We are using CloudGuard Network Security for comprehensive security. We have hardware appliances from Check Point, and we also have their firewall installed.
CloudGuard Network Security All-In-One
Check Point Software TechnologiesExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Provides unified security management and improves our security posture
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
CloudGuard Network Security provides unified security management across hybrid-clouds as well as on-prem. It has improved our security posture.
CloudGuard Network Security helped reduce our organizational risk. It has not yet helped us save time and costs because we are understaffed. However, it has helped to see what is happening and what we should mitigate or allow to happen.
What is most valuable?
It gives us all-encompassing security and overview. Previously, we did not have any kind of overview of what was happening with the network.
The interface is unifying all the data in one place. I can see the network side and the policy attached to using USB devices. Everything is stored and related.
What needs improvement?
A Check Point problem was that there were different solutions, and each had its own interface, section, and logs. Things are going great with the new feature that consolidates all the data from those systems in one place. Right now, I am not sure what improvements are needed. We are having occasional issues related to gateways, but we are still analyzing it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CloudGuard Network Security for the past six months since I joined the company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Until now, it has been stable, but we have had occasional issues with two gateways that used to break or are broken. We are not sure yet. We are still analyzing it. We might be sending it to the warranty team.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We implemented it keeping in mind all the requirements in terms of licenses, hardware, and other things. Everything is pretty much as we needed. We have no plans to upscale it. However, I am waiting for the OS version R82 to see how we can add more data on the fly.
How are customer service and support?
So far, customer service has been almost great. We have had some issues, such as needing to escalate every time because one gateway was not working at some point. We had an endless loop of emails trying to fix this, and the suggestion was to reinstall the gateway and do it from scratch, which was not an option at that point because it would leave that specific location without access, and business hours did not permit it. Other than that, things went smoothly most of the time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we only had security with a basic VPN and firewall in place.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate CloudGuard Network Security a nine out of ten.
Valuable features improve operations while providing high security standards
What is our primary use case?
We are primarily on-premise. We also use Azure for cloud services, mostly for VPN. We use it as the active directory to authorize access to the VPN, which is helpful.
However, as a healthcare organization in Germany, it is very challenging to get cloud solutions like CloudGuard approved. Cloud solutions must be located in Germany or Frankfurt, where all the data centers are situated. This requirement makes it somewhat difficult, however, otherwise, it is manageable.
How has it helped my organization?
We have a lot of audits in the healthcare industry and Check Point has become an industry standard.
What is most valuable?
One aspect I appreciate is that it is not overly complicated. Many solutions are sometimes difficult to set up. Check Point has been very straightforward. Especially in the last one to two years, it has become easier to manage with each patch. I have several coworkers who have used it for a long time, and they all mentioned that it was much more difficult to use or update five years ago. It has become less complex to use yet more complex in terms of infrastructure.
Check Point offers unified security management across hybrids, clouds, as well as on on-premise. We have Azure for cloud, however it is mostly for VPN. We have the active directory to get to authorize yourself into the VPN. CloudGuard helps with that. As a healthcare organization in Germany, it's very difficult to get approval for clouds. If you want to have the cloud approved, it has to be in Germany or in Frankfurt where all the data centers are. That makes it a little bit difficult to be on cloud vs on-prem. Other than that, it's fine.
What needs improvement?
I honestly do not know how it can be improved anymore. There are probably people with more knowledge or experience who could suggest improvements. Most of the solutions we have used have been straightforward and effective.
Occasionally, there is a strange bug, however, we just contact Check Point for a hotfix if we are a significant client. And since that is our situation, the solution works.
There might be a possibility for Check Point to offer more training opportunities for users to get to know the solution better, perhaps through courses or similar resources. However, it depends on our company's arrangements with Check Point. In our case, we have a vendor involved. Everything we do with Check Point must go through the vendor first, which is somewhat inconvenient. It would be easier to deal with Check Point directly, however, it depends on the vendor.
There is a wealth of material available online for those technically inclined. In this fast-paced industry, we must continue learning. Courses or online meetings, like Zoom or Teams sessions, for one or two hours each week, would be helpful.
