MOHAMEDELSHERIF - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Consultant at International Turnkey Systems - ITS
Real User
Top 5
Clear network visibility, reliable, but scalability could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Check Point Security Management is the high level of visibility"
  • "Check Point could improve by enhancing the networking in their solution in order to align it with the existing network architecture."

What is our primary use case?

The Check Point Security Management is designed with a strong focus on cybersecurity, providing customers with detailed information on attacks and high-visibility threats. This is a major benefit, as it allows customers to stay informed on a daily basis. 

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Check Point Security Management is the high level of visibility

What needs improvement?

Check Point could improve by enhancing the networking in their solution in order to align it with the existing network architecture.  

To perform a service cutover, such as migrating from one firewall to another or bringing up a new firewall, it is essential to thoroughly study and understand the customer's network architecture. This is a complex and challenging process that requires careful deployment and configuration. However, once the firewall is successfully connected to the environment, it becomes very robust and provides comprehensive cybersecurity that meets the needs of the customer.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point Security Management for approximately 10 years.

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April 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Due to its complexity and the distributed nature of its solution, Check Point Security Management still faces significant challenges in terms of scalability. The networking port weakness previously mentioned also has an impact in this area. In order to address these gaps, enhancements need to be made to the product's scalability. For example, when performing software upgrades, the distributed solution can make even minor upgrades challenging due to the many components involved, such as servers, gateways, and management servers. It is crucial to make improvements in scalability to ensure that Check Point Security Management can meet the needs of customers who may require a larger or more complex solution.

They are selling multiple solutions that need to have their software maintained and their scalability at the same time with the advantage of the centralized consolidated unit, reflects poorly on the scalability. It's not only one solution. There are a lot of factors to consider in order to upgrade or add a new firewall to the lineup.

How are customer service and support?

Their support could improve.

I rate the support from Check Point Security Management a six out of ten.

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

I have used Fortinet and other competitors.

How was the initial setup?

The solution can be somewhat complex. It can be challenging to use, particularly during deployment. This is due to its use of distributed deployment, which requires the purchase of several components including security gateways, SMS servers, and a management server. While this may seem complex, the benefit is greater visibility.

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

The solution is expensive and there is an annual license.

What other advice do I have?

Top companies in the firewall and software market include Check Point, which recently entered the hardware manufacturing sector. However, this move did not significantly impact its market share as other competitors were already offering more powerful hardware. As a result, the product became more complex, requiring separate handling of hardware and firewall components within the product. This adds additional layers, including network settings, connectivity, and firewall, which can make deployment and configuration more challenging for network engineers. Despite these challenges, Check Point is known for its stability and advanced threat prevention techniques, making it a valuable choice for cybersecurity.

We recommend smaller businesses explore alternative security partners, such as Fortineteen. Fortinet offers an affordable solution with all the necessary security features that customers need, making it a cost-effective option. For larger-sized companies we recommend Check Point Security Management to have visibility of their infrastructure.

I rate Check Point Security Management a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Erick Chinchilla Mena - PeerSpot reviewer
Profesional Gestión Informática 2 - Especialista en Sistemas de Información at CompuGuana
Real User
Top 5
Good antivirus services and a fast installation with centralized management
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most outstanding characteristics of its centralized administration is its great computing power."
  • "I would like it to be the administrator of equipment or Next Generation firewalls (which have to be managed on this platform) and to be able to manage other services (like Harmony) that also belong to Check Point."

What is our primary use case?

We wanted a centralized administration console to allow us to manage more than one team inside or outside our organization. As a result of this need, we were looking for solutions that could complement us and provide effective and functional management of more than one team inside or outside the organization. 

It was then that we came across and used Check Point, a solution that allows us to integrate and manage all these teams from one place. Check Point offered us not only a centralized administration, but it also offered us and gave us added value in different services and features that can be integrated into the centralized administration platform.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point came to give additional value to us as administrators and our organization. It allowed us to integrate more than one characteristic service under the same administration platform, such as antivirus services, real-time emulation services, and real-time detection, characteristics that really give additional value in a centralized management console being a console and also a strategic ally in our organization. These characteristics tell us that it is not only a service to centralize the administration - it is also a service designed to implement and add value to the security of any company.

What is most valuable?

One of the most outstanding characteristics of its centralized administration is its great computing power. The ease of being able to integrate more than one computer and manage and orchestrate them simultaneously and individually creates security layers for each one of them or different approaches based on the needs of the branches. We have an installation that is fast with an execution that is simple. It is easy to manage what each organization needs. 

What needs improvement?

