Check Point NGFW Other Advice
Check Point is a good solution. It is a reliable solution above all.
View full review »BF
reviewer1718715
Network Engineer II at Baptist Health
Carefully consider the vendor before making a leap. It's very difficult and costly to change vendors at a later date.
View full review »AS
reviewer1625583
Works at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Not at the moment.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Check Point NGFW
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point NGFW. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Check Point has introduced several SD-WAN and IoT features, among others. I would suggest exploring the zero-trust features offered by Check Point. Additionally, if interested in incorporating SD-WAN or IoT capabilities, these features are readily available within the product. It's important to note that in today's landscape, Check Point offers more than just a traditional firewall; it's a comprehensive and advanced solution. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.
View full review »I consider it a top leader in security, and I highly recommend it. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.
View full review »MK
Mithilesh_Kumar
Technical Architect and consultant at VirginAustralia
Before opting for this solution, it is crucial to assess the customer's existing environment, including the number of users, traffic patterns, applications in use, and bandwidth utilization. It is an excellent choice and I would encourage others to consider using it for their security needs. I would rate it nine out of ten.
View full review »It is a good product. There are other competitors. Check Point NGFW is easy to deploy, manage, implement, and troubleshoot. The operation is pretty simple. Even a few operations people can run it very well. It is pretty much stable. We need to safeguard the data of our organization very well. Check Point NGFW is a leading solution provider. Security products must not have many vulnerabilities. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
View full review »We have run Check Point Security Gateways for five years and have had very few issues; they have been rock solid, and the hardware has been 100%.
View full review »This is a great overall solution.
View full review »It is highly commendable for its stability and performance. When deciding on the appropriate licensing option, it's important to carefully consider your needs. Opting for two-year or five-year licenses can provide cost savings through discounts. After it is deployed, those with experience using other next-generation firewalls will find it relatively straightforward to manage. It doesn't require significant additional effort, and users with a basic understanding of next-generation firewall features can navigate through the management and rule settings easily. I would rate it eight out of ten.
For those still reliant on on-premises infrastructure, NGFW is a trustworthy choice, offering robust security features suitable for various third-party checks and requirements. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
View full review »Check Point is great for comprehensive security solutions.
View full review »JR
reviewer1680342
Systems Architect at PHARMPIX CORP
I'd advise other users to give it a try.
View full review »SF
Sandun Fernando
Network Administrator at University of Kelaniya
We are in the higher education sector in Sri Lanka. We produce graduates to our country and other countries.
View full review »For the technical administration teams. I advise them to take, at least, the basic training so they can manage the solution adequately.
View full review »RS
Rahul Sharma,
Network and Security Engineer at BT - British Telecom
Check Point is a good tool. I would recommend it to others. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
View full review »When considering a POC for a security solution, it's essential to assess the various use cases and functionalities it offers, such as NDSW which is particularly useful for protecting sensitive data. Check Point NGFW is not solely a firewall; it's a comprehensive security solution with various capabilities. It can address a wide range of security requirements, making it a valuable and versatile asset for organizations looking to enhance their security posture. I would rate it eight out of ten.
View full review »JV
reviewer1724343
Principal Associate at Eurofins
We have had a great experience so far.
View full review »AK
Amit Kuhar
Network Security Consultant at Atos Syntel
It is a good firewall. It has returned good performance. We are happy with the product. I would rate the product as a nine out of 10.
View full review »LS
Lucas Sousa
Network Administrator at Bodiva
Having worked with products from various providers, I've found the experience and functionality of Check Point to be quite impressive and I strongly recommend it, provided they invest in essential training, which is a critical component. Its user-friendly management interface simplifies the process, and it offers a wealth of features. I would rate it nine out of ten.
View full review »SG
reviewer2178546
Network security architect at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
It is a really good solution. You should be happy with it if you choose it.
View full review »JJ
José Javier Dominguez Reina
Project Manager at Junta de Andalucia
I would rate Check Point NGFW 10 out of 10.
View full review »SR
Sunil Redekar
Security Engineer at Hitachi Systems
If you are making a plan of action for the installation of firewalls, clarify with the Check Point tech engineers that all is proper and good. We always arrange a Check Point standby engineer for this activity, because if anything goes wrong, then they can help on the call.
I would rate this solution as an eight out of 10.
View full review »The solution is perfect for us. That said, for each client, the needs are different.
View full review »The solution is a good solution and at the top of the market.
View full review »BZ
reviewer1692960
IT System Operations Manager at Hamamatsu Photonics KK
If you don't need/use their a la carte software blades (FDE, Ransomware, etc.) you can always add on later. They are very accommodating with trial licensing to test in a proof of concept way. If you already have other third-party products that perform those functions, you can bundle Check Point's and save a bit of money consolidating them.
View full review »I would say as good as the solution is, if you are looking to get the most out of it, you should look to get a company or consultant who knows the Check Point solution inside out to assist with the setup. We found a partner who specialized in Check Point and we would not have been able to get it to the stage we have without them.
View full review »This is a complex solution and there are other vendors that are easier to manage, but it is perhaps the best solution regardless.
View full review »KP
Kirtikumar Patel
Network Engineer at LTTS
This is a very good and best solution as a perimeter device for NGFW.
View full review »Regarding firewalls, my role primarily involves designing and deploying them, then handing over the management to the operations team. While I find the deployment process relatively easy, the issues the operations team faces later on can impact my perspective. I'd rate Check Point a 7 out of 10. The ease of deployment is a plus, but we've encountered some problems with Check Point, particularly related to documentation. Compared to vendors like Cisco and Juniper, the quality and comprehensiveness of the documentation could be improved.
View full review »They just need to get the pricing down or do a better job of bundling the licensing.