Despite using it for a long time, there are always new features. For example, just last week, I discovered a new feature that had been in the software for years yet it was not visible due to its placement behind multiple menus. Teaching sessions would be beneficial, yet it is our responsibility to learn, so we cannot entirely rely on Check Point.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Check Point for at least ten years now. Our organization has used it for that long. It's a healthcare system with 130 hospitals.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. Most Check Point solutions are stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Since we are primarily using Azure, scalability is not currently a concern. It could become relevant in the future, but as a healthcare organization, transitioning to the cloud is challenging, especially in Germany.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service depends on the issue. Sometimes, there are bugs, and we have to wait for a customized patch. For instance, we had a random bug where CPU usage spiked inexplicably, preventing access to the appliances. Restarting resolved the issue, but the cause remains unknown.
Typically, we deal with our partner and they advise us to create a Check Point ticket. It raises the question of why we have a partner. I do not deal with customer support often, however, if I report a bug, it is resolved within a month or two. It is not usually a critical bug, just minor issues that prompt curiosity.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
90% to 95% of our infrastructure is on-premises in order to connect it to the cloud.
The deployment was handled by someone else. I simply work with it.
What was our ROI?
The point of Check Point isn't necessarily to gain an ROI. A company just has to pay the price. You don't get money out of it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not directly aware of the pricing. Most Check Point solutions are costly, however, they are the industry standard, so the cost is necessary. Especially in a healthcare organization, skimping on IT security is inadvisable. Losing patient data could cost four percent of an organization's annual revenue.
For an organization with twenty billion euros in revenue, four percent is significant. Also, we have limited flexibility with licensing, though we sometimes receive better prices through vendors. The company likely paid over thirty million euros to Check Point. However, the technology ensures a high-security standard.
Many large German companies also use Check Point.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I'm unsure if the company has evaluated other options.
What other advice do I have?
I have never been involved in the decision to use this solution; I am just the end user.
Flagger Network Security and Check Point work effectively. I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Deploys secure cloud environments with high trustworthiness and confidence
What is our primary use case?
We protect the cloud by uploading environments to the cloud and making the developments over the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
We used to have an on-prem setup, and the implementation of the new one came naturally since it looks like the previous setup. I know the places for making configurations.
What is most valuable?
I am only using the basic protection for the cloud, like a regular firewall, and I find it very useful.
I feel safe deploying Check Point, and the security lets me sleep well at night. It made a major impact since we have to secure the cloud, so all of our projects had to be protected. We never thought about going to the cloud without security.
CloudGuard Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid clouds as well as on-premise. If anything looks wrong, I can get the logs from the same place for all the networks. The visibility is great.
It's helped us reduce organizational risk.
CloudGuard Network Security has had a major impact on our confidence in Security cloud deployments and migrations. We have to secure the cloud. All of our projects have to be protected. That's the the impact. We never thought about going to the cloud without security.
What needs improvement?
It should be more agile, as it seems to me that they took their on-prem devices and uploaded them to the cloud. Every time we need a new interface or something like that, we need to make major changes. This is a problem.
When we try to install a new lab, it appears we need to reinstall the firewall because the interfaces were missing. This took a lot of time, and we had to use the professional service again. I believe this is the point that Check Point should improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for almost two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. I can honestly say that I trust it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
On-prem, we are using Maestro, and the scalability is great.
How are customer service and support?
I enjoyed support very much. We are getting premier support. It is amazing. My experience with them was excellent.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We tried the biggest competitors in Europe. We found that although they are more ready for the cloud, we am more comfortable using CloudGuard. It's easier to use since we come from the Check Point on-prem devices. I understand the menus and configuration. It comes naturally. In comparison, in terms of identifying threats, this solution is more or less the same as others. HOwever, this has more flexibility, We could use the same product and extend it right to the cloud. The deployment was very natural.
How was the initial setup?
We use Azure and GCP clouds. We used an integrator since we were new to the cloud. We used an integrator. The deployment took one day.
What about the implementation team?
I used Check Point professional integrator. The experience was excellent. The person was very professional.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is safety. I feel secure when I deploy Check Point.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Basically, the pricing is the same compared to competitors. They are all in the same range.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. We've had some problems adding new interfaces in new environments, we do run into issues. For example, when we tried to install a new lab, it appeared that we needed to reinstall the firewall as the interfaces were missing. We had to reinstall, and it took a lot of time, and we had to use the professional integrator again.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Unified policy integration simplifies firewall management with very good support
What is our primary use case?
