Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) Reviews

The product is an excellent perimeter firewall solution. But compared to Palo Alto, the management console is critical. It's difficult to let customers understand the dashboard of the firewall because there are three distinct dashboards. The three dashboards include smart connect, Check Point Firewall dashboard and more. 

The solution is used by our organization for security purposes across small and medium banks in our country, who happen to be customers of our company. 

The architecture of the solution is extraordinary because when a Check Point Firewall protects a customer or organization, a DDoS attack can hardly occur. Another valuable feature is the real-time zero-day protection.  

The user interface needs to improve and should be user-friendly. The customer of this solution also needs to undergo training to use the solution dashboards, unlike products like Palo Alto. 

In the next release, Check Point can try to add the DDoS or web application firewall within the overall firewall. If Check Point is able to implement the aforementioned integration within the firewall module, then people don't need to buy each firewall separately. The comprehensive firewall addition will increase the sales volume of any next generation firewall because TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) will be low. 

I have been using Check Point NGFW for five years. 

I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. 

If you have the Maestro version, scalability is the best among all competitors. For large organizations that have ten thousand users, they don't need to bother about the extra cost of the Maestro version. For organizations with one or two thousand users, the Maestro version can be a luxury for them. 

The tech support is very helpful for Check Point NGFW. The support team even asks for remote access to resolve the problem immediately. But sometimes, it takes between eight to twelve hours to connect with a level three engineer to get the support. The response time needs to improve. I would rate the tech support a six out of ten. 

A firewall is a critical asset, and when there is a problem with the perimeter firewall, an individual cannot communicate outside the organization, so support is required immediately. 

Our company's usual deployment model for the solution is on-premises because cross-border data transmission is prohibited. The installation of Check Point NGFW takes between seven to ten days (working five hours a day). For the banks who are customers of our company, we could only work for deployment after the usual banking hours, so it took longer. 

I can conclude that deployment and running the User Accessibility Test (UAT) can take a maximum of forty hours. Two engineers are needed to deploy Check Point NGFW. 

I have evaluated SentinelOne and CrowdStrike. The rollback feature of ransomware attacks in SentinelOne cannot be found in competitors. 

I would recommend Check Point NGFW over Palo Alto and Cisco as a complex security solution for a complex environment. I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

I've been dealing with the Check Point environment for over eight years, ever since SPLAT, the R75 versions, and mainly with a multi-domain management (former Provider1) set-up. I also use the Smart Management Server, with a standalone/distributed deployment.

I'm currently engaged in the design, implementation, and maintenance of a large-scale Check Point firewall environment (~100 GWs).

Presently, the customer is using Check Point for perimeter security, IPS, threat prevention, encrypted traffic, as well as access to the internet, and multi-domain server architecture.

The Check Point solution has improved the way the customer organization functions.

People are working within the organization all over the world, across NALA, APAC, and EMEA regions. Having Check Point as a security vendor made it easy to assure people they could access the resources everywhere, from offices, homes, and across the globe, especially during the pandemic, safely.

One of the last implemented projects was replacing an obsolete Client Auth solution with Identity Awareness, including integration to AVD.

The solution plays an important role in preventing security incidents from happening and preventing malicious attempts to infiltrate into the organization while quickly adapting and reacting to any attempts. For example, it protected us against Log4J vulnerability a few months ago.

It is easy to administrate and maintain.

The product is very granular in the Logs & Monitor section and also intuitive to use.

It offers good control and visibility over users' identities and actions.

It provides central policy management, which is easy to manage and maintain.

The product offers great performance tuning features like SecureXL, CoreXL, HyperThreading, and Multi-Queue.

The study material and training need to be improved and become more accessible to security engineers working with Check Point.

Needs serious skills for advanced troubleshooting. The configuration might get a little bit too complex for regular engineers, compared with easy administration.

We've encountered a few limitations when trying to accomplish simple tasks required by customers. For example, changing a domain name inside an MDS environment or missing a function in the database which removes the domain object completely from the database.

There are plenty of bugs that are not documented, or with too generic error messages.

I've used the solution for eight years.

We use the solution as a perimeter and OT demarcation firewall. As we are a large utility company with a distributed network, Check Point plays a vital role in terms of network segmentation. Specifically, we need identity-aware authentication to give us the best VPN compared to other players in the market. 

Centralized management is a major plus of Check Point, which provides us with a better user experience. 

We use it to safeguard our office network on a routine basis. These firewalls protect against external threats, manage VPN access for remote users, and address various security scenarios. 

