LucianoMiguel - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Consultant at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
A highly accessible and fast tool that provides a very good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "Regarding the tool's valuable features, I would say that Check Point is a very accessible and fast tool, especially when dealing with logs for the first time."
  • "I guess it lacks in providing visibility of the many incidents."

What is our primary use case?

I use it for managing ten clusters in our on-premise environment. With this kind of management, it's possible to question its policy and change many configurations in the files. With its management, we got all the logs from the environment. With Check Point Security Management, we get the benefits of deploying the configuration.

How has it helped my organization?

Owing to the availability of many kinds of incidents, I can say that the solution has served to improve my organization.

What is most valuable?

Regarding the tool's valuable features, I would say that Check Point is a very accessible and fast tool, especially when dealing with logs for the first time. It is a perfect solution for me.

What needs improvement?

From the Check Point Security Management solution, it's possible to get the situation of my clusters. I guess it lacks in providing visibility of the many incidents. Hence, the visibility of incidents is an area where I want the solution to improve.

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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point Security Management since 2005, so I have used it for maybe twenty years. Also, I am using Check Point Security Management E84.20.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is very good. Hence, I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution's initial setup was easy.

What was our ROI?

It took a year to see a return on investment. I did experience a return on investment using the solution.

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

Price-wise, it is an expensive solution.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to those planning to use it.

I rate the overall product between nine to ten 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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Jonathan Ramos G. - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at ITQS
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Expands quickly, offers good management capabilities, and is very powerful
Pros and Cons
  • "Check Point management is one of the most complete solutions for managing Check Point Firewall appliances."
  • "I would like this solution to be integrated directly into the Cluster XL equipment."

What is our primary use case?

In recent years, management was to have an additional server in our data center or virtual machine that demanded resources locally. Today we have the possibility to have virtual teams in the cloud or on-premise and do not have the need to create that machine. We take that server to the Check Point cloud as a management cloud where we can have each subscription and be able to manage everything with the same account. It allows you to manage from anywhere and makes it easier for you to manage additional teams.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point management is one of the most complete solutions for managing Check Point Firewall appliances. 

Since it is so powerful, we can manage more than one appliance with this same tool and create policies per appliance, and integrate different branches. 

One of the great benefits is being able to centralize all our branches under a single management server, thus being able to manage each of the created policy layers from a single place.

What is most valuable?

Among the most valuable features is the ability to manage everything simultaneously. It can integrate with the Check Point Infinity Cloud. 

The costs of acquiring a server for this task is of value. Each of us who are administrators can continuously manage the security of companies. This management manages not only Firewall-type appliances but also Cloudguard IaaS-type appliances.

What needs improvement?

I would like this solution to be integrated directly into the Cluster XL equipment. We'd like something that is all in one. The implementation becomes quite complex due to the extensive and not very graphic guides that we can find on their portal. 

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?

It is very stable. You can have it in high availability services.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is fast and easy.

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

We previously used Fortinet as a firewall and management solution.

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

The cost of having cloud management lowers the monthly bill. That must be considered when acquiring these solutions.

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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Buyer's Guide
Check Point Security Management
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Check Point Security Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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Contracted IT Staff at Sağlık Bakanlığı-Turkish Ministry of Health
Real User
Top 20
Good functionality with a strong user community and fair pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "The layered architecture is really understandable and easy to use."
  • "Policy installation time can be reduced."

What is our primary use case?

Security Management Server is easy to configure. We have more than six security gateways in different locations. It is easy to manage security gateways separately from Security Management Server. 

Also, we use a security management server as a log collector. Security Management Server is easy to configure. 

How has it helped my organization?

We can separately manage and install policies for all gateways. It has separated by blades. It is so flexible. Jumping from one blade to another is really simple. R80.x versions are better than R77.x versions. 

What is most valuable?

The log section is really good to understand and is really fast. 

The layered architecture is really understandable and easy to use. 

Event correlation function is really brilliant. 

Check Point provides one application with all your needs with the management system.

I do not need to log in to another application or website to see inputs and outputs. 

The monitoring is the best.

The solution offers:

  • Strong user community
  • Product functionality and performance
  • Financial/organizational viability
  • Strong services expertise

What needs improvement?

Policy installation time can be reduced. Proof of concept really matters on this subject. Every organization's needs are different and unique. Therefore, before you purchase the product, use proof of concept as much as you can. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point Security Management for more than seven years.

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

The pricing is not bad.

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.
PeerSpot user
System Engineer Network & Security at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Scalable with a good management API and visible audit logs
Pros and Cons
  • "The management API is the best new feature for me. It allows us to further automate our customers' automated server ordering."
  • "The management API can be further developed so that all functions offered by the dashboard are also available via the API (for example, Network Topology)."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for the management of thousands of rules. partially automated via the well-documented API.

Managing the rules is a day-to-day business that takes a lot of time. It is really good that we can do the management through the dashboard. It is so comfortable, and, in contrast to other manufacturers, is structured much better. The integration of the logs allows a quick jump by mouse click between rules and log entry.

