Check Point Security Management

My main use case for Check Point Security Management  is using it as a firewall, which ignores all my data threats, and it is useful to secure my inside IT infrastructure. It secures all the data and all the devices connected to the network. Actually, this is not the one I selected; I used Check Point 1800 Quantum Spark, which is not available in your content sharing, and for that reason, I selected this one.

Check Point Security Management  helps with my daily operations as I use Check Point 1800, which is connected to the internet and all the networks. Nearly 200 to 350 people connect to the inside internet, and my ISP is connected to the firewall, which gives internet access to all the access points. Everyone who connects their laptop, mobile devices, or any kind of device with internet facility is secured because Check Point has internal visibility into end threats and will not allow any other DNS inside. Whenever any unauthorized access occurs with the devices, it gives me a pop-up, and I immediately go and block them. Check Point Security Management is very useful when compared to other devices.

One specific situation where Check Point Security Management really helped me catch or block a threat is its best feature: it segregates all the devices such as mobile devices, phone devices, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, and desktops. It shows each and everything in a segregation method. I have an old device as well, which shows everything in a single line, making it difficult to identify which one is a phone device and which one is a laptop. Check Point Security Management does not operate like that; it shows the mobile device, tablet, smartphone, laptop, and desktop separately so that I can easily find out how many desktops are connected, how many mobile devices are connected, and I can easily block mobile devices and free up the IPs. This is the main beautiful thing about Check Point 1800 Quantum Spark.

Check Point Security Management can be improved by addressing a negative challenge I face: sometimes it does not show internet utilization in the GUI. When I ask support, they tell me to upgrade the firmware, which happens quite frequently. Since I deployed the device in my on-premises environment 1.5 years ago, I have experienced this issue three times.

Check Point Security Management has not impacted my daily work or decision-making in any negative way. As an IT person, I occasionally need to check how much internet bandwidth has been used in the internal network over the past month, day, or week. During those times, when I open the data utilization column, it shows nothing available. Each time this happens, I need to upgrade to the latest version of the firmware, and this frequent updating affects my productivity negatively. If Check Point addresses this issue in the future, it will be beneficial for all customers using Check Point SMBs.

I have been using Check Point Security Management for the past 1.5 years.

In my environment, Check Point Security Management is stable, as I do not see any downtime. The only issue I face is with data utilization not showing, which I have mentioned previously. Other than that, everything is going well.

Check Point Security Management's scalability is quite sufficient for my organization with below 500 employees, and it functions very smoothly. Currently, it handles the network well, and I am unsure if the Check Point 1800 will work adequately if my organization increases from 500 to 600 employees, but so far, it has been functioning smoothly without any issues in the past 1.5 years.

I would rate the customer support for Check Point Security Management as four out of five, or seven out of ten.

Neutral

I previously used a different solution before Check Point Security Management, but I do not want to disclose the product name due to marketing strategies. I switched because that device hung every time when connecting to the network; it could only support 40 to 50 users, while my organization had 150 users when I joined.

The initial setup with Check Point Security Management is very straightforward and easy; we implemented the tools within a six-hour timeframe.

I have seen a return on investment with Check Point Security Management, as my security concerns regarding data production have been greatly diminished, and my time is also saved. Additionally, my reports that I send to management monthly are automated, which also saves time.

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Check Point Security Management involves a bit of a challenge in pricing, as it is somewhat costlier than previous devices. However, it is worth paying extra for this product.

Before choosing Check Point Security Management, I evaluated other options including the same device I had earlier but in a newer version. I found that the latest version and Check Point 1800 have multiple variations and use cases. We checked three other devices as well, which could not match the capabilities of Check Point 1800 due to its significant improvements and multiple use cases. That is why we chose Check Point Security Management for our internal IT infrastructure.

I save significant time with the alert system and device management because it provides data in graphs and reports. Whenever a data threat arises, it alerts me when the threat comes inside the device or from the devices to the inside network. I receive alerts and block that device, preventing the threat from affecting the entire network. This is one of the positive aspects of the Check Point 1800 device.