Our primary focus involves malware prevention, intrusion detection, and ensuring robust security measures to shield our office network from potential cyber threats originating from the internet. It serves as a traditional yet effective security system, providing comprehensive protection against hackers and potential risks associated with internet usage.

Check Point has a Purpose fit solution for our environment A lot of things need to be improved in Check Point NGFW. 

For example, their support team isn't very efficient and useful. The solution itself isn't easy to learn, making it hard for support to provide solutions. The design makes it so pockets (specific teams) have to work together when there's an issue, which creates a mess. Also, Check Point lacks competitive capabilities like SD-WAN and CGM app integration. 

Visibility needs improvement. For example, Fortinet shows all connected devices with IP addresses, MAC addresses, and sometimes usernames. More granular detail is crucial for security. 

Support efficiency, visibility, and adding competitive capabilities are key areas for improvement.

The product offers a robust and intuitive experience, catering to the essential needs of users. 

The Cleanup Rule's ability to discard unwanted traffic and the inclusion of default Autonomous Threat Prevention Profiles does simplify security measures; we're able to cater to various deployment scenarios. 

I was impressed by how easy it was to activate blades and implement them on a security gateway. 

The Smart Console's efficient user interface ensures that the changes to the policy are swiftly made. We're also able to maintain proper audit logs.

The solution requires improvements in the following areas:

- Having the Zone Alarm and the standalone endpoint VPN become compatible products. 

- Having Smart Console in-place upgrades with IP/fingerprint retention 

- A Mac version of the Smart Console.

- Streamlining of the endpoint solution and deployment options.

I've used the solution for ten years.

Technical support is excellent.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward.

We implemented the solution through a vendor. They offered excellent support.

We use the product for safeguarding our office network on a routine basis. These firewalls protect against external threats, manage VPN access for remote users, and address various security scenarios. 

Our primary focus involves malware prevention, intrusion detection, and ensuring robust security measures to shield our office network from potential cyber threats originating from the internet. 

It serves as a traditional yet effective security system, providing comprehensive protection against hackers and potential risks associated with internet usage.

A lot of things need to be improved in Check Point NGFW. For example, their support team isn't very efficient and useful. The solution itself isn't easy to learn, making it hard for support to provide solutions. The design makes it so pockets (specific teams) have to work together when there's an issue, which creates a mess. 

Also, Check Point lacks competitive capabilities like SD-WAN and CGM app integration. And visibility needs improvement. For example, Fortinet shows all connected devices with IP addresses, Mac addresses, and sometimes usernames. More granular detail is crucial for security. 

Support efficiency, visibility, and adding competitive capabilities are key areas for improvement.

The product offers a robust and intuitive experience, catering to the essential needs of users. 

The Cleanup Rule's ability to discard unwanted traffic and the inclusion of default Autonomous Threat Prevention Profiles simplifies security measures, catering to various deployment scenarios. I was impressed by how easy it was to activate blades and implement them on a security gateway, with the process taking less than five minutes. 

Additionally, the Smart Console's clear and efficient user interface ensures that the changes to the policy are swiftly made, with the added benefit of maintaining proper audit logs.

Places for improvement include:

• Having a Zone Alarm and the standalone endpoint VPN that become compatible products.
• Having a Smart Console in-place upgrades with IP/fingerprint retention.
• Offering a Mac version of Smart Console.
• Integration of CPview and things like fw accel stat in the monitoring blade.
• No more legacy SmartDashboard for some features.
• Streamlining of the endpoint solution and deployment options and also offering the possibility to convert shared policy to unified policy when you run R80.X via some sort of wizard in a layer or so. This is a classical case for people who upgraded their R77 management.
• Offering a fixed deployment schedule for accumulator hotfixes. This would help us foresee maintenance windows in organizations with rigid change management procedures.
• Finding a way to restore the object search like in R77, where you could find any part of an object name and not a word in the object.
• Scheduling policy pushes in Smart Console.

I've used the solution for ten years.

For Check Point, the main cases are just perimeter security, network security, basically detecting threats on the network, antivirus, application control, visibility, login, and data threat prevention.

I like the GUI. In terms of functionality, it used to be the detection capability. Check Point has good security intelligence, which helps detect threats. They have the historical background to do that. But now, Fortinet is a bit better. 

A lot of things need to be improved in Check Point NGFW. One, their support team isn't very efficient and useful. 

The solution itself isn't easy to learn, making it hard for support to provide solutions. The design makes it so pockets (specific teams) have to work together when there's an issue, which creates a mess.

Also, Check Point lacks competitive capabilities like SD-WAN and CGM app integration. And visibility needs improvement. For example, Fortinet shows all connected devices with IP addresses, MAC addresses, and sometimes usernames. More granular detail is crucial for security.