View full review »My advice for anyone considering it would be to begin by thoroughly understanding their specific needs and requirements. It's crucial to assess budget constraints and security priorities. If an organization has a sufficient budget and prioritizes a robust security posture, I would recommend considering Fortinet. They often provide a more comprehensive security exposure when compared to Check Point. For organizations with legacy systems or a strong preference for Check Point's Endpoint solutions, my advice is to segregate the management and gateway components. Avoid running both on the same platform to prevent complexity and potential issues. Separating these functions can lead to a smoother and more efficient operation. Overall, I would rate it six out of ten.
TM
Tomasz Mikołajczyk
Telecommunication Team Leader at BIK
Try many solutions and then choose the best one for you.
I'd rate Check Point NGFW a ten out of ten.
View full review »While the cost may be a consideration, the level of security provided by Check Point is exceptional. In my experience, I have not encountered any cyber attacks. The only negative experience was not related to the firewall but rather to customer issues with the router. It's important to remember that compromising security for cost savings can ultimately lead to vulnerabilities. Therefore, investing in high-security solutions like Check Point is worthwhile. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.
View full review »AY
reviewer1768698
Jr. ISO at BancNet, Inc.
We need more information on the ability to collaborate enterprise support.
View full review »Check Point is the most user-friendly solution. It can be configured quickly. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.
View full review »AH
reviewer2282079
Security Consultant at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would rate it six out of ten.
View full review »Go for Check Point NGFW. It's the best among market alternatives and is a must-have solution for professionals.
S
reviewer1776717
Network Security Engineer at Fujairah Port
It's an excellent solution and offers the best support.
View full review »VJ
reviewer1686129
Senior infrastructure technical lead at Westpac Bank
We are satisfied with the product and support.
View full review »VN
reviewer1602702
TitleManager - Datacenter IT at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Setup can be complex and it is very helpful to first plan the deployment before rushing into it. Use the support available to find out the best options to use.
We would love to have more training materials and/or courses available so that I can onboard engineers in a faster way.
View full review »CB
Charanjit Bhatia
AGM Cyber Security CoE at Bata Group
In summary, this is an excellent product and featured consistently in Gartner for the last 10 years. They have good R&D and support services across the globe.
View full review »SV
Steve Vandegaer
Senior Engineer Security at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Make sure you have a good partner doing Check Point work for you because, as a direct client, it's very hard to get the necessary skills in-house, unless you're a very big company. Contact Check Point and ask them which partner they recommend and go that route. Don't try to do it yourself. The firewall is too complex to set up and maintain yourself, without the assistance of people who do it every day.
Learn and get experience with it. Don't be overwhelmed. When you start with it all the features and all the tips and tricks that you need to know to maintain it, it can be overwhelming. Like I said, the learning curve is very steep, and when you start with it, it's going to look like, "Whoa, this is impossible." But stick with it and when you get some experience it's going to be okay. It's a difficult product, but once you get the hang of it, it's one that's really nice to work with. We still run into issues from time to time, but Check Point products are very manageable and fun to work with. Check Point is my favorite vendor. I like working with it a lot.
I would rate Check Point's mainstream solutions at eight or nine out of 10, and the same for the chassis. I would rate the SMBs around a six. I don't really like those too much. Overall, Check Point is an eight, because most people are going for the mainstream solutions and those are very good.
View full review »IE
Ikede-Ebhole
Cyber Security Consultant at Wirespeed
My recommendation is to consider Fortinet as an alternative. Overall, I'd rate it a seven out of ten. There's room for improvement, especially since Check Point doesn't seem too focused on our region.
In Nigeria, procuring the firewall and bundled services like technical account management and professional services can be challenging. The service delivery is not as efficient as one would expect, which wouldn't be the case for a European customer.
View full review »I was an engineer for AT&T. I helped customers with configurations. The vendor is taking care of the user side of security with Check Point Harmony. It is a very good product. Check Point Harmony must provide administrators the ability to manage external programs remotely. Some customers want such features, and other vendors provide them. I would recommend the solution to others. The vendor has been investing a lot of money and effort to prevent zero-day attacks. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
View full review »Check Point NGFW is highly scalable. It has a wide range of customized productive services with a huge community and team behind its technology.
View full review »JH
reviewer2005806
Payroll Specialist at Dice
This is a great solution for many organizations that require stable data security.
View full review »RW
Robert Weaver
Senior Systems Engineer at Upper Occoquan Service Authority
I would advise comparing it to the other products.
I would rate it a nine out of 10. It has served us very well and given us very few headaches.
View full review »IY
Ivailo Yanchev
System Administrator at Grant Thornton
We like it. It works well.
View full review »MA
reviewer1247181
Service Manager at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
When you implement anything in an environment you need to have a good design to begin with, you do not want to have to rebuild it after you have implemented it. It is important to
be thorough in preparations and planning.
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Check Point NGFW an eight out of ten.
View full review »GB
Guillermo Buritica Tobon
Consultant - Site Reliability Engineering Manager (SRE) - Managed Services at Servian
I really love the device and would choose it over the Cisco and the Fortinet 110C.
View full review »YK
reviewer2335599
Chief Information Security Officer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
View full review »It's a must-integrate solution for professionals and organizations.
View full review »I recommend to all system managers and security administrators to try all the enterprise firewall solutions. Then, most likely the final decision will be to use the Check Point Next Generation firewall.
View full review »BI
reviewer1691745
Technology Architect at BearingPoint
I'd advise teams to give it a try!
View full review »Be knowledgeable before implementing this firewall because it has many advanced features compared to the normal firewalls in the market. If you want to use it in a better way, then you need to be trained on it.
There were a few members who joined our organization who were familiar with Check Point, but they do not know about every feature which could be used and taken advantage of to better secure our network. I recommend getting proper training before using it.
