Check Point Remote Access VPN Reviews

Check Point Remote Access VPN is a VPN solution that allows users to securely connect to corporate networks from remote locations. It enables users to access corporate resources such as files, applications, and network devices as if they were on the corporate network.

The primary use case of Check Point Remote Access VPN is to provide secure remote access for employees, contractors, and partners who need to access corporate resources while working remotely. This can include employees working from home, traveling, or working in a remote office location. 

It can improve an organization by providing secure access to resources for traveling employees, which can help to reduce the risk of data breaches or other security incidents. 

It also can improve the organization's security posture by providing secure remote access with multi-factor authentication, encryption, and other security features.

It is important to note that the results of the solution will depend on the organization's specific environment and configuration as well as how well it is implemented and managed.

Some of the features that are considered most valuable in Check Point Remote Access VPN include: 

Multi-factor authentication. This feature allows organizations to use a combination of authentication methods such as certificates, tokens, biometric authentication, and user credentials to secure remote access connections.

Encryption. This feature provides end-to-end encryption for remote access connections, which helps to protect against eavesdropping and other forms of man-in-the-middle attacks. 

The solution needs:

Advanced monitoring and reporting capabilities in order to have a more detailed visibility into security incidents and events. It's important to note that the areas of improvement and additional features will vary depending on the specific use case and the organization's security needs, so it is recommended to contact the vendor to know more details about their roadmap and the next releases of the product. 

Improved scalability to allow the solution to handle larger numbers of users and devices without a significant impact on performance. 

I've used the solution for one year.

We needed to grow a little more at a cloud level, which means that we have had more places in which we host information, and needed to protect it. We needed to allow users to have access from the different branches in the cloud to our main branch and to access remotely. As a result of these needs, we have been looking for solutions that allow us to have quick and efficient access no matter which branch we are going to access, and to have access allowed quickly and easily as if users were inside the perimeter area of ​​our organization.

Currently, Check Point is an ally that we have used within our organization to protect the perimeter area, the equipment, and other technologies. We have complete protection in one technology that we are using so that our users with greater frequency can access the data of our organization regardless of where they are. With this, they can have quick, simple access as if they were within the perimeter area. This has given us greater protection when it comes to having protected and verified access under user identity.

We can integrate remote access to our branches through Check Point services; however, those services come with a centralized identity, a domain identity, which does not work for the different logins. It only works for the login through the remote connection application. The user profile is centralized, verified, and filtered by the tool, thus being one of the characteristics that are very important to me since it shows any activity that the user is going to carry out.

We'd like to integrate Check Point into the Remote Access VPN solution and have the ability to integrate multiple devices as access points through the solution. This would allow us to have a tool that it is not only remote access for mobile devices but a remote access solution for virtual teams, including mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets, and other types of devices in IoT areas such as doors, houses, and medical equipment.

I've been using the solution for one year.

Currently, as we are a company that constantly imports and exports solutions. We have needed to give our salespeople access to our executives since that part of retail is constantly on the move inside and outside our organization. This makes it somewhat necessary to figure out how everyone can access data since the information is being used and managed every day inside and outside of our institution. We have come to use the Check Point security services so that users can have the same access as we have inside when they are outside the organization.

The capacity that Check Point Remote Access VPN offers is one of the best. It has made it easier for us and the team to have great mobility inside and outside the organization. If anyone must consult the services internally, they can connect quickly and simply. The agent that allows the connection is very fast to install and very fast to configure. It has streamlined a lot of the complexity that we had faced before.

Among its most valuable features is how it quickly and easily connects everyone to the VPN service. It quickly installs an agent on the computers, so that our users do not have to worry about their mobile devices being configured. It is easy to install and can run and install as a client on devices whether the user has Mac or Windows.

In the future, if this service could be installed in a faster and simpler way (rather than having it directly connected to the appliances), that would be ideal. Today, many of the solutions are not what was needed when we had perimeter security. It would be good to have Remote Access VPN solutions for Check Point edge services.

We have been using the solution for three months.

We primarily use the solution for work from home. Our main goal is to provide users with the ability to access their workstation from anywhere in the world.