I use our Oracle OCI environment to segregate our ERP system, which is JD Edwards, running in Oracle Cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security makes it easy to create firewall routes and so on instead of the tools out of Oracle OCI. It's inside our unified policy.
What is most valuable?
At the moment, I am only using Network, NAT, and VPN. These are the core components of the system. We aren't using other features. It's activated and yet not customized yet.
It is more straightforward for me to create firewall routes instead of using the traditional board tools in Oracle OCI, which are complex for creating firewall rules. Instead, I use the firewall of Check Point, and it is very easy for me. It is integrated into my unified policy, so I can use it completely as I am used to, making it easy for me to handle.
We can use it across hybrid could as well as on-premises.
It's very easy to create new firewall rules on-premises or in the cloud in the same way, and we can share them thanks to the unified policy.
CloudGuard Network Security helped reduce our organizational risk. It's increased the security compared to the built-in security of Oracle OCI. It has many more capabilities, like IPS and threat prevention, which are available at Check Point. It is based on our security standards. It's reduced risk by maybe 40%.
CloudGuard Network security has increased our confidence in secure cloud deployments and migrations by 50%.
What needs improvement?
VPN troubleshooting can certainly be improved. It is horrible at this point, honestly. It is horrible compared to other vendors on the market. They have tools where I can directly extract some information on the VPN. In Check Point, it becomes complicated. I need to open a very old-fashioned legacy tool, and operate it by myself, transfer it to my computer, and open the legacy program. This legacy program will not provide detailed insights; it will only indicate if something is working or not, making it challenging to communicate.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this product for about half a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is great. It's easy.
How are customer service and support?
Mostly, support is good. It depends. If I have a ticket handled by a first-level supporter who may not have deep knowledge, it could be hard to discuss issues. However, mostly, it is good. Compared to other vendors, it's awesome.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We're a Check Point customer, and we only use Check Point.
How was the initial setup?
We are using Oracle OCI for our cloud. The first implementation was a bit hard. We followed the instructions. We had to get the help of support.
What about the implementation team?
We did the setup by ourselves.
What was our ROI?
I am a long-time customer. I am a technical person, not a commercial person. The technical value is high. The unified policy is comprehensive and helps me to create firewall policies that are shared across all our facilities and plants. This is very helpful for us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
High prices are a concern. It is the highest in the market. However, I like the ease of licensing. It's not that difficult. The licensing is easy to understand.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We had not evaluated other solutions before this product was introduced.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the product eight out of ten. If it wasn't for the issues with the VPN, I would rate it higher.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Automation and APIs streamline integration and boost confidence in cloud deployments
What is our primary use case?
Most people ask me to integrate with Point CloudGuard and SecureNet Network. One big client wanted to move his on-prem data center to CloudGuard Azure, and I provided the CloudGuard Network Security Solution for him. His data center was also rendering to our clients, so it was messy. However, it gave them more confidence in Security CloudGuard deployments and integrations. It was quite easy with Terraform, resulting in a very easy deployment.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the automation and the APIs, making our life much easier for integration. Check Point has excellent, very useful tools to help us with the poster and to see if we're passing the grade.
It gives us more confidence in secure cloud deployments. The network security was very easy to migrate. We did it with Terraform. I just filled in the blanks and Terraform did everything else.
Check Point CloudGuard NetWork Security provides unified security across hybrid clouds as well as on-prem. It's more or less the same across deployments.
Check Point helps companies with their security posture. It has useful tools to help with this aspect to improve security.
What needs improvement?
I'm not sure if I have the experience to discuss improvements.
The deployments can be difficult if a person doesn't know what they are doing.
Better documentation would be welcome.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for a bit over a year. It has been one year and four months or something like that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, I haven't had any stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I haven't had any experience with scaling problems. I didn't need to scale up for my client or use automated scaling.
How are customer service and support?
