Check Point Security Management vs IBM Security QRadar comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jul 23, 2023

We compared Check Point Security Management and IBM Security QRadar based on our users' reviews in five categories. We reviewed all of the data, and you can find the conclusion below.

  • Features: Check Point Security Management is praised for its centralized management features, user-friendly interface, and extensive monitoring capabilities. QRadar users say the solution provides extensive information and helpful leads for locating pertinent data. QRadar stands out with its comprehensive network visibility and strong SIEM capabilities. Check Point Security Management could improve by simplifying the migration of security policies, optimizing performance, and expanding its management API. Other pain points include threat tracking and documentation. QRadar could improve its rule deployment and lower its false positive rate. Users would also like expanded storage capacity, streamlined user management, and a more mature architecture.

  • Service and Support: Check Point Security Management's customer service is widely praised for being knowledgeable, supportive, and reliable. Although some users had problems with inexperienced agents and coordination issues, the overall support experience is positive. Some QRadar customers have had trouble connecting with knowledgeable support staff and experienced delayed responses.

  • Ease of Deployment: Check Point Security Management is generally seen as easy to set up if the user has some expertise. QRadar's initial setup can be complex for users without expertise, and the difficulty may vary depending on the size of the data set.

  • Pricing: Check Point Security Management is seen as a solid investment, offering flexibility and a good value for the price. QRadar can be costly because users need to buy new hardware to upgrade.

  • ROI: Check Point users said the solution offers a steady ROI over time. QRadar delivers a high return on investment, improving security through its advanced user behavior analytics.

Conclusion: Users appreciate QRadar's comprehensive network view, SIEM capabilities, and risk management features. It is known for its robustness and high availability, making it suitable for large companies with critical infrastructure. QRadar is praised for being user-friendly and customizable, offering valuable features such as real-time monitoring, network behavior analysis, and machine learning algorithms. It also provides easy installation and configuration, a wide range of features, and good reporting capabilities. While Check Point Security Management is commended for its ease of setup and comprehensive security blades, IBM Security QRadar stands out as a more powerful and complete platform for security analysis and incident management.
To learn more, read our detailed Check Point Security Management vs. IBM Security QRadar Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"It has brought significant improvements, including features like spam and anti-spam measures, intrusion prevention (IPS), and advanced filtering.""The most valuable feature of Check Point Security Management is the high level of visibility""The solution is ideal for use and deployment in a large infrastructure environment.""The SSL VPN monitoring based on users and tunnel monitoring are great value-added features present in the management console.""It is good when it comes to access control, which is the basic feature that we use in a firewall appliance or solution. Check Point is effective when it comes to security control and threat prevention.""We are now able to monitor the different VPN communities in real-time.""Check Point Security Management has improved our organization because all corporate firewalls can be managed with a single interface.""I love the URL filtering as well as the identification capabilities which link with the Active Directory and work for me even with bandwidth regulation. These allow me to select to whom to do what, and when."

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"The UBA feature is the most valuable because you can see everything about users' activities.""It'll get you from point A to B.""It has a logical, user-friendly GUI.""Vulnerability data, network data and the like, are part of correlation and detection.""The playbook engine is flexible and allows for the graphical visualization of processes, enabling the implementation of dynamic playbooks for incident response or testing.""The features that I have found most valuable are that it is very stable, easy to get going, and easy to manage. It is also easy to review all incidents.""It's built around Red Hat Linux, which is highly robust.""I have found visibility very helpful for analytics."

More IBM Security QRadar Pros →

Cons
"They need to make a Mac version of the SmartConsole, in my opinion.""While the console and administration work well, they have to work on performance since it consumes a lot of CPU and memory.""In my experience, the place they can improve the most is in the technical support where I have had some serious problems that could not be solved in time due to a lack of knowledge of the assigned engineer.""We would like to improve the upgrade process in order to do mass upgrades to firewalls and to be able to upgrade target firewalls at the same time.""Support is the main area that they need to improve. Our support experience is not very smooth. We are based in Africa, and we don't know whether it is because of our region. I would like a feature where there is a workflow to provide authorization to some users before they're able to create and apply rules. Such a feature should be integrated with the management. It should not be in the box that comes with it.""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).""Installing a policy takes a very long time to complete.""They could offer educational courses to help individuals improve their knowledge and skills."