I would rate this solution a nine out of 10 because I am a very happy customer of Check Point. I have had a good experience with this firewall. I like is the way it is improving a lot with the times.
View full review »The tool behaves well. The only improvement that I have seen that is necessary is to improve the latency when entering the application and they must improve the support.
View full review »Check Point should review their pricing models especially for the African market.
View full review »So far I have mentioned all the things needed to be given importance with regard to an NGFW solution.
View full review »DD
Dheeraj Dexit
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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.
View full review »PS
Pushkin Sawhney
Principal Network and Security Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
If you're looking to implement Check Point as a security solution, definitely do your homework. Do some research, not just in terms of firewalls, but overall security architecture. Which ones are the leaders in the field? Which ones are there to deliver what they promise? And overall, how does the architecture work? Is it secure or not? And does it come from a team that understands how to support the solution itself? Are they consistent? Look at their track record for the past 10 or 15 years, or are they a new player? If they are, you don't know whether they're going to stay in the game or not. A good thing about Check Point is that its core product is security. They've been doing it day in and day out. You know they're there to stay in the game. You can trust them.
Check Point is a proven solution. A lot of customers and clients already rely on it. And for the Next Generation Firewalls, they're coming up with new features as security threats become known.
If somebody wants a secure and stable environment, Check Point is definitely the leader to go to; definitely the number-one choice. It's not only what it says on the box. In reality, I've worked with hundreds of banks and they're happy with the product because it works; in practice, it works. That's the main thing.
View full review »SR
reviewer2323554
Technical Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
My recommendation is to allocate time for thorough research when working with it. Relying solely on their support may not be sufficient. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
View full review »SQ
reviewer9837493
IT Manager at Gainwell Technologies
A few months ago, one of my clients was targeted by a sophisticated ransomware attack. Check Point NGFW was able to detect and block the attack before it could cause any damage. My client was very grateful for Check Point NGFW's protection, and I was relieved that I was able to help them avoid a costly and disruptive attack.
View full review »WB
reviewer1694964
Senior System Administrator at Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc
You're paying a premium price, for what is a premium product and support. I have opened several tickets with their support team and have had excellent service each time.
View full review »BD
Basil Dange
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Before implementing the security gateway, you need to be sure about the license and modules that you are going to enable. This includes determining the proper size, as it can affect throughput drastically after enabling each module. This is especially true for SSL decryption.
The architecture needs to be studied before finalizing, as the configuration is done remotely using the centralized smart console. All of the security gateways need to be connected to the management server for any policy configuration, and they should be available at all times.
View full review »MA
Manjit Aggarwal
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Check Point firewalls have many features. Before configuring it in an environment, you should know each and every feature of the firewall. You should also follow the three-level hierarchy which is recommended by Check Point.
There are a few add-on features for Check Point firewalls. I only learned that by using the firewalls. I'm very happy with the way Check Point is progressing. They continue to work on their firewalls even after making their name. That is something we should follow in our lives as well: Once we have made our name, we should not stop there. We should further build the reputation of the company and product.
We are very happy with the Check Point firewalls. The only thing missing, as I mentioned earlier, is that training should be increased for the firewall by the organization. Otherwise, we are very happy with investment in this solution.
View full review »We have customers from medium and corporate enterprises. I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
View full review »MB
reviewer1728645
IT Security Engineer at PricewaterhouseCoopers
For the Identity Awareness setup, try to follow Check Point guidelines from the start as it is really capricious and hard to debug.
View full review »GC
reviewer1629138
Senior Infrastructure Service Specialist at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
This is a great and stable platform overall. Performance and simplicity make this a good choice for any size of company.
View full review »MG
reviewer1026111
IT Security Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
I would recommend this solution. However, I would advise everyone to carefully evaluate their needs against this vendor and compare them with the competition. There is a lot of strong competition between Palo Alto and Fortinet. One could have an advantage over the other for a customer's specific use case.
I rate Check Point an eight out of ten.
View full review »SK
reviewer1625355
Project Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Overall, the solution and product line are good but more competitive pricing can be offered.
View full review »PJ
Pedro Justo
Project Manager at SANDETEL
In my opinion, this solution is already quite complete with respect to our requirements.
View full review »My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to always keep an identical configuration, even interface statuses, in a VSX cluster before an upgrade to minimize upgrade failures.
View full review »MP
Mahendra Pal
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this product is that the TAC team is very knowledgeable and supportive. If I want to understand something or if I have doubts, then usually clear it up and make sure that I understand the logic. I have learned a lot from them.
This is a product that is rich in features and my advice for anybody who is deploying it for the first time is to learn about them in advance. It is a little bit different than a CLI-based firewall and I recommend learning about all of the features before deploying it.
At this point, we are happy with the results that we are getting from Check Point, and are not looking to replace it. It works as we were expecting before it was deployed.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
View full review »RM
Rachit Malhotra
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Get good training on Check Point, which is very rare to obtain at this point of time. Before implementing or deploy the product, you should be trained properly so you know all the features. It has heavy features in terms of quantity. You should know about each feature before using or deploying it.
I would rate the solution as an eight out of 10.
View full review »IK
reviewer1404666
Security Expert at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
My best advice would be, if you are not as skilled, that while you don't really need to use the Check Point Professional Services, you should use a partner that has good knowledge of the device. If it's just a straightforward deployment without all the features, it may look simple but there are too many options. Eventually, you may use 30 percent of them. I don't think you will use 100 percent of all the features that are available.
Overall, I'm a little bit disappointed because of the numerous bugs that there are.
I would rate it at seven out of ten because their management platform and the dashboard. It's the most intuitive and user-friendly in day-to-day operations, as long as you're not dealing with the bugs.