We provided remote access to more than 500 users during the pandemic. Check Point Remote Access VPN has worked smoothly as our appliance is capable of supporting 1000+ users.

We deployed a VPN client-based solution with multi-factor authentication. The compliance check feature is useful.

It is compatible with several operating systems, and it has great protection against malware.

It offers a simple configuration and setup.

We developed work-from-home policies for our organization during the pandemic due to the rise in COVID cases. As network security engineers, it's challenging for us to manage users' personal laptops and computers which are not up to date (OS, Antivirus ..etc). However, when it comes to the Check Point VPN solution, we overcame all the challenges and successfully implemented our infrastructure. Logs are helping us to monitor each user's activity. We can also isolate user laptops or PCs from the internet when its gets connected to our network.

The remote access blade is built in on the firewall, so it is easy to activate through the Smart Console.

Only the VPN client supports only the Windows and Apple Mac operating systems, which also support iOS and Android mobile platforms. The Check Point development team deserves praise for a flawless experience.

Multi-factor authentication and compliance checks help us to ensure maximum security.

VPN logs give us complete visibility and track unusual activities.

The VPN client user interface is simple and perfect.

The VPN client software is lightweight.

It's difficult to configure on Linux workstations as Check Point Remote VPN clients support only Windows and Mac devices.

The configuration of a VPN requires a distinct VPN Tab. Once the VPN blade has been activated, after activating VPN blade, we need to make some configurations in the gateway option settings and others in the VPN communities section. It would be preferable if these two things came together in one place.

Apart from this, it operates flawlessly. To improve our IT Services, we poll our users. The majority of people say how excellent the remote access VPN service is. Additionally, they stated that once connected to a VPN service, they never experience connectivity problems.

I've used the solution for more than two years.

The product offers excellent customer service and support.

Positive

We used a different solution that did not satisfy us in terms of security. As a result, we decided to deploy Check Point for enhanced security.

Before migrating to the Check Point firewall, we conducted market research and solicited feedback from my contacts who are already Check Point NGFW customers. We decided to use Check Point.

The VPN Setup and initial configuration are tricky and not straightforward. For example, you need to:

1. Do some configuration in the gateway option, then:

2. VPN Communities

It would be preferable if step 1 and step 2 were available in one place.

3- Lastly, you must apply the firewall policy

We implemented this solution ourselves.

We now have a reliable VPN solution to offer our staff, which is a significant return on investment.

This product provides a secure connection to the corporate network from anywhere and safe traffic of data regardless of the possible threats in the WAN it's connected to. It also provides secure access to company apps and controls the traffic depending on each company's policies. Through it, we create layers that control or limit data traffic for specific users. I've been trained in the product and know it's one of the most effective in the business and admit to facilitating my customers to get it from our Check Point partners.

A clear example of the positive impact this license has had in my organization was back in 2020. The software was in use since before the pandemic hit so our personnel was familiarized with the product; the transition was smooth and secure from the office to work from home. Access policies were run through the active directory applied on all kinds of end points, from cell phones, tablets, laptops, desktops - you name it. Access could be restricted by location and using network security assessments that prevented connecting to corrupted networks. 

We already use the Check Point Firewall and those are the ones the organization's employees connect to for the remote VPN and it made it really easy to activate this function as new hardware was not needed. 

The team has full visibility of the users that connect allowing them to keep control of who is in the network and what data they are allowing to come in and out. Be it if our users are at home or in the office the same policy applies to them allowing us to view the traffic within our organization.

In my organization, there aren't Linux users, however, I know it has difficulties offering secure access for customers who use this operating system. 

Also, this product has limitations with headcount addition, as there are performance limitations in each security gateway the software has. 

The ability to allow split-tunneling while still following our corporate policy should be offered. 

Some things like the compliance aspect of the VPN Client can be updated so the product stays up to speed with the ever-changing environment in software security.

For the past eight years, I've been working at a company where I was first in software security sales for three years and then five years in hardware sales. Since I have a background in security, I've been part of training and sales where Check Point products are involved. I have tested most products Check Point offers due to our partnership.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this solution has helped us a lot. We had to move around 6000 people so that they could work from home. It was a challenge for us, however, it was something we managed to do successfully in collaboration with other areas by providing them with a certificate created by Check Point with a .p12 extension and with the peer configuration in their VPN client. 

