experience was really good.

We have seen ROI with the product's use. It helps us reduce the manhours with upgrades and odd fixes. We can automate the process. It takes only a small amount of time. On-premise solutions require informing users about potential interruptions and, in worst-case scenarios, significant disruptions. The process involves extensive preparation, including ensuring that the necessary conditions are met for updating the cluster members one at a time. In contrast, on Azure, automation simplifies everything.

We tried to use Azure Firewall for one application as a proof of concept. However, Check Point is easier for us. 

We operate in a hybrid cloud environment with both on-premises and Azure, but we don't currently use other cloud providers like Amazon. Our on-premises SmartConsole remains in use, and overall, everything is running smoothly. Our confidence in the product is high. We believe that we can do better with its help. I would rate it a nine out of ten because it's very good with high potency and potential. However, it's not perfect. I faced issues with Azure China, and it's not as straightforward on other cloud platforms.

The solution helps protect network security by offering threat prevention, addressing vulnerabilities, and utilizing blades. 

We use it for the protection of our internal services. We're a Telco company, our internal users are on the machines. We also have some external services that we protect. We protect our customers and our public cloud with it.

VMware is our public cloud provider. 

Threat prevention is the biggest benefit we see from it. 

The network security is the most valuable aspect of CloudGuard. I am a network engineer so it's the most relevant feature to me.

CloudGuard Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid-clouds and on-prem. We manage all of those environments through this one solution. 

It's user-friendly. It's a multi-domain solution. CloudGuard is really, really good. 

I have experience with FortiGate and Cisco. I worked with them at previous jobs. FortiGate is easy and user-friendly when it comes to the configuration, but it is unstable in some countries and the routing tables have problems. The configuration of the network is in the same management platform, which might be better for some.

In comparison, CloudGaurd is very stable.

Cisco is hard to use, FortiGate is easy and CloudGuard is somewhere in the middle when it comes to ease of use. 

When it comes to identifying security threats, CloudGuard is really good compared to its competition.

I am confident that CloudGuard's Network Security can protect us. It enables me to sleep very well at night.

We utilize logging systems, and geolocation is crucial for us as some applications must only be accessible from our country. However, there have been occasional issues with this feature. It drops requests. It's not always precise. 

I have been using the product for two years. 

My team has been using it for five to six years. 

CloudGuard Network Security is very stable. 

We have 28 licenses. We have 800 servers on our private cloud. 

Their support is fast. They answer quickly.

Positive

We integrate with NSX. The setup wasn't hard.

We have seen ROI. It saves us time because it's stable. It's easily administered. We have time to do other tasks. It is easy. 

Licensing is complicated. When a license expires, we have to renew it and the process is complicated. They should make the process easier.

Using CloudGuard Network Security saves time due to its stability and ease of administration. The solution is not complex, allowing administrators to focus on other tasks. The configuration process is straightforward. It can integrate with NSX. 

I rate the product a nine out of ten. We manage a total of 800 servers that host a variety of components, including our infrastructure, customer applications, databases, application sites, and disaster recovery systems

We use this solution as our perimeter firewall. 

The most valuable feature for us is the cluster support. We have been using this for a long time, so it is not a feature from the latest version.

We would like to be able to scale out such that we can increase performance within a cluster with more active nodes.

Our biggest complaint concerns the high resource usage for IDS/IPS, as we cannot turn on all of the features even with a recent hardware upgrade.

A great enhancement for this solution would be an active-active or multi-active scalability.

As we need to fulfill higher bandwidth demands due to increased cloud usage and research-driven data exchange, we might need to look for other vendors with more competitive pricing.

This is a stable solution.

Six months ago, we updated our version to the most recent one.

The scalability of this solution is limited, which is why we have started looking for alternatives. Currently, we have about twenty-thousand users.

Technical support for this solution is good. They have a quick response and the solution was available within a short period.

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

This initial setup of this solution is complex.

The preparation for deployment took two days, and the deployment itself took about two hours.

We have three staff who are responsible for maintaining the firewall, although there are more tasks that they handle, in addition to it.

We enlisted the help of a service provider to assist us with the implementation. 

The price of this solution could be improved. We pay approximately ‎€150,000 ($166,000 USD) per year. We receive four days of support every year from our service provider before we have to contact Check Point. 

We did not evaluate other options before choosing this solution, although we are currently considering alternative solutions from Forcepoint and Fortinet.

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to start by identifying high-bandwidth use cases. If you have any, and you have a high-security requirement, then I suggest considering other options.

This is a secure and reliable solution for us, although we are a bit disappointed with the limited scalability and resource consumption.  

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We've implemented CloudGuard in Azure, configuring it as firewalls and file management systems. These functionalities skillfully oversee our API application and various aspects of our data center environment. Our entire infrastructure, hosted within Azure's data centers, is effectively managed by CloudGuard, ensuring comprehensive security coverage.

One of the notable benefits we've observed is the ease of deployment in our environment. It offers remarkable flexibility in how we configure and utilize the resources. This flexibility allows developers to seamlessly collaborate with network security experts to ensure that our applications are secure. This level of assurance has instilled confidence within our teams, knowing that we're deploying solutions that will be effectively managed.

CloudGuard Network Security offers unified security management across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments. With this comprehensive feature set, we benefit from enhanced flexibility. We can seamlessly manage both on-premises and cloud environments from a single interface, simplifying our operations and providing a centralized view of our data.