View full review »This is a very good security application, both physically and as a virtual appliance.
View full review »LD
Leo Diaz
Cloud Support at a tech company with 1-10 employees
It is an expensive tool. It's very good and effective. If you have the option or facility to acquire it, I recommend you try it first and you will love it.
View full review »AK
reviewer1963764
Network Engineer at Pevans EA Ltd
Generally, Check Point is a good product with a lot of security features that I would recommend to any organization.
View full review »MM
reviewer1853787
Systems Engineer at HarborTech Mobility
Check Point licenses work very differently compared to other vendors. We need to purchase each blade in order to make it work, however, we can easily obtain a trial (evaluation) license from Check Point to get visibility for the blade. Check Point tries to maintain relationships with customers and they try to match their price with customer expectations.
View full review »GA
reviewer1696383
President at NGA Consulting, Inc.
Do your research and size the appliance correctly.
View full review »XE
Xavier Espinoza
Subgerente de Tecnologías de la Información at ETAPA EP
The HP Server works fine without any maintenance, but it needs to be taken care of. We did not, which caused a disk to fail. We have one or maybe two that are working. I don't have any complaints about the HP Server. It was sized for that network load at that time.
I would rate Check Point a ten out of ten. It works as expected.
View full review »Do your research and look into cloud solutions. Check Point offers many cloud services, and that's where everything's moving, towards the future. Research the different appliances and solutions that Check Point offers and find out what works best for your particular situation.
The biggest lesson I have learned from using Check Point's firewalls is not to be afraid to call for help. There are times where I may be trying to figure something out myself, when in all reality, all I need to do is call Check Point customer support. They'll explain to me why something is configured a certain way, or if there's a better way that I could go about configuring something, and things of that nature. They have been very helpful and have saved me time, anytime I've called.
I can't think of any additional features their NGFW needs that we don't already have access to. I know there are features such as moving the dashboard toward the cloud, and I think that's beneficial, but it's something they already offer. We just don't take advantage of it right now.
View full review »NM
Nilson Moya
Logical Security Deputy Manager - IT at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
You must consider Check Point as your first NGFW option.
View full review »IA
Ilangovan Abdullah
Solutions Architect Infrastructure and Security Manager at Jumbo Electronics Co. Ltd. LLC.
I would recommend this solution. From a security standpoint, Check Point is the best product, but a customer should have the right skillsets to onboard and manage this.
I've been working with multiple customers in India, and I don't see any specific features that they need. It has covered pretty much everything.
Overall, I would rate it a seven out of 10.
View full review »I.
Ifeanyi Onyiaodike
Network security engineer at Fidelity Bank
I would recommend going into Check Point solutions. Although Check Point has the option of implementing your firewall on a server, I would advise implementing it on a perimeter device because servers have latency. So deploy it on a dedicated device. Carry out a survey to find out if the device can handle the kind of workload you need to put through it.
Also, make it a redundant solution, apart from the Management Server, which can be just one device. Although I should note that up until now, we have not had anything like that.
View full review »CC
reviewer1830165
Technology at Partswerx
The support is great.
View full review »AH
Anthony Hassiotis
Works
It's demanding for the administrator, as it takes years to get an in-depth knowledge of the platform. Otherwise, it is easy to use from day one.
View full review »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.
View full review »AS
AnkurSingh
Technical Support Engineer at AlgoSec
Anyone who is new to Check Point Firewalls should have the basic understanding and training so it becomes easy to deploy and implement. You can go onto YouTube and find various training videos regarding Check Point, where you can get a basic understanding of the Check Point Firewall.
I would rate this solution as an eight out of 10.
View full review »Check Point gives you flexibility and eases the management with meeting organisation’s security need. But before choosing proper sizing has to be done.
View full review »RF
Ricardo-Fernandes
Manager for Operations, Security and Management at REN - Rede Energeticas Nacionais, S.A.
Overall, I am pretty happy with Check Point firewalls. My advice for anybody who is implementing this product is to get somebody with experience to help choose the correct, stable version, and assist with the configuration. All of the new features take time to implement properly, but if the correct steps are followed then they won't run into problems when the system goes into production.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
View full review »TK
Timur Kurbanbayev
Technical Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.
View full review »HM
reviewer1375017
Senior Solution Architect at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Check Point NGFW is trying to innovate in the market, but all the other vendors in the market are doing more the same.
I rate Check Point NGFW a nine out of ten.
View full review »RP
RajendraPrasad
Director at TechPlayr
I'm leaning toward the now cloud. The appliance base has now been removed. We are now concentrating our efforts on the Azure Cloud, AWS, and other similar platforms. I believe that people must mature in order to work on it. That's where things stand. As a result, we must learn how this is implemented on cloud platforms.
I would rate Check Point a seven out of ten but NGFW a six out of ten.
View full review »OG
Oscar Daniel Garcia
IT Director at Facultad de Ciencias Actuariales, Universidad Anáhuac México
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. This is a very good solution. It's complex because it's not too easy to use, but the brand and our partner help us with NG Firewall configuration issues or other solutions like Harmony.
The university is growing every year and with that, I purchase more endpoint licenses and Harmony Endpoint because the firewall works well on the dimension and capacity. Next year, we plan to integrate Harmony Email and Office. The solution also prevents threats to Office 365.
View full review »RS
reviewer1643319
IT Manager at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
The most valuable features are the security blades and the ease of managing the policies, searching logs for events, and correlating them.
View full review »We are a customer and an end-user. We don't have a business relationship with Check Point.
We are not using the latest version of the solution, however, I cannot speak to the actual version number. We might be a version or two behind the latest update.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten. We've largely been quite pleased with its capabilities.
I would recommend the solution to other users and companies.