Now, we are integrating this solution with a 2MFA solution in order to provide better security for authentication of people as day by day the threats and new viruses are always a risk. Sometimes, people do not have that instinct of having to secure their workstations, therefore, we do it for them through the VPN connection.

Connection through VPN has helped us with the connection to corporate. This type of connection has been very useful to us since, as infrastructure personnel, we can establish a connection to our corporate to make a connection either RDP or directly to services in order to be able to carry out any work activity or review any report by the operational part in order to speed up response times. We can connect to our network equipment by SSH, RDP, or via the web, however, only when we have this type of secure connection.

One of the features that has helped us the most with our solutions has been the P2P connection through an IPsec VPN. It has allowed us to extend our infrastructure and grow with new clients. Previously, we had around 15 corporate clients. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have managed to grow and now have around 35 new corporate clients and more than 6 people connected by VPN. This has forced us to increase our infrastructure to be able to support all these connections and to have a stable, reliable, and, above all, scalable solution that can interconnect more clients.

We have not migrated to the R81 version and I do not doubt that it will have some improvements compared to the version we use today. 

Without a doubt and with the new trends in technology, Check Point should already have a blade with a 2MFA solution and not through some other vendor. This type of integration would undoubtedly give it a better reach and greater market with new security trends top of mind. 

I know that everything is moving to a cloud environment, however, for all those corporates that still do not trust such an environment, it would be favorable to offer a 2MFA service in a solution tested through a blade or in the cloud. 

I've used the solution for more than five years.

The remote workers were experiencing issues like disconections, no IP avaliables from the DHCP, or unable to connect because the server didnt responde to a ping, however this issue was fix after we instlalled the JHF 125 on each gateway and after the upgrade, everythig has been working OK, but before that Check Point didn´t have a fix for that manner.

Scalability is great. We have been able to grow as a corporation due in part to this type of solution.

They have been with us when we needed help. We don't have any complaints about their level of service.

Positive

We did use a different solution and we switched due to the fact that Check Point is more secure and has more features for the type of connections we need.

It was a straightforward setup.

The product was integrated with in-house personnel.

We've seen about a 40% ROI.

Check Point is an expensive solution, however, it has more features and is more secure than other options.

Ae evaluated AnyConnect and Palo Alto.

We would like them to add a 2MFA feature in the future. This is our direct request.

With this solution, we can:

1) Securely and privately access our data from anywhere with the Check Point VPN. 

2) Connect securely from any device and any asset.

3) Have 2FA enabled while connecting to the VPN in an official mail. If any person has your VPN credential, he can initiate contact for security codes to connect to the VPN.

4) Integrate our data.

5) View VPN events from the console.

6) Easily install and connect the VPN. 

7) Provide colleagues with secure and seamless remote access to the corporate network.

8) Get a full picture with complete network visibility.

The product has improved the organization by:

1) Deploying high performance. Check Point's private VPN gateways can secure our colleagues/teams working remotely with dedicated IPs and provides private resource access. It empowers our personnel to connect with relevant access permissions to access corporate resources.

2) Ensure a user of our organization aligns with traffic privacy with one of many tunneling protocols so that all transmitted data is completely encrypted. The level of security provided by Check Point ensures that only authorized connections are established, so if users are connected, they are protected.

The solution's most valuable aspects include:

1) Ease of install and ease of use.

2) 2FA Security.

3) Seamless access.

4) Integration with our data.

5) The ability to view VPN events from the console.

6) The ability to manage all our devices from one platform and easily secure and segment their access to resources. 

7) Providing authorized least privileged access for all devices.

8) The ability for our entire global organization to work more securely and to allow us to deploy private and dedicated networks in more than one location.

9) The level of security provided by Check Point. It ensures that only authorized connections are established, so if users are connected, then they are protected.

This is the best version we are using, however, if some changes can be made in the next release, I'd like to see adjustments to the time period and internet connectivity. 