The API reduces the administrative effort so that we can concentrate on the essential things. in addition, it is an enormous advantage for our customers that rules are created automatically and are available immediately.

How has it helped my organization?

The transparency of the rules and the integrated logs makes daily troubleshooting easy and saves a lot of time. 

Managing the rules is a day-to-day business that takes a lot of time. The dashboard is great and much better in contrast to other manufacturers. 

The integration of the logs allows for a quick click between rules and log entry. 

The immediately visible audit logs are also a great advantage. This allows changes to a rule to be tracked quickly and any errors to be corrected.

What is most valuable?

The management API is the best new feature for me. It allows us to further automate our customers' automated server ordering.

The API reduces the administrative effort so that we can concentrate on essential things. It is an enormous advantage for our customers that rules are created automatically and are available immediately. 

For our private cloud, we have to stay competitive with the public clouds and the speed on offer is what counts here. It's good.

The new web management tool allows the management in the browser, which is a great feature.

What needs improvement?

The management API can be further developed so that all functions offered by the dashboard are also available via the API (for example,  Network Topology).

The new web management tool which allows the management in the browser has to be developed further so that all functions from the dashboard are available. Many of our administrators work with a Mac OS. Until now, the management of rules is only possible on  Windows as the Smart Dashboard is only available for Windows. Now, with the first release of the web interface, it is possible in the browser. All functions from the dashboard must still be possible via the web interface.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the R77.30 version since 2013.

We've upgraded to R80.10 in 2019. The update was a bit complicated, however, with the pre-check and some cleanup, it went without a problem

We upgraded the R80.10 to R 80.30 in 2020. The update management with the migration of export/import was a remote update and was easy.

We upgraded R80.30 to R80.81 in 2021. The management update was very easy and through the wizard, everything was very clear in terms of the individual steps. The update of the gateways took place at night.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We do not have any stability problems.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Check Point Maestro offers the industry a new way to leverage current hardware investments and maximizes appliance capacity. It's in an easy-to-manage hyper-scale network security solution in order to bring our networks and data centers into the world of hybrid clouds.

How are customer service and support?

The case handling is good. If you have experience and know what information the support needs, then the processing time can be minimized.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

In the past, we have used a Cisco ASA. Our management of the rules was not so good there.  We also use FortiGate. This already offers a nice web interface, however, managing a large set of rules is almost impossible there.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very simple. However, the migration of rules from other vendors was challenging.

What about the implementation team?

For large migrations, we always use a service provider or the manufacturer's team (Check Point Professional Services). Here we can fall back on well-trained SE's with a lot of experience.

What was our ROI?

No exact ROI has been calculated.

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

All of our administrators have previously been on CCSA/CCSE training which provides good insights into the products. After various tests, we were able to carry out most of the setup ourselves in a developer environment. We were able to keep the costs for the migration low by using a lot of our own initiative. However, I would recommend the support of a Check Point certified partner.

Together with a Check Point partner (service provider), the requirements should be evaluated. Here, we were able to draw on the experience of our service provider and develop our environment according to our requirements.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate any other options.

What other advice do I have?

I can recommend the Check Point solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

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
Senior Infrastructure Service Specialist at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
User
Stable with good technical support and an intuitive interface
Pros and Cons
  • "The intuitive interface also allows new team members to adapt to the technology if they are not familiar with it initially. It doesn't take much for one to familiarize themselves with the product."
  • "Even though the platform is simple, and creating security policies is a fairly quick task, creating a bulk of policies at once (ie. for a migration) could be a useful tool. This is probably possible through scripting, however, having an easy-to-use "import CSV" button would be beneficial."

What is our primary use case?

I work for one of the biggest Australian banks that rely on Check Point firewalls for security enforcement across several points in the infrastructure environment.

The Security Management platform is a key component for our operation, in that it enables efficient central management for configuration and security troubleshooting. This centralised component facilitates and adds value to our daily operations, creating a single place for configurations and a platform that can present security logs that are used for the troubleshooting of security issues.

How has it helped my organization?

Check Point Security Management improved the speed at which security access permissions are granted across our environment through its centralized and easy-to-use nature. The possibility of re-using objects across different policies and also having the drag and drop capabilities are great. 

Moreover, having one single platform managing multiple firewalls reduces the time (and cost) of the provisioning of infrastructure services. This boosts the productivity and efficiency of teams across the board.

What is most valuable?

The Check Point Security Management platform provides a central location for the management of domains and firewalls in the environment. The nature of the product brings valuable returns to the operation, increasing efficiency when configuring and troubleshooting.

The intuitive interface also allows new team members to adapt to the technology if they are not familiar with it initially. It doesn't take much for one to familiarize themselves with the product.

Another great feature is to have available logs in a central location, enabling the troubleshooting of security issues anywhere in the environment.

What needs improvement?