View full review »Overall, this is a very complete tool.
View full review »BF
BrianFischer
Senior IT Manager at a mining and metals company with 501-1,000 employees
My advice would be to look hard at premium support options. Know what your tolerances are, and if you expect fairly quick turnaround on support incidents, go ahead and invest that money in support. Definitely take advantages of pro services, buy a block of hours, whether that's 10 hours or 20 hours, and use that to fill in the knowledge gaps, especially during deployment. If you rely on standard support during setup, depending on how complex your environment is, you may be frustrated.
We did well doing what I recommended here. We bought two rounds of pro services (20 hours). I don't want to pile on standard support - it's not bad - it's just that if we were to rely only on standard support, I think our migration would have taken longer, and there might have been more frustrations. Because we had local support and because we bought pro services, it accelerated our timeline and it got us into production much quicker.
From what I've seen and heard from my staff, I would rate Check Point NGFW technology a nine out of ten.
View full review »AU
reviewer1425090
Network and Security Specialist at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
This is not day-to-day firewall work, where maybe a node can do it. If you get into a trouble, you can't actually involve Check Point support all the time, especially when you won't get a response. You need to employ people who are certified. Check Point has a lot to sink in, and it's not an easy thing. You might just expose your environment, even after spending a lot of money.
It is future-proof. I would rate this solution as a nine out of 10.
View full review »SA
Sadiq Abdulwahab
Network Administrator at N S PHARMACY SDN.BHD.
I would advise anyone to try Check Point.
I would rate this solution 7.5 out of 10. I think they should make their licensing simpler.
View full review ȆG
Ümit Güler
Consultant at KoçSistem
If you are looking for a firewall appliance that has a lot of security features, easy installation, and configuration, Check Point firewall products are the best for you.
View full review »MH
reviewer1718679
Senior Network Engineer at Arvest Bank Group
Do not let Check Point's past success lure you into their current state of bottom of the barrel.
View full review »PD
PRAPHULLA DESHPANDE
Sr. Security Analyst at Atos
We are integrated partners and we provide services to the customers.
I didn't get any chance to work on version 80.40, however, a lot of the customers are on versions 80.10, 80.20, and 80.40.
I would encourage users and companies to use Check Point. It's quite a good solution. I find it to be a better solution than, for example, Palo Alto.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
View full review »I.
Ifeanyi Onyiaodike
Network security engineer at Fidelity Bank
I would recommend Check Point to others. We are still learning as we're just about a year into using it, but so far, the support and the solution in general has been good. I'd recommend Check Point, especially to users that are looking for an affordable solution.
Check Point also has a great community. They have this community where users can go to share ideas. They also have great networks.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight. Cisco dominated the African market until Check Point came along.
View full review »DZ
David Zaw
Director of Enterprise Solution at KMD Company Limited
My recommendation for organizations considering implementing Check Point NGFW is to prioritize selecting high-end models for optimal performance and security. Check Point NGFW offers robust protection for networks and data, allowing businesses to maintain their operations with confidence. Overall, I would rate Check Point NGFW as an eight out of ten.
I take care of the solution's maintenance part, and I feel that it is a straightforward process.
Check Point NGFW is good for big companies.
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
RV
Raghunath Venkatesh
Business Development Manager - Security at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
I would recommend this solution to anyone with an eye for security and would rate it a seven out of ten.
View full review »LO
Leandro Oliveira
Infrastructure Manager at trt18
I'd say that Check Point NGFW is a good product but it's hard to set up and keep it going, so we had to invest in some training and we have to keep at least two employees just to keep it working.
On a scale of one to ten, I would give Check Point NGFW an eight.
View full review »AO
Soji
Head of Technology at African Alliance Plc.
It is an awesome product!
View full review »ED
reviewer1678680
Senior Linux Administrator at Cartrack
Check Point does cost a lot, but for me, it's worth the money I paid.
Some of the products are easier to deploy. For example, the Harmony products are simpler as they have a per user/per device pricing model.
RG
Rahul Gombhir
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
My advice for anybody who is implementing Check Point NGFW is that if they get stuck, then visit the technical support section of the website and read the articles that are available. I have learned many things from the tech articles, and it's a good website if you want to learn about it in-depth.
One of the things that I learned is that Check Point firewalls also use Linux commands. After working with Check Point, I improved my Linux skills, which is a good thing for me.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
View full review »CL
reviewer1419591
System Architekt at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Since we are trying to get our customers to do more self-service, we should see more inbound traffic. So, the usage will increase in the next two years.
We get more attacks from the outside these days, so it has become more important to use systems like Check Point. When I started with security 25 years ago, it was still something not everybody was aware they needed. Today, it's common sense that everybody needs to protect their perimeter.
Plan first, implement last. You should first be aware of what assets you want to protect and what are your traffic patterns. You should plan your policy and network topology ahead of time, then start to implement a firewall. If you just place it there without any plan of what it's supposed to do, it doesn't make too much sense. I think planning is 80 percent of the implementation.
I would rate this solution as an eight out of 10. It would be better if the support was quicker in the cases we had. Apart from that, we are happy with the functionality.
View full review »AA
reviewer1392342
Sr. Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Get a team who has expertise on this product and educate your team. Give them training. If Check Point is using a new version, make sure your team is aware of that. If there are any changes, let them know and make them comfortable working around this product because we have had some issues due to lack of expertise.
If you don't have an expert in-house team for implementation, I would strongly recommend getting help of the Check Point professional services team. There are a few third-party operational services, but I would go with Check Point professional services.
We are planning to increase our usage of the solution. Every project that we take on has Check Point security products as part of the solution.
I would give this solution an eight out of 10 because of the support. They take too much time when they should give you a result.
