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.

Remote Access VPN (Remote Access VPN) allows users in our organization to connect to a private network to access services and resources remotely. This connection is secure and is made through the Internet. It came to support us so that users, whenever they were outside the organization and were supporting customers from any region, could have secure access to the corporation's data. 

Another important point is when our executives travel to regions where certain access to services is blocked. The VPN helps us bypass that block. Since a VPN can hide your real IP address, it can help you bypass geo-blocks, as the platform the one you want to access will think it is from the “correct” geographic region.

The solution is giving us security when it comes to sharing our data safely through the private and secure tunnel that is created when creating the VPN. The VPN hides your IP address and encrypts your online traffic and it essentially ensures that your fingerprints cannot be traced on the Internet. Online hackers won't be able to use your real IP address to discover your personal data, and government surveillance agencies and ISPs won't be able to monitor what you do online by snooping on your traffic.

In addition to helping you avoid government surveillance, it also helps keep your privacy safe from advertisers.

In terms of the way they ensure traffic, an example is when we use Wi-Fi in public areas.

WiFi is everywhere nowadays and it is extremely convenient to use, especially if you have a tight mobile data plan. The only problem with free WiFi is that it's often unsecured, which means you're putting your personal data at risk every time you use it. After all, cybercriminals can find out a lot about you, which can lead to them stealing your:

• Credit card details
• Bank account details
• Email login credentials

However, if you use a VPN, you won't have to worry about those dangers. A VPN uses encryption to protect your online communications, making sure no one can monitor it. Basically, if a hacker tried to see your connection traffic, they would just see nonsense.

That the level of Remote access VPN was higher by default as other brands do it that way. In the case of Check Point, they are not like that. The maximum it is giving us is only 5 licenses and if you need more, they must be purchased separately. From my perspective, it should be added to the same cost as the general license, and that well explained makes the product more attractive. Many organizations would have this need, as many are moving off-premise. We have great executives and entire corporate teams that perform work tasks from home.

I've used the solution for about 2 years.

Check Point Remote Access VPN allows organization users to work remotely. Especially in the pandemic period, work-from-home demand has been higher than ever. 

I have a remarkable case about the solution. That is for a bank. They want to have remote access VPNs that can provide connections for internal users who work remotely, partners who have restricted connections to the bank environment and ATM machines that connect to core banking applications. All VPNs acted in the same internet connections but still ensure these three VPNs were separated from each other. For the requirements, deploying the VPN in VSX appliances helped to solve issues. I created three virtual instances: one for corporate users, one for partners and one for ATM machines. 

Applying security policies for three instances is different. Corporate users must pass two-factor authentication layers and then have access to common corporate services (like email, and chat) and the right business applications depending on their working role, and their department. Partners after authenticating successfully only have limited access to the right place that they are allowed while being unable to connect to other places. 

ATM machines that act 24/7 need to have continuous connections, thus, they must authenticate using a certificate and their VPN clients must be configured to re-authenticate automatically after a timeout.

Check Point Remote Access VPN supports almost all common devices, from Windows to macOS, and from Android to iOS. Connection methods are flexible, including browsers and VPN clients. 

With such an approach, the solution can solve every remote working problem from anywhere, on any device while maintaining security features. The solution allows us to integrate with external systems like directory servers, email servers, and RADIUS servers for using directory users (a unified user instead must remember many usernames and passwords), adding multi-factor authentication via an OTP certificate. VPN users will have controlled access based on who they are and where they are by security policies. 

The solution offers flexible authentication methods to control access by policies and compliance. 

Check Point can integrate with external systems and third-party solutions to provide multi-layer authentications. This helps secure the user accounts from leakage of passwords and also protects corporate from unauthorized access damage risks. 

Security policies help to convert access regulations to policy rule configurations after authenticating. Setting policies allow, block, and limit users' access. 

With the compliance feature, Check Point can define what conditions user machines should have to authenticate the VPN. This feature helps to add more security to the network.

Endpoint Security on Demand, or Compliance Check is a good feature. It allows the creation of compliance policies and adds more security to the network. Machines will be scanned once they connect to VPN to make sure all of them are compliant. Conditions to configure compliance checks are Windows security (hotfixes, patches), Anti-Spyware, Anti-Virus software, personal firewall, or Custom (application, files, registry). These are not enough in a complicated environment. Almost of them are supported for Windows machines, however, are just limited conditions for non-Windows. In fact, using mobile devices on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux is very popular. Compliance Check on Check Point should be improved by having more configurable conditions to support multi-platforms and adding more granularity. 

Besides compliance scanning sometimes causes consumes machine resources. 

I also suggest scanning operations will consume fewer resources and increase speed time.

I've been using the solution for more than five years.

As mentioned in my use case, the solution is running for thousands of corporate users, partner users, and ATM machines. The performance is very impressive. 

With Check Point VSX, the virtual instance extension is just an additional license, thus, it's very easy to add VS for other purposes. Besides Check Point also developed Maestro technology to allow hyperscale, increase throughput, and maximize capacity.

The Check Point Support Team is very professional and has technical expertise. The team is online 24/7 to make sure their customers always be supported. Response time to the customer is quick enough when they provide a solution to fix the issues or when they need some time to investigate or when they need some time to investigate they stay up to date.

Positive

I had used Fortinet Remote Access VPN before. At that time, other security features like Firewall, IPS, Application Control, and URL Filtering had been added to the same box running Remote Access VPN. The Fortinet appliance was overloaded all the time - although specifications in the datasheet could be OK. After changing to Check Point (using Remote Access VPN with other security features), the performance was amazing. CPU and memory usages were always at an average level.

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.