One possible improvement for the platform would be the import of security policies via CSV or CLI. Even though the platform is simple, and creating security policies is a fairly quick task, creating a bulk of policies at once (ie. for a migration) could be a useful tool. This is probably possible through scripting, however, having an easy-to-use "import CSV" button would be beneficial.

Another feature that could be improved is the export of configurations to CSV. This is often useful to map current firewall policies or NATs. I understand that this feature is available currently, but would CSV bring objects with names (but not IPs) and groups (but not the members). The improvement of this feature would surely be welcomed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Check Point Security Management for around 4 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The most recent software versions are very stable and trouble-free.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have a very good impression of it so far. The possibility of adding firewalls to the fleet and keep a central management point makes it simple to grow the operation.

How are customer service and technical support?

The experience with the Check Point Professional Services team, and TAC, couldn't be better. The team that works with my organization is extremely knowledgeable and is always willing to go the extra mile in order to find the best possible solution for any kind of goal we need to achieve. The TAC team is also always helpful and provides us with many valuable inputs in hard times. 

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

I have used different solutions from other vendors, but not on the exact same places. The Check Point Security Management platform was mostly used alongside others.

How was the initial setup?

Perhaps because I lack experience setting it up from scratch, the initial setup seemed quite complex.

What about the implementation team?

We had a vendor team assist with the setup.

What was our ROI?

Overall, the ROI is great. It is a solid and easy-to-use platform that adds a huge value that justifies every penny.

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

I most definitely recommend this platform when it comes to cost. The available list of add-ons creates great flexibility to the technology and is also easy on the budget - since you only pay for the features you use.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

This is not applicable to my role.

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.
PeerSpot user
Abnet Tsegaye - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at DeliverICT
User
Top 5
Centralized management, intuitive user interface, and comprehensive security features
Pros and Cons
  • "Check Point Security Management Server offers a wide range of security features, including firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, application control, and threat prevention capabilities."
  • "It also offers compatibility with third-party security solutions, however, it is not a lot. This needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Check Point Security Management Server is a comprehensive solution designed to streamline and centralize the management of security policies across an organization's network infrastructure. 

One of the standout features of the Check Point Security Management Server is its ability to manage security policies across multiple Check Point security gateways centrally. This centralized approach simplifies policy deployment, monitoring, and updates, making it easier for administrators to maintain a consistent security posture.

How has it helped my organization?

The Check Point Security Management Server has the ability to centrally manage security policies across multiple Check Point security gateways. This centralized approach simplifies policy deployment, monitoring, and updates, making it easier for administrators to maintain a consistent security posture. 

It offers high-performance capabilities to handle large volumes of traffic while maintaining low latency, ensuring minimal impact on network performance. This product greatly improved our company customers and allowed us to implement the solution easily.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable aspects of the solution are:

1. Centralized Management: It can centrally manage security policies across multiple Check Point security gateways. This centralized approach simplifies policy deployment, monitoring, and updates, making it easier for administrators to maintain a consistent security posture. 

2. Intuitive User Interface: The management console provides an intuitive user interface that allows administrators to configure and monitor security policies with ease. The interface is well-designed, with clear navigation and comprehensive options for managing security rules, network objects, and logs. 

3. Comprehensive Security Features: Check Point Security Management Server offers a wide range of security features, including firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, application control, and threat prevention capabilities. These features work together to provide multi-layered protection against various cyber threats.

What needs improvement?

Check Point Security Management Server integrates seamlessly with other Check Point security products, providing a cohesive security ecosystem for organizations. It also offers compatibility with third-party security solutions, however, it is not a lot. This needs to be improved.

Check Point offers comprehensive product support and documentation, including online resources, knowledge bases, and technical support services. This ensures that administrators have access to the assistance they need to deploy and maintain the Security Management Server effectively, but when customers raise issues, the support is not satisfactory and timely.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for more than one and a half years.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company resell's and implement this product means it's a partner of checkpoint.
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Diana Alvarado - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Admin at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Excellent portal and dashboard - Very intuitive
Pros and Cons
  • "With the generation and review of logs, we have verified some vulnerabilities and attempted attacks to generate improvements in our infrastructure and policies to help avoid issues in the future."
  • "It would be helpful if the documentation and good practice guides are updated. Many are still from R77."

What is our primary use case?

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

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

How has it helped my organization?

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

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

What is most valuable?

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

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

What needs improvement?

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

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

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

For how long have I used the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

Previously we did not use a management tool like this.

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

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

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

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

It is an excellent administration tool.

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.
PeerSpot user
Network Engineer at Fujairah Port
User
Top 5
Great performance, easy to push configuration changes, and good logging
Pros and Cons
  • "We can track logs of each firewall which is very helpful."
  • "They need to make a Mac version of the SmartConsole, in my opinion."

What is our primary use case?

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

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

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

How has it helped my organization?

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

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

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

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

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

What is most valuable?

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

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

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

What needs improvement?

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

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

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

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

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for two years.

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.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point Security Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Check Point Security Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.