View full review »AR
Anil Redekar
Senior Network Engineer at Infosys
I'm an end-user of the product. I don't have a specific business relationship with the company.
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
View full review »CA
reviewer1721637
Integration engineer at S21sec
Having the option to use a UNIX-based shell instead of being forced to use GAIA, in this case, is great. It makes Check Point very customizable.
View full review »DS
Deepesh Sharma
Senior Cluster Manager at Bajaj Finserv
The solution is geared towards organizations hosting more than 50,000 employees.
View full review »PI
reviewer1613238
IT Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
It simply works like a charm. The stability and trust in the vendor are also very important to us.
View full review »PD
PRAPHULLA DESHPANDE
Associate Consult at Atos
I think people like me love Check Point because in my experience over the years, I have not heard of a comprise where Check Point was protecting the network. As long as the devices are configured properly, this is a very small chance of being compromised.
In general, the NGFW features in Check Point fulfill our requirements, which is expected from a Cybersecurity firm that has been involved in the field for a long time.
View full review »KK
Kamal Khurrana
Network Associate at a wireless company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this product is that it is good to see a company like Check Point is continuously working on the quality of their product, and we should learn from that. It is good to improve over time because it is very easy to get into the market, but it is not too easy to sustain.
My advice for anybody who is implementing this firewall is to ensure that they are trained completely because it is not easy to use. Moreover, there is not much training available online, so you want to have trained with the device. This is a product with many features, which are pros, but these same features can become cons if you are not using it with complete knowledge.
In summary, this is a good product and they have been improving continuously, but there are still some areas to improve.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
View full review »JG
Manegnet677
Network Manager at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
I have a basic network firewall and not the advanced feature, full feature security system. I think they are the best. Still, for instance, when installing a tunnel in Check Point vs installing a tunnel in Cisco, the difference is that in Check Point nothing makes sense, and in Cisco you have the duration capability, the hierarchy of the configuration.
I would rate this solution as 8 out of 10. Mostly because of configuration problems - problems with configuring VPNs, and panels, etc.
View full review »DZ
Dmitry Zakharenko
Security product manager at RRC
I would recommend this solution. It is a great solution for endpoint protection and threat prevention. I have been working with Check Point products for a very long time. Check Point is one of our best vendors, and they make great products.
I would advise others to learn about firewalls and other Check Point solutions. They have a lot of different solutions. If you choose their firewall, it would be useful to know more about other solutions. It would be one of the ways to improve the protection of your network with Check Point.
I would rate Check Point NGFW a ten out of ten.
View full review »RA
Rajan Arora
AVP - IT Security at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
In summary, this is a good solution that is stable, and I recommend it.
View full review »AP
reviewer1454139
IT Infrastructure & Cyber Security Manager at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
Check this solution and see how it fits with your organization. See how easily you can manage and control the environment. The visibility and the management provided by the product is one of the most important things, other than the security features that the product has. And check the sizing carefully. Check that the machines you're going to buy are sufficient for your current needs and the future needs of your organization.
View full review »LD
LuisDavila
Network and IT Security Admin at DP World Callao
I would rate this solution an eight. It's a good solution. The management is easy. The console is very practical but in order to be a ten, it should be faster.
I would advise someone considering this or a similar solution to prove the solution before choosing the final vendor. Prove that it will be very helpful for you.
View full review »PS
Pardeep Sharma
Network security engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If you are looking for deep security and have a good budget for security and firewalling then I would recommend Check Point, as it will meet the requirements.
Every product has its drawbacks and advantages, but I am very happy with this solution. In my opinion, this is the best firewall in the market at the current time.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
View full review »It is the best amongst the rest.
View full review »OD
Oren Dror
Security IT Manager at IFAT Group
I'm a customer and an end-user.
I would recommend the solution to other organizations especially if the company is looking for a certain level of security.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
View full review »I recommend this solution and rate it a 10 out of 10.
View full review »AN
reviewer1582053
Security Engineer at Gosoft (Thailand)
This is a product that I recommend.
VR
Vighnesh Rege
Lead Solution Advisor at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Look for a software with licenses that support the features you want. I would recommend doing an RFP before purchasing. Get in touch with Check Point's sales team and compare it with other solutions.
Check Point features are always evolving. They try to stay abreast of the market. I would recommend not using older, obsolete models of Check Point because of this.
I would rate this solution as an eight out of 10.
View full review »JM
Jose Mendes
Network Security Engineer/Architect at Euronext Technologies SAS
If the person implementing it doesn't have much experience in how the solution works, with the Manager and connecting the firewall to it, and using the SmartConsole, they should try to go through the CCSA materials for Check Point certification. Check Point is easy to work with on a daily basis. Sometimes we get new people working here and they can add rules straight away on the policies and push policies. But if they need to deploy a firewall and they are not used to Check Point and how it works and the components, it's not that straightforward. With competitors like Fortinet, you just have to access the HTTPS of the FortiGate and it's like configuring a router, which is much easier. With Check Point, you need to read some manuals before you start deploying the firewall.
The biggest lesson I have learned from using Check Point firewalls is that if you lose the Manager you lose the ability to manage the firewall policies, which is, in my opinion, the biggest difference when compared to other vendors. Because, for example, if the Manager stops working and the server where you have the Manager gets stuck, you have no way of managing the policies directly on the firewall.
View full review »HA
reviewer1773660
Analista de suporte at NTSec
The need to get faster bug resolving issues. For example, the R80.40 has so many bugs at the moment.
View full review »BS
Bui Son
Security Manager at FPT
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Check Point NGFW an eight.
View full review »AJ
Arun Jethy
Sr. Network Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I would rate the solution an eight out of 10.