For example, when my internet is not working properly, then the VPN disconnects all of sudden and if I want to connect again, I need to do so with credentials and 2FA. In the next release, if the product could program in a hold time then disconnect the VPN due to the internet's fluctuation, that would be ideal as it would improve the way we can monitor our network visibility.

I've been using Check Point Remote access VPN from a Client perspective for eight months.

It is perfectly stable as far as the VPN is concerned because when I used the older version(R.77) of checkpoint Remote VPN then that time there was points of stablility concern but after the upgradation checkpoint VPN(R.80) perfectly worked on stability part and now it is stable for windows and MAC OS.

The solution offers high scalability as far as adding more users. I don't see that as being an issue.

We have 330-350 users in our company who are using the Check Point VPN.

Technical support is good and helpful when needed. Whenever I was stuck, I was able to get a solution. This was provided by the Check Point TAC support and services team and they were helpful.

Positive

I used Forticlient VPN also. However, the Forticlient VPN had no visibility on traffic and we required better security for our organization.

The product is easy to download, set up, and configure. The official site documentation is pretty good and helps you to understand the process in order to get the VPN connected.

I implemented it myself both in-house as well as for our client.

In terms of the cost:

1) It's easy to set up and download from the official Check Point site.

2) It's easy to connect the VPN by putting in the gateway address, credentials, and the 2FA. 

3) I don't know about exact pricing as it's not a part of my job. I'm a technical person. Our sales team knows all the pricing and licensing details.

I did not really look at other options. My first experience was with Forticlient, however, I wanted more security so I chose the Check Point VPN solution and I'm happy with using it. 

We use Check Point Remote Access VPN to provide access to our corporate network and resources to remote users in a secure way. Users have access that is limited or defined by the server.

Access is granted for identified devices post-posture validation. 

Access should be provided via VPN using multifactor authentication other than username/credentials. Users are able to connect from anywhere at anytime using both mechanisms (i.e. User VPN client or browser). 

This solution mitigates or minimizes data leakage issues.

It is stable and scalable and requires minimal management and access provisioning.

This solution has improved our organization by providing access to corporate resources in a secure fashion. It uses complete end-to-end encryption from the end-user machine to the VPN device.

Access policies are created on the firewall for restricting access to resources and applications based on the user profile/policy.

Our security gateway is integrated with Active Directory and access to resources/applications is provided based on the security group created in Active directory.

This product has inbuild/native integration with MFA solutions.  

It does not require any additional hardware in cases where the organization already has the Check Point NGFW. The mobile access blade and remote access VPN can be enabled on the same security gateway. Check Point provides a common dashboard and management console used in conjunction with the NGFW.

Multiple access can be provided using multiple realms, based on the user ID or security group, and access can be provided accordingly. Each realm will have a pool of IP addresses for which access will be provisioned on the firewall.

Organizations that already use the Check Point NGFW Solution do not require any additional hardware, which makes the implementation straightforward and reduces the time to go live. The only requirement is to purchase an additional license from Check Point, and then enable the mobile access blade. After this, the solution is ready to roll out and provide access based on the configured policy. 

Access is restricted based on user ID, security group, and device type. 

Access is provisioned post-posture policy validation and it offers protection against users connecting to the corporate network from non-corporate devices, which minimizes data leakage possibilities. 

Access is available from browsers or VPN clients using MFA. This is helpful in cases where the machine does not have the client installed or the client is corrupted.

We are able to restrict access based on geo-location and device type. Devices can be Android, iOS, Windows, or Linux.

It provides threat prevention capabilities while uses connect via VPN for Windows devices.

Access is provisioned based on a single L3 tunnel being established between the endpoint and the VPN device. If an attacker gains access to this session then all of the tunnel traffic is compromised. It needs to move to next-generation style access, provisioning such as per-app VPN.

The GUI interface for configuring the SSL VPN is not user-friendly and requires expertise. 

Devices are exposed over the internet and it can lead to a security threat.

When a critical patch needs to be applied to the VPN, downtime is required for the entire NGFW. This can impact the business when it has a single security gateway.

This product cannot manage sudden user growth, as each security gateway has limitations in terms of performance and throughput.