So support efficiency, visibility, and adding competitive capabilities are key areas for improvement.

I have been with Check Point for a very long time. So, it has been almost six years.

I would rate the stability a six out of ten. There is room for improvement here. 

I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. My customers are mostly medium-sized businesses, but my clientele also includes enterprises.

There is room for improvement in the customer service and support. 

Neutral

I'm heavily biased towards Fortinet. Check Point is a direct competitor, so from my experience, it's a decent firewall. There are strong points and weak points, but Fortinet is superior for various reasons.

The initial setup is really straightforward. The GUI is very good. However, the issue I have is with the stability. In terms of simplicity, I don't consider Check Point to be a straightforward solution. Another point to mention is my experience in planning within customer environments. The outcomes are not always as expected. 

For instance, when setting up Check Point firewall and flat policies, the policies didn't take effect immediately. There was a situation where the policies took effect after about two hours. Such instances were mind-boggling. Regarding VPN issues, when implementing IP protection between Check Point and other vendors, remote access can be challenging.

In Nigeria, it's predominantly on-premises. Many organizations are moving towards cloud, but many others use a hybrid approach, both on-premises and in the cloud. 

A few are using Check Point in the cloud, but most test with Fortinet due to easier integration with public cloud providers like Microsoft. Public cloud vendors also have their own firewalls, like Microsoft and AWS. In terms of adoption, Check Point is behind in cloud adoption in Nigeria.

Overall, the process is very fast and depends on the type of deployment. For example, replacing a Cisco firewall with Check Point requires converting policies, which can take quite a while, depending on the size of the policy base. In my personal experience, setting up Check Point was very quick.

It's reasonably priced, but competitors offer much cheaper options. It's market-related, so the pricing makes sense for what Check Point offers.

My recommendation is to consider Fortinet as an alternative. Overall, I'd rate it a seven out of ten. There's room for improvement, especially since Check Point doesn't seem too focused on our region. 

In Nigeria, procuring the firewall and bundled services like technical account management and professional services can be challenging. The service delivery is not as efficient as one would expect, which wouldn't be the case for a European customer.

Check Point NGFW needs to run marketing events. They have also to set up a support center in India. 

I have been working with the product for 12 years. 

I rate the tool's stability a ten out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability a ten out of ten. 

I rate the tool's initial deployment a nine out of ten. 

Check Point NGFW is expensive. 

We have customers from medium and corporate enterprises. I rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

The primary use case is to enhance security by safeguarding the internet connection for both servers and users.

Its greatest asset lies in its user-friendly interface, making it exceptionally suitable and reliable for managing gateways.

When it comes to Check Point's small business gateway series, there might be a need for hardware upgrades, as configuring them can sometimes be a bit challenging.

I have been working with it for two years.

I would rate its stability capabilities eight out of ten.

I would rate its scalability abilities eight out of ten.

Seeking solutions from them can be quite challenging and often takes a while, which then impacts our workload. I would rate it seven out of ten.

Neutral

I have some experience with Juniper, WatchGuard, Cisco, and Fortinet.

The initial setup is relatively complex.

Deployment duration varies based on the customer's specific conditions. On average, an installation might take around twenty minutes.

The best solutions tend to come with a higher price tag. If something is inexpensive, it often implies a compromise in quality. The solution is indeed costly. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

I use the solution in my company since the solution serves as a firewall and functions on a DMZ network while also providing public-facing services. I serve my company's customers as a firewall administrator.

My company's customers have benefited from the solution's performance, especially when dealing with a huge amount of traffic. Check Point is a well-known name in the security industry that opts for functionalities like signature-based detection and beyond.

The most valuable feature of the solution is the Quantum Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). I also like the solution's functionality, like autonomous threat prevention.

The complexity involved in the solution's initial setup phase and deployment process is an area of concern where improvement is required.

I have been using Check Point NGFW for two years. I work as the solution's integrator. Speaking about the version, I use Check Point Quantum 6400 Next Generation Firewalls.

So far, I haven't faced any issues related to the solution's stability.

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

If I take into consideration my company's customers who use the solution, then I would have to say that there are around 300 to 400 users.

I have availed the services provided by the solution's technical support. My company engages with the solution's local partner to avail the services provided by Check Point's technical support team.

Compared to Palo Alto and Fortinet, Check Point provides good internal performance, especially for big-scale enterprises and entities, making it a tool that is not just suitable for SMEs or mid-sized companies. Check Point is, however, pricier than other solutions.