View full review »PJ
Pammi Jethy
Security Administrator at R Systems
Check Point is good. It has a lot of features which will support a lot of things in your organization, and the dashboard is quite good. There are a lot of features, such as data protection and data inspection, at a good price.
View full review »The biggest lesson I have learned from using Check Point firewalls is that if you know how to work with Linux, you will be able to manage almost all the features.
KK
reviewer1412340
IT Specialist at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
This is a good solution. I would recommend to take advantage of as many features as you can. It has many features, and to protect security, you should use all the best features that you can.
As soon as the company will grow, we will definitely increase our usage of the firewall. We have already increased our usage due to employees working from home.
The biggest lesson that I learned is we can use the features of a firewall security to protect our environment. Also, rather than deploying multiple firewalls, we can configure a centralized management system, and this saves time.
I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
View full review »KM
reviewer947427
Technical Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
I rate Check Point NGFW nine out of 10. I would only recommend it for medium to large enterprises.
View full review »LR
LuisRodriguez1
Support Manager at Sefisa
I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.
View full review »RG
Rakesh Gupta
Solutions Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The biggest lesson learned from using this solution is in terms of security. It is a really good product. I don't think there is anything missing from the Check Point firewalls. The features provided by the company are very good and provide what we need.
It's a very good security product, as long as you have the budget. It provides modern security and the architecture Check Point provides is good. And the application side will really help any size of business to deal with traffic based on the application.
View full review »AK
AjayKumar3
Sr. Network Engineer at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Make sure you get good training on Check Point's firewall, and it would be good if you have working experience on the device.
Using Check Point, I have learned that we need to serve our remote users as well, and Check Point is a firewall which is capable of doing that.
View full review »Both IN and OUT traffic is managed by Check Point. We are happy with Check Point technology including the protection, management, and the ability to secure the enterprise network against advanced threats.
View full review »JC
SystemAdaacb
System Administrator at a tech services company
I would say avoid it. There are definitely better solutions out there. For the amount of headache that you get with this product, it's not like you're saving yourself any money. It's just as much, if not more, than other solutions.
When it works, it works well. But, like I said, I've never really had a stretch of time where it just worked really well for everyone. It's been a constant pain point for our organization.
AR
AshishRawat
Firewall Administrator at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
When implementing the product, follow the recommendations which Check Point provides. Follow the backup for the firewall so that in case of an issue, you have a secondary firewall active.
The biggest lesson I have learned is that there is a scope of improvement. Companies that are improving and providing updates frequently are growing more. In addition, improving support is a very key part of things. Check Point rates well on all these points.
View full review »TL
reviewer1055286
IT Security Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We are a customer and an end-user.
Some blades, some function blades on Check Point, are very good, however, it's not all of them. Right now, I know DLP and social inspection are a problem. New users should be aware of this.
Overall, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten.
View full review »MM
Mitchell Mugerwa
Procurement Supervisor at Centenary Bank
I rate Check Point NGFW as a six out of ten.
View full review »ND
Nikhil Dhawan
Associate Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I would recommend this solution because it is a firewall that replaces many other devices. Money-wise, it is good. It also has many features. These can be utilized to protect your environment from outside threats.
You should have a couple of training and hands-on experiences before deploying the changes by yourself on the firewall. It has many features of which people are not knowledgeable so they usually utilize them.
With time, technology is getting better. Check Point is one of these examples. They have changed their products completely from the old R80 version, where their UI and CLI were much different.
I would rate this solution as a nine out of 10.
View full review »TI
Tijoy CI
Senior Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We use the solution for our clients. My recommendation depends upon the requirements. I do not recommend the product for an SMB. I recommend it for enterprises. It has good performance and throughput. Overall, I rate the solution a seven or eight out of ten.
View full review »TR
reviewer1642947
System Analyst at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
While we don't have a direct relationship with the company, we do have business relationships with both Fortinet and Checkpoint partners.
I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.
View full review »JB
Jagdeep Bhardwaj
Founder Director at digisec
In my experience, Check Point provides both in-depth experience and cost-effectiveness compared to Palo Alto. So, Check Point is good for customers already using Check Point and Palo Alto is for anybody who wants to have the latest and most advanced features and has a good budget.
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Check Point NGFW an 8.
View full review »AN
reviewer1588164
Security Solution Architect at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of eight.
I would definitely recommend this solution. It's a good platform for perimeter security. In an enterprise, you need good security. There's endpoint security, network security, and cloud security. Check Point's strongest point is network security; they still need to catch up on endpoint and cloud security. If you're interested in integrating all of these tools, then there are better products available. However, as far as network security is concerned, Check Point is really good.
View full review »SK
SaifKhan1
Network Security Engineer at a consumer goods company with 201-500 employees
Check Point is responsible for inventing several firewall security features.
In summary, this is a good product and I recommend it because it the most secure firewall on the market.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
View full review »- Check the price first.
- For migrations between different vendors, it's a nightmare. You need to do some tasks manually, otherwise it doesn't work when you migrate it.
- Check the performance if it is working as expected.
- Try to keep it simple.
It is a good product. I would rate the solution as an eight out of 10.
View full review »The biggest lesson I have learned from using Check Point's firewalls is that they are not complex.
I'm expecting a lot of solutions from Check Point and if there are more solutions from them, that would be great. I would like to see more product development.
Overall, I would rate it at 10 out of 10. It's the best firewall in the market.
View full review »AA
SenNetwo86
Senior Network and Security Analyst at a pharma/biotech company with 11-50 employees
Do your homework and make sure it fits. You have to know exactly what you want, what your requirements are. Make sure that whatever product you are actually going for meets your requirements, suits your infrastructure and how your IT operates.
What I look at when selecting a vendor is how long the vendor has been around, the level of focus on technology, how good they are. And one of the most important things we do is check industry ratings. That's one of the first things we look at, to see which vendors to consider.