I would like it to be the administrator of equipment or Next Generation firewalls (which have to be managed on this platform) and to be able to manage other services (like Harmony) that also belong to Check Point. We'd like to be able to manage them from the same platform. Although they are within the same portal right now, they are not managed in the same way nor are they from the same teams. It could be a very innovative future integration and will help to centralize this section while having the characteristics under the same management.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable lately. We've seen that the updates have made the solution apply changes faster and find it is more complete.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The platform has somewhat complex scalability. That said, it is still efficient - mainly when we have management or administration in what is known as HA or cluster.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Check Point Security Management
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Security Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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Head, Partner Management - Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Good support, minimizes threats, and offers complete endpoint security
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a great complete endpoint security solution that prevents the most imminent threats to the endpoint such as ransomware, phishing, or malware."
  • "While the console and administration work well, they have to work on performance since it consumes a lot of CPU and memory."

What is our primary use case?

One of the recent use cases for this solution has been related to a power company, which was facing issues but was able to get its infrastructure secured and get back its business continuity and growth. In addition, its management was able to get back its confidence with solutions or services provided by Check Point.

The client was able to quantify its security elements. As a result, a strong defensive framework was developed. Deployment of Check Point's solution resulted in the evasion of any existing and potential threats.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point is not just a firewall. They deliver everything including IPS, application control, threat emulation and extraction, identity awareness, and more. In line with the quantum security gateways, other elements and services as provided by Check Point have also proven to be very helpful and reliable in keeping the company environment secured. The organization has also gone a great mile to tag itself as a proactive threat elimination expert in the industry viz a viz its competitors.

What is most valuable?

Harmony Endpoint is one of the great solutions by Check Point; it ensures compliance with policies and minimizes the risk of threats entering through endpoints. 

It's a great complete endpoint security solution that prevents the most imminent threats to the endpoint such as ransomware, phishing, or malware. 

It has proved to be very successful in identifying ransomware behaviors such as file encryption or attempts to compromise operating system backups and safely restore ransomware-encrypted files automatically. 

What needs improvement?

While the console and administration work well, they have to work on performance since it consumes a lot of CPU and memory. There is also latency in the administrative panel when entering. There has been a problem with updating licenses as well. There is ground-level feedback based on interaction with the relevant stakeholders that states implementing it would make a major difference in the overall experience.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has not caused major deviations and the historical experience has been quite good. The stability and reliability of the solution is pretty much appreciated

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The overall impression of the scalability is good and impressive.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been pretty good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I have been involved with a lot of other partners in parallel, depending on the requirements of the customers.

How was the initial setup?

I am not directly involved in the setup and deployment of the product.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was handled by an in-house team.

What was our ROI?

I've witnessed an ROI of 25% to 30%.

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

Users should actively evaluate the existing options available in the market and finalize the one that matches their requirements, budget, and priorities. Check Point can definitely be considered based on my personal experience.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The choice to evaluate would not be my personal decision but the requirement raised by the customers.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
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Bharath Kumar Gajula - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Architect at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
An expensive solution with easy life cycle management
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use and comes with few vulnerabilities. You don't have to worry about release upgrades. Life cycle management is very easy."
  • "Check Point Security Management lacks some of the competitor features."

What is our primary use case?

We use Check Point Security Management for firewall management.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use and comes with few vulnerabilities. You don't have to worry about release upgrades. Life cycle management is very easy. 

What needs improvement?

Check Point Security Management lacks some of the competitor features. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Check Point Security Management is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 4,500 users for the product.  

How are customer service and support?

Check Point Security Management doesn't have good support since it is difficult to get the right person. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

The solution is expensive. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Edwin Solano Salmeron - PeerSpot reviewer
Soporte técnico superior at Acobo
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Good centralization, user-friendly, and offers good flexibility
Pros and Cons
  • "It provides for capabilities and has allowed us to be more scalable."
  • "In the future, I would like the platform to be able to integrate or manage appliances or third-party equipment."

What is our primary use case?

When having multiple branches, there is the need to be able to manage several branches centrally to meet internal and external regulatory standards that become part of important criteria to manage security. 

Due to the number of branches that we must protect and safeguard, we were looking for a solution that would allow us to centralize simple and fast management that is as scalable as possible.

How has it helped my organization?

The Check Point R80 service has allowed us to unify and centralize the security policy. This makes us faster and more flexible when making a change in any of our branches. It's one of the friendliest services that can be managed and remains important in nature to our bottom line. It allows all administrators to understand and manage the communication between different sites, for example. Additionally, we have integrated these features with others that could also be used as security measures or MFA services.

What is most valuable?