More Check Point Security Management Cons →

"Right now, if you look at the compatibility, if you need to deploy QRadar in a physical appliance you have only two choices of server, their own or a Lenovo server. In today's world, you cannot keep something tied to such a big brand. Clients want to be able to use whatever type of server they want.""IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson could be more user-friendly. You need some skills and understanding of what you're looking at, especially if you're going to draw down specific information.""It's resource-intensive.""The biggest problem was built on top of the QRadar in the executive operations center network. The integration was not using the network security specialist properly, and all the incidents were inferior with QRadar. Its compatibility is not really good.""For the common needs of clients to fulfill requirements, a real integration with Blueworks Live (BPA modeling tool also from IBM) and a more suitable BPM on cloud solution for midsize customers.""I would like to see some artificial intelligence and alternative solutions.""Each module requires a separate license and a separate cost.""There are a lot of things they are working on and a lot of technologies that are not yet there. They should probably work out a better reserve with their ecosystem of business partners and create wider and more in-depth qualities, third-party tools, and add-ons. These things really give immediate business value. For instance, there are many limitations in using SAP, EBS, or Micro-Dynamics. A lot of things that are happening in those platforms could also be monitored and allowed from the cybersecurity risks perspective. IBM might be leaving this gap or empty space for business partners. Some larger organizations might already be doing this. It would be very nice if IBM can make some artificial intelligence part free of charge for all current QRadar users. This would be a big advantage as compared to other competitors. There are companies that are going in different directions. Of course, you can't do everything inside QRadar. In general, it might be very good for all players to provide more use cases, especially regarding data protection and leakage prevention. There are some who are already doing some kind of file integrity or gathering some more information from all possible technologies for building anything related to the user and data analysis, content analysis, and management regarding the data protection."

More IBM Security QRadar Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Do the homework because Check Point is rather expensive."
  • "This product can be used for 25 security gateways on a basic license."
  • "Check Point is much cheaper than the competition ($4/server as compared to $17/server)."
  • "The solution is expensive and there is an annual license."
  • "Price-wise, it is an expensive solution."
  • "The solution is expensive."
  • "The pricing can be estimated around 3 or 4 out of 10 in terms of expense."
  • More Check Point Security Management Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "found other solutions, with more features at the same cost or less. You don’t have to leave the Gartner Magic Quadrant to beat their price."
  • "Most of the time, it is easier and cheaper to buy a new product or the QRadar box."
  • "IBM's Qradar is not for small companie. Unfortunately, it would be 'overkill' to place it plainly. The pricing would be too much."
  • "IBM's Qradar is not for small companie. Unfortunately, it would be 'overkill' to place it plainly. The pricing would be too much."
  • "Go through a vulnerability assessment review for price breaks. A virtualized solution will also cut down on cost."
  • "It is expensive. It is not a product that I can provide for SMBs. It is a program that I can only provide for really large enterprises."
  • "The maintenance costs are high."
  • "Pricing (based on EPS) will be more accurate."
  • More IBM Security QRadar Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Vinod Shankar
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It mostly depends on your use-cases and environment. Exabeam and Securonix have a stronger UEBA feature set, friendlier GUI and are not licensed based on capacity (amount of logs and information… more »
    Top Answer:For tools I’d recommend:  -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also,… more »
    Top Answer:The event collector, flow collector, PCAP and SOAR are valuable.
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    Also Known As
    R80.10, R80, R77.30, R77, Check Point R80.10 Security Management, R80 Security Management
    IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, QRadar, IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
    Learn More
    Overview

    Check Point Security Management is an advanced security management platform for enterprises. The platform integrates all aspects of security. A single platform manages the entire infrastructure, from data centers to private/public cloud deployments.

    Check Point Security Management is a reliable and easy-to-use security platform. It integrates all aspects of your security environment to strengthen the security posture without impairing productivity. The system has a layered policy model. This means the security policy can be separated into layers for network segmentation. Different administrators can manage different policies. The policy layer automates the tasks.

    The platform is extensible, scalable, and integrates easily with orchestration systems and change management.

    Basic Components of the Infrastructure

    1. Smart Console: The Check Point Graphical User Interface for connecting and managing Security Management Servers. The smart console provides an integrated solution via the following features:


    • Security policy management
    • System health monitoring
    • Multi-domain management


    The smart console offers several advantages. Changes in security policies and logs can be done with a click. You can navigate from an item within a log to the policy. There are also built-in multi-language support and accessibility features.

    1. Security Management Server: The server manages security gateways with set security policies and monitors security events on the network.

      The automation server is an integrated part of the management server. The API server is active by default on servers with 4 GB of RAM or more and on standalone servers with 8 or more GB of RAM.

      The automation server communicates with the management server the same way as the Smart Console. This architecture allows the same validation errors and warnings to be presented when using an automation session.

      The same audit logs generated using the Smart Console are also generated using an automation session. If you have a multi-domain environment, there is only one automation server that monitors all the IP addresses of the multi-domain management server.

      2. Security Gateway is placed at the edge of the network. It monitors and filters traffic and enforces security policies.

        Logging, Event management, and Monitoring

        With Check Point Security Management, logging, reporting, event management, and monitoring are integrated. The platform features widgets and chart templates that optimize visibility. One of the best features is the one-click exploration. This simplifies going from a general overview to specific event details.

        Benefits of Check Point Security Management

        • The platform keeps pace with dynamic network changes
        • Helps align security with business goals
        • Helps with threat prevention.
        • Reduces operational costs

        The unified console also means a single policy for users, data, applications, and networks. The granularity control helps accelerate administration processes. This feature, together with automation, is key to achieving reduced operational overhead. Security teams can automate tasks and even create self-service security web portals with the Check Point Security Management platform.

        Threat management is fully integrated, with reporting, logging, and monitoring all in one dashboard. This provides full visibility into the security of the network.