I would rate Checkpoint eight out of 10. To get to a 10, there are some issues compared to other products. Ease of use is one. Also, I can never give any product a 10 out of 10. It's just impossible. There's always something definitely missing.
View full review »RA
SeniorNe6c94
Security Engineer at Tenece Professional services
On a scale from one to 10, I would rate this product a nine. Nobody's perfect.
View full review »DH
Dan Huang
Senior Network Engineer at a retailer with 5,001-10,000 employees
I would rate this solution a three out of ten. The reason I give it a three and not zero is because the visibility and the interface are great. Other than that, they're too much of a headache. We've had painful experiences that we never want to go back to.
View full review »GD
Gaurab Dev Manandhar
Senior Network Administrator at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate Check Point NGFW an eight out of ten.
View full review »JV
Juan-Vallecilla
Engineer at CENACE
Check Point is easy for the configuration user. I would rate this solution as eight out of ten.
View full review »TH
reviewer1392339
Network Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's a good product. My advice would be to get some training or watch some videos on using it. You do need a bit of training on it. Initially, there is quite a steep learning curve.
My comfort level with it is on and off. I've been at my company for a year and I'm starting to get comfortable, but it's such a big product that unless you're using it all day, every day, you wouldn't master it. If that was all you were doing every day, then it would probably take you three or four months to get the hang of it.
I would rate Check Point NGFW an eight out of ten. It's not as easy as the other firewalls I've used but that's probably due to the large feature set.
CS
ChandanSingh
Senior Technical Consultant at Ivalue Infosolution
Until earlier this year, the consolidated management was application-based and required installation. As of recently, they have launched web-based management, as well as cloud-based management. This is an upgrade that I had been waiting for because we no longer have to go to the dashboard. Instead, we just enter the IP into chrome and you get the dashboard on the web page, without having to install anything.
This is a very good product, although there is always room for improvement.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
View full review »SJ
Shivani Jethy
Network Security Administrator at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Check Point Next Generation firewalls are very good. They have a lot of features in one box and they're not that expensive. They support a lot of features, including antivirus, data loss prevention, and the central management is very good. We can configure all the firewalls through the central management. They have many things in a small package. I would recommend them.
The biggest lesson I have learned from the solution is that it has a lot of features that I was not aware of. The dashboard is quite simple and it's not complex to use.
We make changes on this Checkpoint Firewall as per customer demand. If they want to add a rule on the firewall we do that, and if they want to remove something we remove it for them. If they want to change the position of some rules or to allow or deny any kind of traffic, we do that for them.
In our organization we have a team of 20 - 25 network security admins. Sometimes the network team will also implement changes and they are about 25 people. Sometimes we get the help of our managers to approve the changes or validate whether the change has been implemented correctly or not. If I sum it up, it's a team of about 100 people who directly use the solution, and they also take care of deployment and maintenance.
View full review »Good solution - I recommend it.
View full review »FO
reviewer2309823
Network Security Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I recommend Check Point NGFW and rate it a nine out of ten.
View full review »BG
reviewer1369557
IT Operation Manager at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to ensure that they have good support from local experts. The biggest lesson that I have learned from using this product has to do with the capabilities of the smallest models. Care should be taken to select the appropriate one for your environment.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
View full review »DM
DiegoMirones
General Manager at Qhawariy
I feel that the clients are very satisfied with the product.
I don't have any particular advice when it comes to the deployment process. This will depend on the client's needs.
I rate Check Point NGFW as an eight out of ten.
View full review »I rate Check Point nine out of 10. I work with both Check Point and FortiGate. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Check Point is more secure than FortiGate. However, Fortigate is more affordable and user-friendly. FortiGate offers seamless solutions to customers, so If they want a solution that's easy to use, they go with FortiGate.
View full review »GG
reviewer1402668
Security Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
If you use Apple computers or Linux, the product may not be a good choice for you.
I would rate the solution as a seven point eight out of 10. They can improve some things. They can make it more flexible in terms of its software. It is a good solution, and I like it. For me, it's the best firewall solution.
View full review »JV
Juan Vallecilla
Engineer at CENACE
After much evaluation, we have decided to change our firewall.
View full review »MC
reviewer1621341
Executivo de Negócios de TiC at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
I do not have much familiarity with Check Point NGFW, although I do have several customers who make use of it. I can mainly comment based on what I have come across in user reviews in magazines.
I know the solution to be one of the top players in the world at the moment.
As Check Point NGFW does not compare favorably price-wise with Fortinet, I am inclined to deduct a point from its rating and rate it as a nine out of ten.
View full review »DF
reviewer1621377
Executive at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
We're a partner.
I'd recommend this solution to other users and companies. We've been happy with its capabilities.
I'd give the solution a rating of nine out of ten.
View full review »This is the number one, best firewall on the market. My biggest complaint is that the centralized management has to be improved.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
View full review »JA
CommMan719
Commercial Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Some vendors offer a PoC. When you do a PoC you can more easily see which is the better solution. We would recommend requiring a PoC.
I would rate Check Point an eight out of 10. They're not a 10 because of their pricing.
View full review »EF
reviewer1028424
General Manager with 51-200 employees
I would say that the customer has to implement Check Point NGFW with the reseller. They have experience in the implementation and with security.
I rate Check Point NGFW a ten out of ten.
View full review »SV
reviewer1615962
Co-Founder at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
We are one of the largest manufacturers of steel in Europe.
I would not recommend this solution to others. I am very disappointed.
I would rate Check Point NGFW a five out of ten.
View full review »AS
cofounde574329
Co-founder & CTO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I recommend this product. It offers good value, and it's a high-quality product. I rate the product eight out of 10.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Check Point NGFW
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point NGFW. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.