Support were very helpful. They usually respond quite fast, and they are very knowledgeable about what they do. When we have a problem, we can solve it immediately, and sometimes a one-on-one meeting can be very insightful.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I didn't use other vendors since I specifically handle Check Point in my company.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. First, I speak with the client to understand everything he needs, his current deployment, and how it's done. In the meantime, we can see if there are improvements or small tweaks needed. Then, I deploy in a test environment to ensure everything works without conflicts. Finally, we do a test with Check Point - not a full deployment on the production side. If everything works in the test, we start migrating slowly to the production side. Implementation usually takes one to two weeks.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment could be done with one person if the person knows what they're doing. It iss very easy. Someone who is not familiar with CloudGuard and cloud solutions might find themselves a bit lost with too much information and not knowing where to look.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't have insights on the list price.
What other advice do I have?
I would give an eight out of ten for the overall product rating.
I'm a Check Point distributor, mainly.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Enables seamless integration with cloud platforms for secure deployment
What is our primary use case?
I have been at my company for about five years now. We use it as a firewall. Our private firewall is used for everything related to security.
What is most valuable?
There is not one feature in particular that stands out, it's just a very good product that we are very fond of.
It is really easy to work with and has an easy learning curve. It integrates with Azure without any problems.
It provides a huge benefit in many ways, offering a boost in confidence for secure cloud deployment and migration.
We don't have any complaints with the solution terms of finding threats.
It does help us reduce risk, although I don't have exact numbers.
We have very good confidence in secure cloud management and migration. We're very used to the product.
We have a direct line with the engineers of Check Point, which is very important.
What needs improvement?
I do not have any specific improvements in mind for the tool. It is a solution that is what we need at the moment. There could always be something to enhance deployment, however, for now, it is quite adequate.
The pricing could always be reduced.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I want to stick with the products we have used. This is the most stable one we have had.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very user-friendly to scale. We have transitioned from 1,000 to 500 users without any issue.
How are customer service and support?
The few times I needed customer service, I was very happy with it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used solutions from other companies, however, we stayed connected with this one due to its user-friendliness and seamless integration with Azure.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was very fluid. It was very integrated into Azure. We deployed without an issue.
What about the implementation team?
We did not use an integrator, reseller, or consultant for setting it up. We had some minor issues and tweaks, however it was straightforward.
What was our ROI?
I hope the return on investment is positive. I am not in charge of that. As far as I know, the C-level team is very happy with it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not in charge of setup costs, however, from what I hear, it could always be cheaper.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
It is never perfect, so it cannot be a ten, however, it is very close to amazing.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Integration into the cloud ecosystem enhances network security
What is our primary use case?
I am tasked with deploying firewalls in Azure Cloud, AWS, and VMware. This involves setting up virtual machines in VMware and is essentially focused on these tasks.
What is most valuable?
It does a great job protecting the clouds.
The important point is that the solution is integrated into our management system (if they already have Check Point). It's just one more gateway to add. We have it on Azure and others. The advantage lies in the integration within our existing ecosystem, which is amazing.
It's good at identifying threats and on par with the market - at least, in comparison to the others we work with.
We have confidence in secure cloud deployments and integrations. It's important to have confidence. Even if nothing happens, you are protected, You never know when bad luck will happen. There are some public cases that were missing network security on the cloud, and they were affected. It's a must-have, like an insurance policy.
What needs improvement?
The license model could be simpler. We have some issues with the license since it tries to be simple, and yet in some cases, it tends to be complex. Apart from that, I do not recall any other issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for roughly four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is generally good. Sometimes there are issues we do not understand, especially with older features. Outside of that, the stability is good. It could be better. For instance, when we are working on a release and do an upgrade, we start experiencing unexpected issues. New features might have problems, however, for existing ones, we expect the same level of functionality as before.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We do not use scalability. I do not have much experience with auto scaling, however, it could be beneficial. Usually, our customers use a model that involves bringing their own licenses with static gateways, not scaling out.
How are customer service and support?
Check Point support has its ups and downs. Sometimes, the support is good, and other times, we are a bit desperate. Overall, I would say the customer service is good, not marvellous. There are some challenges.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
As integrators, we also work with other solutions. The main difference is we can take advantage of integrative management. If you already have an environment with Check Point, it's easy and an advantage.
How was the initial setup?
We typically deploy to the cloud. We create an implementation strategy with our clients.
What about the implementation team?
Usually, the customer is very savvy and knows what they want. We provide some advice, however, usually, they have their own ideas on what to do and when to do it.
What was our ROI?
It is important to have this solution because even if nothing happens, you are not protected without it. You never know when bad luck might knock at your door.