        Security Management Suite

        The Security Management Suite consists of the following modules:

        • Policy Management: Includes central management of different security policies across multiple domains and browser-based security management.
        • Operations Management: Includes compliance, provisioning, workflow automation, and user directory centralization.
        • Threat Management: Includes centralizing security event correlation for enforcement points. Centrally monitors Check Point devices.

        Reviews from Real Users

        A Network Security Engineer/Architect at a tech services company says, "The features we like and find the most valuable are the ways we can manage the policy, create objects, and drag and drop objects in our daily operation. It makes our daily operation on the firewall management much easier than going, for example, to one firewall, then going to the other."

        "The management API is the best new feature for me. It allows us to further automate our customers' automated server ordering," says a System Engineer Network & Security at OTTO GmbH & Co KG.

        A Senior Infrastructure Services Specialist at St.George Bank Limited adds that "The solution is ideal for use and deployment in a large infrastructure environment."





        IBM Security QRadar is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations. This is done through integrated visibility, investigation, detection, and response. QRadar empowers security groups with actionable insights into high-priority threats by providing visibility into enterprise security data. Through centralized visibility, security teams and analysts can determine their security stance, which areas pose a potential threat, and which areas are critical. This will help streamline workflows by eliminating the need to pivot between tools.

        IBM Security QRadar is built to address a wide range of security issues and can be easily scaled with minimal customization effort required. As data is ingested, QRadar administers automated, real-time security intelligence to swiftly and precisely discover and prioritize threats. The platform will issue alerts with actionable, rich context into developing threats. Security teams and analysts can then rapidly respond to minimize the attackers' strike. The solution will provide a complete view of activity in both cloud-based and on-premise environments as a large amount of data is ingested throughout the enterprise. Additionally, QRadar’s anomaly detection intelligence enables security teams to identify any user behavior changes that could be indicators of potential threats. 

        IBM QRadar Log Manager

        To better help organizations protect themselves against potential security threats, attacks, and breaches, IBM QRadar Log Manager gathers, analyzes, preserves, and reports on security log events using QRadar Sense Analytics. All operating systems and applications, servers, devices, and applications are converted into searchable and actionable intelligent data. QRadar Log Manager then helps organizations meet compliance reporting and monitoring requirements, which can be further upgraded to QRadar SIEM for a more superior level of threat protection.

        Some of QRadar Log Manager’s key features include:

        • Data processing and capture on any security event
        • Disaster recovery options and high availability 
        • Scalability for large enterprises
        • SoftLayer cloud installation capability
        • Advanced threat protection

        Reviews from Real Users

        IBM Security QRadar is a solution of choice among users because it provides a complete solution for security teams by integrating network analysis, log management, user behavior analytics, threat intelligence, and AI-powered investigations into a single solution. Users particularly like having a single window into their network and its ability to be used for larger enterprises.

        Simon T., a cyber security services operations manager at an aerospace/defense firm, notes, "The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis."

        A management executive at a security firm says, "What we like about QRadar and the models that IBM has, is it can go from a small-to-medium enterprise to a larger organization, and it gives you the same value."

        Offer
        Learn more about Check Point Security Management
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        IBM Security QRadar is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations.

        Sample Customers
        Hedgetec, Geiger
        Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
        Top Industries
        REVIEWERS
        Manufacturing Company19%
        Security Firm16%
        Financial Services Firm14%
        Computer Software Company10%
        VISITORS READING REVIEWS
        Computer Software Company14%
        Security Firm12%
        Comms Service Provider9%
        Government9%
        REVIEWERS
        Financial Services Firm23%
        Computer Software Company15%
        Comms Service Provider10%
        Security Firm6%
        VISITORS READING REVIEWS
        Educational Organization18%
        Computer Software Company15%
        Financial Services Firm10%
        Government6%
        Company Size
        REVIEWERS
        Small Business34%
        Midsize Enterprise28%
        Large Enterprise38%
        VISITORS READING REVIEWS
        Small Business36%
        Midsize Enterprise15%
        Large Enterprise49%
        REVIEWERS
        Small Business39%
        Midsize Enterprise15%
        Large Enterprise45%
        VISITORS READING REVIEWS
        Small Business20%
        Midsize Enterprise29%
        Large Enterprise51%
        Buyer's Guide
        Check Point Security Management vs. IBM Security QRadar
        March 2024
        Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Security Management vs. IBM Security QRadar and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
        765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

        Check Point Security Management is ranked 9th in Log Management with 55 reviews while IBM Security QRadar is ranked 6th in Log Management with 197 reviews. Check Point Security Management is rated 8.8, while IBM Security QRadar is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Check Point Security Management writes "Great DDoS protection, high availability, and useful firewall rule implementation". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM Security QRadar writes "A highly stable and scalable solution that provides good technical support". Check Point Security Management is most compared with Wazuh, Fortinet FortiAnalyzer, LogRhythm SIEM, Splunk Cloud Platform and Graylog, whereas IBM Security QRadar is most compared with Microsoft Sentinel, Splunk Enterprise Security, Wazuh, LogRhythm SIEM and Elastic Security. See our Check Point Security Management vs. IBM Security QRadar report.

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        We monitor all Log Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.