One of the most important features, and one that I see as having organizational value, is the ability to enable services or communications that can be integrated with third parties. We can add additional layers of security to logins or configuration startups that we did not have before. 

It provides for capabilities and has allowed us to be more scalable. We now have greater management flexibility and the possibility to configure and connect to different branches. It has given us better centralization with greater features and security benefits.

What needs improvement?

In the future, I would like the platform to be able to integrate or manage appliances or third-party equipment. That would give us a management solution that is able to adapt to the technological changes that we have today. 

Maybe we could see if the brand or the services become commercial allies of other brands. I know that it is something that is requested a lot, however, better integration could be beneficial for the market and for users when purchasing a service in the market.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for three years.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sr. Security Infrastructure Engineer at NTT Security
Real User
Fast installation, good logs, and quick to learn
Pros and Cons
  • "The rulebase management and the shared layers concept is implemented well."
  • "The upgrade procedure already made huge improvements, yet it remains more challenging compared to other products."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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. 

What is most valuable?

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).

What needs improvement?

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". 

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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. 

How are customer service and support?

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

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

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

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup and installation are easy.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We at NTT are a reseller of security products, including Check Point.
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Adrian Cambronero - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at ITQS
Reseller
Top 5Leaderboard
Good centralization, rules management, and automation
Pros and Cons
  • "Check Point Security Management has a great feature that allows you to automate the request of the automated server."
  • "The web administration tool that allows administration in the browser must be developed even more."

What is our primary use case?

One of our company's priorities was to have centralization of all the equipment in a single firewall. With the tools provided by Check Point, we were able to achieve it, and in this way we were able to centralize all the records.

With this implementation, we were able to make more centralized management and of all the rules. It was very comfortable to be able to configure them and manage them and thus be able to make the whole implementation more orderly and be able to carry out our organization along a good path of security administration

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Security Management came to help us a lot. With this implementation, we were able to generate a firewall rule centralization and management. This helped our IT department to have an order in security and thus be able to centralize it.

By having this implemented, our facilities' security has improved a lot since both employees and external users are audited before entering the network through Check Point Security Management and the rules that make these security filters possible.

What is most valuable?

Check Point Security Management has a great feature that allows you to automate the request of the automated server. This helps us reduce the administrative effort of the IT department and thus give priority to other things like the security of the company or with the characteristic It provides us with centralization, which helps us with management.

The SmartConsole has provided us with excellent help with the application. It communicates with the administrator and allows us to create policies and also look at the traffic log.

What needs improvement?

The web administration tool that allows administration in the browser must be developed even more. When one tries to enter the panel, the loading delays us. 

They can also implement version updating. 

Another feature that could be improved is the export of configurations to .CSV. This would further simplify the management and compliance with rules.

For how long have I used the solution?

This solution has been used for approximately two year in the company.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution has excellent stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is quite a scalable product.

How are customer service and support?

The support experience has not been very good. We have had some problems with cases and meetings coordination.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

There was no type of tool that would supply these qualities in the company previously.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is easy. It is plug-and-play. However, the configuration must be done carefully.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was handled with the help of an engineer who had prior knowledge of the product. 

What was our ROI?

The ROI is there. Making an investment in security is always a very good idea.

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

Check Point offers a good price for its products. It is worth making the investment since this can prevent vulnerabilities.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Check Point was always our first option in terms of product choice. 

What other advice do I have?

It is an excellent tool to implement in the organization.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Richard Lachira - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant, Reseller and IT Infrastructure Projects at Elytelec
Real User
Top 20
Enhanced security with centralized control for threat prevention
Pros and Cons
  • "It has brought significant improvements, including features like spam and anti-spam measures, intrusion prevention (IPS), and advanced filtering."
  • "They could offer educational courses to help individuals improve their knowledge and skills."

What is our primary use case?

Check Point plays a crucial role in enhancing our security firewall solution in our company. It has brought significant improvements, including features like spam and anti-spam measures, intrusion prevention (IPS), and advanced filtering.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature for me is the firewall. Whether it's five stars or even higher, the analytics reports it provides are truly impressive. They offer valuable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that shed light on various situations and different logs.

What needs improvement?

They could offer educational courses to help individuals improve their knowledge and skills.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with it for two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It provides good stability features. I would rate it eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate its scalability capabilities nine out of ten.

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

In my previous company, I had experience using Fortinet and Palo Alto.

How was the initial setup?

I find that the setup process is somewhat distinct from other solutions. I believe that having some guidance from the website or tutorials would make it easier.

What other advice do I have?

I strongly recommend this solution because it's a highly effective and reliable choice. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point Security Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point Security Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.