My advice to others looking into using Check Point Security Management is to first assess your organization's needs regarding how many people will connect to the internal network. This decision depends on that number. If you have more than 500 or 550 people, please check whether this solution will be effective for you. It's important to take demos a few times from Check Point vendors or directly from Check Point before making a purchase.

I rate Check Point Security Management eight out of ten.

This is the Wi-Fi documentation. I work with the service, and we are partners with Check Point. One of our clients, Parliament, required an upgrade from physical to virtual implementation. This was my first implementation. We have another client, and the plan is to do something with them this year, although I'm not sure when. I've been involved in some other things, however, this was my first implementation.

It's a reliable solution for security without mentioning its importance. We can't work without Check Point since it provides the real visibility needed to manage the environment. You can depend on it, as it assures the environment is well-secured. It's doing great work, and we can't work without SQL. We don't work with any other solution.

One case I saw was with the logs, which gave me the transfer and the vibration. There's a lot of logs, and I'm unsure about their validity, however, they take up a lot of space. We had to provision the virtual machine twice. Another reason is that the database was already large thanks to the numerous logs. I'm not sure how they can be managed comprehensively.

I have done my first implementation of the solution.

Ever since I implemented it, we have not had any complaints from the client side. That is a good sign regarding stability.

Check support was involved during the implementation. We had support during the migration process. The issue was the size of the partition for logs. After the support, we realized we needed to resize. The challenge was with drivers due to the size, and we had not provisioned the partition to the right size. This was resolved with support.

Neutral

We had to determine the specifications required for the security of the virtual machine, such as memory, storage, and network setup. The provisioning of the VM depended on the available resources since the box itself had a lot of memory. Specifications are crucial for the setup, and we needed enough storage. The migration was time-consuming but manageable.

With Check Point, I can compare it with Fortinet. Fortinet is a bit lower, while Check Point is on a higher level in terms of visibility and reliability. I've seen recommendations for Check Point over other products.

I would definitely recommend Check Point, especially since our client was already using it. We had considered other options, but Check Point was preferable. The implementation supports an environment with more than one hundred users. 

Overall, I would rate this product a ten out of ten.

We work with multiple security tools, including network security and information security solutions. Our primary use case includes using Check Point and other tools like CyberArk for privilege access management, Cisco, and WebSight CloudSec.

The product helps in securing our complete organization. We have not received any alerts that were suspicious, which assures us that it's working as expected.

It's already helped secure our organization effectively. That said, the integration of all the firewalls should be centralized, which would make management easier.

We are not sure if there is a centralized security console available. It would be beneficial if all firewalls could be integrated under one management console.

We have been using the firewall for more than ten years.

We are confident in the security solution as we have not faced any alerts that were suspicious.

We have partner support that helps us mitigate vulnerabilities reported by our infrastructure team. Most of the time, we get good support.

Neutral

The first deployment takes two to three days. After setup, maintenance and updates are straightforward.

Since we are using it extensively, we get significant discounts during procurement. The tool is cost-effective.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

The Security Management server provides centralized management to manage all the security gateways.

Many organizations will have more than one firewall. This may be in the same location or in a different location. Users can manage all the firewalls from a single location.                                    

It provides centralized logging for all incoming and outgoing traffic.

The solution centralizes licensing and auto-licensing with smart updating. 

In organizations where there are many firewalls, one firewall license may expire. We can easily update licenses from the smart console from the same location or from different locations.                                               

It also provides centralized logging that helps during troubleshooting - which provides detailed logging of access rules, NAT rules, application filters, VPNs, etc.                                                                                                              

The centralized logs and management are helpful. All of the logs are stored in an external server or within the Management Server. All of the logs are very easy to understand and provide detailed information about the instance. 

Through the Management Server we can easily enable all the features and easily disable them as well. 

Check Point offers PS services in India. As per personal experience and based on many organizations, Check Point needs to improve PS services. 

For the past one and a half years, I have been using a Check Point Firewall and Check Point Management Server.

The stability is the best.

I am satisfied with the scalability.

So far, there is no point reach out to technical support.

Positive

No, we have not selected any other solution.

As a Check Point implementation engineer, I found the setup process easy. 

The vendor expertise is very good.

The licensing price is a bit expensive. However, it provides very good security at the perimeter level.

