Buyer’s Guide to

Cloud Network Security

Buyer’s Guide to

Cloud Network Security

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 2

Introduction As organizations accelerate adoption of public cloud platforms, attackers are increasingly targeting

cloud-hosted applications and infrastructure. Web applications and cloud workloads are particularly

attractive attack surfaces because they are internet-facing and frequently store sensitive business

and customer data.

Research from Check Point Software Technologies highlights the scale of the security challenge.

According to the 2025 Cloud Security Report, 65% of organizations experienced a cloud-related

security incident in the past year, yet only 9% detected the incident within the first hour, allowing

attackers significant time to move laterally and access sensitive resources.

For organizations evaluating cloud network security solutions and cloud firewalls, this Buyer’s Guide

explains the top ten considerations with explanations why each consideration is important. The

document introduces Check Point’s Cloud Firewall as a Service and describes how it answers the top

ten considerations and provides examples from customer stories and testimonials relevant to each

consideration.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 2

Introduction

As organizations accelerate adoption of public cloud platforms, attackers are increasingly targeting

cloud-hosted applications and infrastructure. Web applications and cloud workloads are particularly

attractive attack surfaces because they are internet-facing and frequently store sensitive business and customer data.

Research from Check Point Software Technologies highlights the scale of the security challenge.

According to the 2025 Cloud Security Report, 65% of organizations experienced a cloud-related

security incident in the past year, yet only 9% detected the incident within the first hour, allowing

attackers significant time to move laterally and access sensitive resources.

For organizations evaluating cloud network security solutions and cloud firewalls, this Buyer’s Guide

explains the top ten considerations with explanations why each consideration is important. The

document introduces Check Point’s Cloud Firewall as a Service and describes how it answers the top

ten considerations and provides examples from customer stories and testimonials relevant to each consideration.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 3

A Diverse Cloud Vendor Ecosystem to Secure

Public cloud Private cloudon

premises

Figure 1: Tens of Cloud Vendors Require Integrated Threat Prevention and Access Control

Figure 1 illustrates many of the cloud vendors, both private and public, that organizations can choose

for their cloud deployments. This diversity of network technologies makes it challenging for any

organization to ensure a robust cloud security posture for their precious revenue generating

applications and data. As more clouds are added the challenge to secure increases exponentially.

When purchasing cloud firewalls, it’s important to remember that cloud security takes place in the

context of a shared responsibility model. At the infrastructure level (IaaS), cloud providers are

responsible for securing their compute-network-storage infrastructure resources while users are

responsible for protecting the data, deployed on the infrastructure as well as access control to it.

The tools and services offered by cloud providers to help users uphold their end of the shared

responsibility model are important elements of any cloud network security solution. However, cloud

providers are not specialists in security; these cloud provider tools and services must be

complemented by partner solutions in order to achieve enterprise-grade network security.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 3

A Diverse Cloud Vendor Ecosystem to Secure

Public cloud Private cloudon premises

Figure 1: Tens of Cloud Vendors Require Integrated Threat Prevention and Access Control

Figure 1 illustrates many of the cloud vendors, both private and public, that organizations can choose

for their cloud deployments. This diversity of network technologies makes it challenging for any

organization to ensure a robust cloud security posture for their precious revenue generating

applications and data. As more clouds are added the challenge to secure increases exponentially.

When purchasing cloud firewalls, it’s important to remember that cloud security takes place in the context of a shared responsibility model. At the infrastructure level (IaaS), cloud providers are

responsible for securing their compute-network-storage infrastructure resources while users are responsible for protecting the data, deployed on the infrastructure as well as access control to it.

The tools and services offered by cloud providers to help users uphold their end of the shared

responsibility model are important elements of any cloud network security solution. However, cloud

providers are not specialists in security; these cloud provider tools and services must be

complemented by partner solutions in order to achieve enterprise-grade network security.

https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/shared-responsibility-model/ https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/shared-responsibility-model/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 4

Service Responsibility Models

On Premises IaaS PaaS

Data and Access Data and Access Data and Access

Applications Applications Applications

Runtime Runtime Runtime

Operating System Operating System Operating System

Virtualization Virtualization Virtualization

Compute Compute Compute

Networking Networking Networking

Storage Storage Storage

You Manage As A Service

Figure 2: Shared Responsibility Model for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

As shown in Figure 2, a key foundational layer managing multi-cloud network security, is maintaining

data security. The cloud shared responsibility model is a vital part of ensuring that cloud data and

applications are secured against attack. Each cloud provider’s shared responsibility model outlines

what security tasks are their responsibility and which are the customer’s.

Cloud customers need to understand the cloud shared responsibility model to know their role in

securing their cloud infrastructure against attack. They also need to know where to most effectively

and efficiently deploy virtual security gateways to provide advanced threat prevention, traffic

inspection and micro-segmentation. Such security solutions use multiple layered security

technologies including Firewall, IPS, Application Control, DLP and others.

This guide discusses the functionality that effective cloud security solutions should have, and how you

can make sure that vendor solutions have the capabilities that are important to your organization’s

success and security.