The fully-featured security module is only supported on Windows and Mac systems, which means that organizations with Linux will face issues providing secure access. Specifically, modules such as Threat prevention, Access control, and Incident analysis are supported only on Windows and Mac.

It's very stable in terms of downtime, although it required updates.

The solution can be easily scaled by adding a security gateway.

The Check Point technical support is excellent.

We used Aventail SonicWALL as a standalone product. We switched because it was expensive in terms of management and maintenance. As we already had Check Point NGFW, it was easy to enable the VPN on the same device.

Enabling the VPN was simple and straightforward with the purchase of an additional license from the OEM. Once we acquired the license, it involved enabling the module on the security gateway. The solution was ready to go live within 10-15 minutes.

The implementation was completed by our in-house team with the assistance of the OEM.

Organizations that already have the Check Point NGFW need to purchase an additional license to have access to the VPN functionality.

We evaluated Pulse and Citrix before choosing this option. 

Traditional VPNs that work on L3 or L4, with a single VPN tunnel, are typically hosted on-premises. As organizations are adopting cloud computing, it makes sense to have a VPN solution hosted on the cloud for better control and security.

The tool is easy to configure and use. We integrated it with Active Directory to manage user authentication. It's intuitive and transparent, making it simple for users to use. It connects automatically to the VPN whenever users turn on the laptop. The product is efficient and offers centralized control. 

The main area for improvement is pricing. Another area could be integrating MFA authentication directly into the solution instead of using separate benchmark tools for implementation.

Nearly all of the company's 700 users used the solution during the COVID-19 emergency.

I rate the tool's ease of deployment an eight out of ten. Integrating the solution with the firewall is easy. Implementing a new user typically takes only five to ten minutes. You create the user in the firewall, install the client, and configure the username, making it ready to use.

Maintaining the solution is my responsibility. However, managing the firewall and VPN involves only two or three people. If you consider the entire security area, there are more people involved.

The product is expensive. I rate its pricing a ten out of ten. For the cost of one product, we could purchase two or three Fortinet solutions with the same amount of money.

Our previous company used this product because it's an excellent solution in the cybersecurity community. It was particularly important in Peru, where we had a strong presence in major companies. We selected the solution and used it for approximately ten years. Even after I left the company, they continued using it because of its importance in Peru and its presence in significant companies.

Fortinet may have gained more presence in recent years than Check Point Remote Access VPN, likely due to its lower cost. However, during my time at the company, we continued to use it. The company may consider migrating to other solutions primarily for cost reasons, as Fortinet is cheaper. However, this decision might not be based on technical superiority but on price considerations.

I rate the product a ten out of ten. You can use it if you can afford the pricing. 

We use the solution for our customers. Whenever the users work from home, they connect to the solution and are redirected to their network. It is very simple. They install the client, and the client makes a tunnel to the product. Once they are connected, they can enter into the network.

The policies are easy to use. Once we are connected, the entire infrastructure is safe, irrespective of the device we are using. There is no need to worry about safety. It's a secure tunnel that helps us access the network. It is a very useful feature. We can access the internal resources once we are connected to a VPN. We need not be in the office. The solution performs well.

The product’s architecture is a bit distributed. It should consolidate the architecture to make everything available on a single dashboard.

I have been using the solution for two and a half years.

The tool is stable.

The tool is scalable. We may need to opt for higher boxes. We work with enterprise customers.

The technical support is hardly good. The support team must improve its response time. It should also improve follow-ups through email.

Neutral

I have worked with Sophos and Array Networks. Check Point’s stability is better compared to other tools. I have frequently faced disconnection and other issues with other products.

The initial setup is not easy. We need to be skilled in Check Point to install the solution. The time taken for deployment depends upon the number of boxes we install. If we install one or two boxes, one or two weeks is sufficient.

Our customer needed to install more than 100 boxes in every region. It takes months to deploy the product at that scale. We need a team of 20 people to implement the tool for an enterprise. Once the installation is done, maintenance is easy. The product runs smoothly.

I recommend the solution to every vendor with Check Point as a firewall because it has great stability and security. We can terminate our VPN services to the same box if we're already using Check Point VPN. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.