What other advice do I have?
I rate it eight out of ten.
You need to have some kind of protection in the cloud. Maybe the native protection is enough, maybe it is not. Having protection gives more confidence in the solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Unified management and policies enable secure workload transitions to the cloud
What is our primary use case?
I use Check Point CloudGuard Network Security to ensure we have the same management system for managing firewall policies both on-premises and in the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
Check Point CloudGuard Network Security enabled us to move to cloud workloads safely while having the same level of security as we have on-prem.
What is most valuable?
The unified management, unified log management, and unified policies are all invaluable. We like that everything is unified.
CloudGuard Network Security provides us with unified security management across hybrid clouds as well as on-premise. Security operations are simplified by unified management, easing troubleshooting, and maintenance. Using the same objects in both the on-prem and cloud policies reduces the need to switch between different interfaces and log stores, enhancing our security operations significantly.
It's helped us reduce organizational risk. I cannot say by how much. Just having the same policies everywhere without having to move around different management interfaces and log stores just helps with security operations. We can see everything in one pane of glass.
We have confidence in our secure deployments and migrations. In fact, it has enabled us to move to the cloud securely. The confidence is there based on our confidence in Check Point products on-prem.
What needs improvement?
Improvement is needed in the deployment models. Currently, I have deployed VMs and installed CloudGuard as if they were gateways. Having some as-a-service models would be great.
Scalability could be improved as well; needing to purchase a new license each time I want to add a new interface is not ideal.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution works adequately, meeting my expectations for a firewall.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability could be improved. When we need to buy a new license, to add a new interface is not ideal.
How are customer service and support?
Support is okay. Sometimes, it is necessary to reiterate the importance of a case; however, generally, the cases are handled to our satisfaction.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use a different solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
We have an on-prem and cloud environment. The setup was relatively easy, even the first time. I just select it from the marketplace, and it appears. After that, it's the same as installing on-premise gateways, including a first-time installation wizard.
What about the implementation team?
I received assistance from an external third-party company. The experience was great and has continued to be good over the seven years I've employed them.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is adequate. I am not responsible for pricing and licensing aspects, I would say pricing is adequate. It is not cheap, however, I am not seeking cheap solutions; I want the best solutions.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have not evaluated other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would give it a solid eight out of ten. I am not yet fully utilizing all its functionalities and I cannot assess all features. There is always room for improvement.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Effective management of cloud security has increased trust and collaboration
What is our primary use case?
There were about ten people involved in the initial project. We conducted some POCs regarding customer security issues we were facing. We outlined ten cases, and these cases were created by a local Check Point engineer in Vilnius, Lithuania, to demonstrate scenarios. After testing all these scenarios, we realized that with certain preconfiguration or suitable configuration of Check Point products, including firewalls, we could effectively address the security cases we had.
Currently, we have plans to develop more Check Point CloudGuard products, as well as some on-premise ones, and certify engineers. We also plan to demonstrate the value of Check Point products to about five or six customers, along with a local Check Point representative.
Discussing cloud security and demonstrating its functionality can help build customer trust to initiate POCs and deep dive sessions with architects and others. This business is emerging notably in regions like Scandinavia, where there are more CloudGuard security projects with Check Point. We foresee a similar trend as the market matures and investments increase.
How has it helped my organization?
In our market nowadays, a topline risk is phishing. People can just open up malicious email and you can get terrible consequences. We're using Check Point to meet our demands for security, including email security. They have quite good email cloud security in Check Point. We have quite good ratio of getting getting phishing emails caught. Now, there is a lot of hybrid work from everywhere, from home, from the branches, from the main office, from the cafeteria, and so on. We want to manage everything, see how every employee is working, and provide secure working conditions for all the employees.
What is most valuable?
The products offer low false positives and excellent inspection of phishing emails, alongside monitoring of all internet traffic. These features provide significant value to the customers currently working with us. Combining these features into a single management platform that integrates with third-party vendors would be beneficial, providing a holistic view of all security solutions. This consolidation is essential due to the limited number of IT professionals capable of managing multiple platforms.
The network security has positively affected our confidence in secure cloud deployments and mitigation. When we speak about cloud security and show how it is working, we can get more trust from the customer to start the POC, to do sessions with a customer and architects and so on. Now, we have much more cloud CloudGuard Security and more cloud projects with Check Point.