On a scale of one to ten, our confidence level in CloudGuard Network Security stands at an eight. This rating signifies that it surpasses the average level of confidence. While we acknowledge that there's always room for improvement in technology, we believe that CloudGuard Network Security has demonstrated its effectiveness and reliability.

The data center objects, checks, and other components are thoroughly examined, allowing us to incorporate them into our policy definitions. This approach has proven to be highly effective, akin to the standards typically seen in on-premises environments.

There is room for improvement regarding the technical support provided. Having a more refined and advanced feature would offer significant benefits.

I have been using it for three and a half years.

In terms of stability, it's rock solid. I haven't encountered much trouble over the past three and a half years.

It performs well in terms of the use case scenario where deployment is required, and its scalability is satisfactory. Overall, I would say it's good enough for our needs.

In terms of tech support, I would rate it a four on a scale of one to ten, which is lower than it used to be. Previously, I would have rated it a seven. Over the years, I've noticed a decline in the technical expertise of support staff. While I have extensive experience with Check Point products spanning fifteen to twenty years, I find it increasingly challenging to get the level of assistance I need. Support personnel nowadays seem to specialize in only one or two products, making it difficult to get comprehensive assistance for complex issues. This lack of holistic understanding delays problem resolution and frustrates customers.

Neutral

We've been loyal users of Check Point products for quite some time now. The company has a strong reputation in the industry, and I have more experience with Check Point products compared to others. It offers some of the best services available in the industry.

When comparing CloudGuard Network Security to other solutions for identifying security threats, it emerges as one of the leaders in the field. Our statistics demonstrate its effectiveness, with a notable ninety percent or higher success rate. Check Point covers the majority of our security needs, achieving a remarkable ninety-nine percent success rate, which is among the best in the industry. In terms of setup and reliability, we have a strong preference for CloudGuard.

We opted not to proceed with our vendor's cloud firewall solution because it lacked a comprehensive understanding of our network infrastructure. These solutions are primarily tailored to the specific environment of the vendor, which may not align with our needs. Instead, we prefer utilizing an NGFW appliance or a more versatile NBI device, such as those offered by Check Point. This approach allows us to avoid vendor lock-in and leverage familiar security devices. By partnering with third-party vendors like Check Point, we gain flexibility and can choose products specifically designed for security purposes. This contrasts with relying solely on the cloud service provider's offerings, which may prioritize their products over comprehensive security. In my opinion, solutions like those from Check Point offer a more mature and reliable approach to network security.

During the initial deployment phase, we encountered a learning curve as we transitioned from traditional firewall deployment methods to cloud-based environments. One concern was whether the throughput would match that of physical appliances. However, we ultimately found the performance to be satisfactory and were pleased with the results. We engaged with both Check Point and third-party experts to assist with deployment, given that it was a new process for us. Drawing on their expertise proved invaluable in navigating the deployment process smoothly.

The return on investment has become evident over the past three years. As a global company, we've successfully migrated over two hundred applications from on-premises to the cloud. This transition has provided us with greater flexibility and enhanced security measures, allowing us to efficiently patch and maintain applications without significant downtime. Overall, it has significantly improved our operational efficiency and streamlined our processes.

We explored both pay-as-you-go and build-your-own-licensing models, and found both to be competitive. While everyone desires lower prices, we're content with the current pricing structure, as it meets our needs effectively.

Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten. 

The architecture proposed is based on Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework enterprise-scale landing zone architecture. Enterprise-scale is an architectural approach and a reference implementation that enables effective construction and operationalization of landing zones on Azure at scale.

We're using CloudGuard solution in a NorthBound - SouthBound design to protect and filter both incoming and outgoing traffic.

Also, we are using a VMSS solution deployed in Azure, with a minimum of two instances

The design is based on a "Hub & Spoke" model in which the environment is set up as a system of connections arranged as a kind of bicycle wheel where the spokes are connected to a central point in the hub, and all traffic to and from the spokes passes through this hub.

The NorthBound/SouthBound design solution allows traffic to be scanned and filtered both when entering (NB) and exiting (SB) the organization.

This design is also extremely suitable for segmenting a network. Network segmentation is usually done to reduce the attack surface of the network and limit the ability of a malicious threat to spread freely across the network.

Also, CloudGuard came with a new benefit in terms of scalability, with the VMSS solution capable of auto-scale in or out, depending on the resource demand.

The most valuable aspects of the solution include:

• Easy to administer and also to deploy, thanks to automated setup with pre-configured templates. On top of that, security comes first.
• The proactive threat detection results in huge risk reduction.
• It has a user-friendly interface; it's best in the market for policy management and log monitoring.
• There are multiple options to deploy (clustering, standalone, VMSS and single management solution, SMS or MDS, and even better: Infinity Portal).
• It has a really strong user community, which seems to compensate for the very poor vendor support.
• The capability to auto-scale in or out, depending on the resource demand is great.

Vendor support might be the weakest point of the CloudGuard solution. You really struggle to find a CloudGuard specialist, even for simple tasks. As mentioned before, you can find better answers to the user community (which is actually a downside of the product).

There are lots of limitations and discrepancies across different Cloud provider deployments.

Documentation might become too complex or too spread out, especially for newcomers.

As in the past, with traditional Check Point firewalls, it sometimes seems to be moving too fast with software releases and upgrade cycles, which are difficult to keep up with.

I have been using Check Point for more than ten years - and CloudGuard for almost a year.