No, we have not evaluated other options.

They just need to improve PS service in India.

To make the tool better, I think we could have some sort of analysis similar to how some products offer information related to social media sentiments. If we could get that kind of assessment, some sort of analysis of some sort, I think that would be something that can really improve the solution.

In the future, I would like to see more frequent updates because of the changing security landscape. We should be seeing more updates in the tool, especially those that are not paid. The tool can also put in efforts in terms of maybe the community by conducting some sort of workshop or some sort of online event to bring the community together so that we can all meet. A community portal is needed.

I have been using Check Point Security Management for five years.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine to ten out of ten, especially for the cloud version. The on-premises version was a bit unstable, and I think I will give stability a ten out of ten.

Speaking about scalability, in terms of maturity, product security, and reliability, I would rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Around 200 to 250 people in my company use the tool.

I have experience with the solution's technical support, and I don't think the product is doing well. We have to reach out to the first level of support and then to the third level of support. I rate the technical support a six out of ten.

Neutral

The product's initial setup phase had no problems.

The product's installation phase was easy. The moment we transitioned from on-prem to the cloud, we realized that the on-prem version was a bit more difficult to use, and the cloud version was easier because it has some sort of configuration wizard. The provisioning was easy.

The solution is deployed on the private cloud version offered by AWS, but we use it across the company's group, and it is hosted in South Africa.

The solution can be deployed in an hour and a half. The deployment phase was not so bad.

I was not involved in the deployment since I had my tech team with 12 security engineers for it who can take care of the product and the firewall. My company's IT department has around 30 technical members but only 12 take care of information security matters associated with the tool.

In terms of the tool's financial and commercial aspects, we do a risk assessment every quarter. There is a huge cycle of risk assessment every quarter. As a part of risk assessment, Check Point reviews threats. When the risk team comes, it assesses the group. They give us some values about the threats that we are facing. They explain that since implementing the solution, this is the threat, and this is the value. Some empirical data is used.

Honestly, the tool is expensive. It's a good product, so definitely, it is expensive. I realized that the tool is a bit more expensive than the rest, at over 20 to 30 percent overall. If one will be very expensive, and ten means low price, I rate the tool's price as a three out of ten. There are so many other products out there that are more expensive than Check Point. There are also so many other products that are cheaper than Check Point.

Over the other tools in the market, my company chose Check Point even if it is a bit pricey, but it fits the bill. From a business requirements point of view, it fits the bill. With the tool, we have been able to restructure our infrastructure in terms of the IT landscape. We are also able to bring policies without any fear of infiltration. In a nutshell, it fits before a business case.

Check Point Security Management streamlines operations in our specific industry. We used to have a lot of instances, but because of the alerts that come from the kind of configuration the solution offers, we are now able to take care of instances even before they happen. Basically, the tool has really helped us reduce instances by about 40 to 50 percent.

The tool has a firewall and endpoint security to improve our company's security posture, especially for our mobile devices. Our company has a sort of principle where there is a need to bring your own device, so it is used to take care of things in terms of security. The security team within our department escalates things quickly.

Speaking about threat prevention in our daily operations, I would say that before the tool's implementation, we used to report a loss of about 50,000,000 dollars, but it has now gone down after the product was installed. It looks like it has helped capture those threats, alert in advance, and anomaly detection. It has been a very helpful product.

Speaking about the influence of Check Point Security Management on our IT infrastructure, I would say that we have implemented the product across endpoints, including mobile devices and devices that fall under the BYOD category. With Check Point, we were able to implement and allow our staff to bring their devices and work from wherever they want. Without Check Point, we would not have been able to do so, and that changes the landscape and trims down on the devices that we would have been acquiring centrally for our staff.

My company started the analysis on AI and areas like trends. The trends, especially transactional trends and all that kind of thing, are areas where we have already started some use cases for AI, about five of them, and I think the engine is still in the learning phase. I would say that we haven't really started using AI, but we already have it set up in Check Point, and it will be around the area associated with trends. Basically, we have not really explored the AI part yet.

I recommend the tool to others.

The tool's maintenance is done automatically on the cloud. When we were using the tool's on-prem version, we were happy to offer support for the product in our company.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.