What needs improvement?
This year, I have noticed that Check Point is working on consolidating all aspects into one management platform to provide a comprehensive view. This platform should include Check Point vendors as well as third-party vendors.
I am unsure what else can be done, however, customers need a holistic view of all security solutions across their platforms, which is critical at this moment due to the limited availability of IT professionals.
More integration into one solution with increased automation would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
Our company has been working with Check Point for three years. Initially, it took about one and a half years to finalize all the negotiations and get approvals from the IT side to start working with Check Point. Then, one year ago, we began a Proof of Concept (POC), which was aimed at IT technical staff and team leads.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There have been a few approaches and POCs, however, I have not observed any downtime. I understand cloud solutions depend on internet bandwidth and other factors, yet I have not noticed any risks due to the excellent bandwidth. I must say, it performs very well, so I have no concerns at the moment.
How are customer service and support?
The understanding depends on identifying the customer's pain points. It often depends on the relationships we have with the customer and the shared information. Once you know the pain points, you know the best way to approach the problem.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use a different solution. Perhaps my colleagues have tried other solutions, such as Fortinet, but I am not entirely sure. I think Check Point might have been one of the earlier adopters of cloud-related functionalities in our understanding.
In our market, Check Point speaks more frequently about cloud security compared to Fortinet. We mainly work with two vendors: Fortinet and Check Point. My technical colleagues have been involved in some testing concerning cloud security.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is sometimes more expensive than some vendors. It's not a matter of pricing, it's a matter of what you get, from the customer's point of view.
Building close relationships is crucial to understanding the pain points and discussing the best approach with Check Point representatives. This process can take time, making it difficult to rate satisfaction from one to ten.
What other advice do I have?
Check Point is one of the best in the market. I would rate it nine out of ten, as not many well-developed products are available in the market, which is still relatively new.
Cloud offerings are bringing new ways of working, applications, and security features. It is challenging to keep up with all the changes from cloud providers. For example, Check Point Cloud products are specific, and on-premise solutions offer more stability as updates can be managed internally. In cloud environments, updates are typically automatic, which can lead to downtime or lost connectivity. This issue is inherent to using cloud solutions as opposed to on-premise systems.
I rate the overall solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Centralized management reduces workload and ensures continuous policy across infrastructure
What is our primary use case?
CloudGuard is protecting my cloud workloads. The secure communication between my on-premises network and the cloud network is the main use case. I am establishing one continuous rule set across all of my infrastructure and then maintaining all the guards and measures throughout my infrastructure.
How has it helped my organization?
We managed to reduce the effort and workload as well as the attack surface across our infrastructure. We now have a more continuous policy.
What is most valuable?
The centralized management is one of the key use cases.
I managed to reduce the effort, workload, and attack surface across my overall financial infrastructure. These are the main things. Centralized management is the feature I like best, resulting in reduced workload and more continuous policy.
We have unified security management across hybrid environments.
It's good for identifying security threats. We compare it to what cloud solutions providers offer. We look more into the actual traffic and the enforcement of the policy. What Check Point provides goes beyond and is not comparable to what is offered by the native network solutions.
We have confidence in secure cloud migrations. It's imperative to use a solution like this. We wouldn't want to run our cloud without this level of security and protection.
What needs improvement?
Today, we are trying to look more into encrypted traffic. API security is one of the most highlighted aspects we are currently evaluating. Network Detection Response (NDR) and AI protection are the main areas I am focusing on now. In addition, I am looking into Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions in general.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using a Check Point solution for three and a half years now. I have used network security for a much longer period before that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is very good. I am very happy with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CloudGuard scalability is what it is. It integrates perfectly into the cloud world, which is what I expect. With the centralized management in place, scalability is perfect. I can deploy it everywhere I need it. Scalability is one of the key factors for selecting this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Check Point support is similar to other support on the market.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have looked at Cisco and Palo Alto. I evaluated these solutions and then came to terms with Check Point. We like that it integrates with other security solutions from Check Point we're running.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have looked at competitive vendors a lot and we decided to go with Check Point. We've looked at Cisco and Palo Alto, however, we preferred Check Point's centralized management.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the product eight out of ten.