The initial setup of Check Point NGFW is quite complex. When it comes to the product's setup phase, the engineer should understand the product, and instead of understanding the firewall, it is important to know how to manage or be an admin.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution's deployment is complex.

My company's customers have seen a return on investment from the use of Check Point NGFW.

I rate the pricing of Check Point NGFW a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price.

I take care of the solution's maintenance part, and I feel that it is a straightforward process.

Check Point NGFW is good for big companies.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for full-scale integration and end-to-end management at the organization. The Check Point NGFW implementation took place quite smoothly.

Check Point NGFW is the best in terms of comprehensive protection against network threats and security against malware and phishing attacks. It smoothly restricts these via anti-phishing algorithms.

Check Point NGFW source package covers all the bases - application control, NAT, DLP, routing, content awareness, VPN, desktop security, and much more.

It is scalable, provides end-to-end resolution and customized productive services like providing a complete solution for perimeter protection that
blocks the traffic based on an IP address or on applications
and content. This makes Check Point NGFW highly promising and makes it a complete solution.

Check Point NGFW is the best in terms of comprehensive protection against network threats, malware, and phishing and smoothly restricts these via anti-phishing algorithms.

The source package covers all the bases - application control, NAT, DLP, routing, content awareness, VPN, desktop security, et cetera.

It provides end-to-end resolution. It is a customized productive service and a complete solution for perimeter protection that blocks traffic based on IPs, applications, and content.

The most valuable services it provides are end-to-end resolution and perimeter protection; It blocks traffic based on IP address, applications, and content.

Check Point NGFW is best in terms of comprehensive protection against network threats, malware, and phishing. It has great anti-phishing algorithms.

They could improve by lowering prices. The source package is a bit more expensive than its competitors. 

We've had some downtime issues.

It could be more generalized and user-friendly in terms of its support portal for raising tickets. Ads management should all just be on a single click.

Overall Check Point NGFW is highly scalable and provides end-to-end resolution and a wide range of customized productive services with a huge community and team behind it.

I've used the solution for about 1.5 years or so.

I hadn't gone through any such solution earlier. I just tried in-built system solutions.

Check Point NGFW integration is quite smooth in terms of licensing. They are a bit more expensive, yet they are overall a strong product and a must-have for professionals.

No, I did not go through software review websites for recommendations and software services outlooks.

Check Point NGFW is highly scalable. It has a wide range of customized productive services with a huge community and team behind its technology.

Check Point NGFW is a solid, up-to-date solution that helps protect the network infrastructure, resolving unauthorized access, attacks, and access to the infrastructure by cyber attackers.

We've been pleased to use Check Point's security tool.

To shield our perimeter, we decided to acquire a security manufacturer that would provide its gateway security applications both on-premise and in Microsoft Azure, for which Check Point, with its GW tool, fulfilled what was required to improve perimeter security.

Check Point NGFW gives us granular security with its intuitive policies, application control, monitoring, logs, and a wide range of blades that can be purchased and included in this tool, providing a more integrated and centralized security to improve infrastructure protection.

With this, we can use S2S VPNs to communicate with other sites. We can monitor and protect with Check Point.

There are several ways to implement it. In our case, we use an HA solution, a Check Point cluster that safely provides us with work continuity.

The characteristic that has caught our attention the most is its easy implementation in Microsoft Azure. Under a template, the tool can be provisioned with the best practices. Its licensing can be BYOL or PAYG through Microsoft Azure where it can be licensed on a monthly basis.

The different implementation options create wide variability for users.

This security tool is also up-to-date against the most modern threats, constantly being updated globally to provide intelligence accumulated by other devices worldwide to combat computer insecurity.

The tool is somewhat more expensive than its competitors. It could equalize the costs a little to be able to be more competitive.

On the other hand, Check Point documentation does not always help easy implementation for new users or amateurs in the security field.

Finally, the support must be improved. They need to improve times and schedules and solve both in local applications and in the cloud. Sometimes a solution is extended in the newest tools. Sometimes it is better to investigate one on your own than to wait for a Check Point solution.

We have used this Check Point NGFW for about three consecutive years. We have improved the technical capacity of the staff to use it. It's an excellent tool.

We used Cisco and Fortinet as tests. Check Point seems more robust.

A Check Point vendor is necessary to be able to address licensing properly.

I'd recommend carefully validating the documentation and carrying out test environments before implementing NGFW solutions in production to see the pros and cons that are generated in your infrastructure.

We evaluated various options, including security upgrades, performance, and Gartner ratings, to make the decision.

It is an expensive tool. It's very good and effective. If you have the option or facility to acquire it, I recommend you try it first and you will love it.