SaaS

Data and Access

Applications

Runtime

Operating System

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 4

Service Responsibility Models

On Premises

Data and Access

Applications

Runtime

Operating System

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

IaaS

Data and Access

Applications

Runtime

Operating System

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

PaaS

Data and Access

Applications

Runtime

Operating System

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

SaaS

Data and Access

Applications

Runtime

Operating System

Virtualization

Compute

Networking

Storage

You Manage As A Service

Figure 2: Shared Responsibility Model for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

As shown in Figure 2, a key foundational layer managing multi-cloud network security, is maintaining

data security. The cloud shared responsibility model is a vital part of ensuring that cloud data and

applications are secured against attack. Each cloud provider’s shared responsibility model outlines

what security tasks are their responsibility and which are the customer’s.

Cloud customers need to understand the cloud shared responsibility model to know their role in

securing their cloud infrastructure against attack. They also need to know where to most effectively

and efficiently deploy virtual security gateways to provide advanced threat prevention, traffic

inspection and micro-segmentation. Such security solutions use multiple layered security

technologies including Firewall, IPS, Application Control, DLP and others.

This guide discusses the functionality that effective cloud security solutions should have, and how you

can make sure that vendor solutions have the capabilities that are important to your organization’s

success and security.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 5

The Top 10 Considerations for Evaluating a Cloud

Network Security Solution Here are the top ten criteria you should be using to choose your company’s optimal cloud network

security solution:

In order to stay a step ahead of attacks, threats must be captured and neutralized before they

penetrate the network. MUST STOP ZERO DAYS.

Advanced Threat Prevention and Deep Security 1

Threat detection is not enough to effectively protect cloud assets in today’s complex cybersecurity landscape. You need multilayered, real-time threat prevention for both known and unknown (zero-day) vulnerabilities. The solution must deliver deep security through features such as granular and deep traffic inspection, enhanced threat intelligence, and sandboxing that isolates suspicious traffic until it is either validated or blocked. And these advanced capabilities must be deployed on both North-South

(incoming/outgoing) and East-West (lateral) traffic.

Why is this important? Detecting a threat after it has breached the corporate network exposes the organization’s assets to unacceptable levels of cybersecurity risk. In order to stay a step ahead of malicious actors —including zero-day and other agile exploits—must be captured and neutralized before they penetrate the network. This advanced prevention is possible only by deploying a deep security solution that applies advanced methodologies across multiple layers. Most importantly, a deeper and more comprehensive cloud network security solution will reduce the probability of a cloud breach and minimize the impact and damage if and when it occurs.

Borderless 2

The solution must run transparently and consistently across even the most complex multi-cloud and hybrid (public/private/on-prem) environments. A unified management interface (sometimes called a “single pane-of-glass”) should provide a single source of ALL network security truth as well as a centralized command and control console.

Why is this important? Security teams can not deliver enterprise-grade protection with a fragmented stack comprised of vendor-specific or environment-specific security tools. Aside from the challenging range of diverse skill sets this requires, it inevitably creates policy and process gaps through which threats can slip.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 5

The Top 10 Considerations for Evaluating a Cloud Network Security Solution

Here are the top ten criteria you should be using to choose your company’s optimal cloud network

security solution:

In order to stay a step ahead of attacks, threats must be captured and neutralized before they penetrate the network. MUST STOP ZERO DAYS.

Advanced Threat Prevention and Deep Security 1

Threat detection is not enough to effectively protect cloud assets in today’s complex cybersecurity landscape. You need multilayered, real-time threat prevention for both known and unknown

(zero-day) vulnerabilities. The solution must deliver deep security through features such as granular

and deep traffic inspection, enhanced threat intelligence, and sandboxing that isolates suspicious traffic until it is either validated or blocked. And these advanced capabilities must be deployed on both North-South

(incoming/outgoing) and East-West (lateral) traffic.

Why is this important? Detecting a threat after it has breached the corporate network exposes

the organization’s assets to unacceptable levels of cybersecurity risk. In order to stay a step ahead of malicious actors —including zero-day and other agile exploits—must be captured

and neutralized before they penetrate the network. This advanced prevention is possible only by deploying a deep security solution that applies advanced methodologies across multiple

layers. Most importantly, a deeper and more comprehensive cloud network security solution will

reduce the probability of a cloud breach and minimize the impact and damage if and when it occurs.

Borderless 2

The solution must run transparently and consistently across even the most complex multi-cloud and hybrid (public/private/on-prem) environments. A unified management interface (sometimes called a

“single pane-of-glass”) should provide a single source of ALL network security truth as well as a centralized command and control console.

Why is this important? Security teams can not deliver enterprise-grade protection with a fragmented stack comprised of vendor-specific or environment-specific security tools. Aside from

the challenging range of diverse skill sets this requires, it inevitably creates policy and process gaps through which threats can slip.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 6

Granular Traffic Inspection and Control 3

Look for next generation firewall (NGFW) capabilities, such as fine matching granularity that goes beyond basic whitelisting, deep inspection to ensure that traffic matches the purposes of the allowed ports, advanced filtering based on URL addresses, and controls at not just the port level but the application level as well.

Why is this important? Without deep traffic inspection, organizations are easy prey to evasion techniques that attempt to carry out unauthorized actions through seemingly legitimate access points. And trying to control application activity by blocking URLs and IP addresses is doomed to failure because these protections are easy to bypass; the only solution is application level control as easy as “block Facebook”.

Automation 4

In order to match the speed and scalability of DevOps, the solution must support high levels of automation, including programmatic command and control of security gateways, seamless integration with CI/CD processes, automated threat response and remediation workflows, and dynamic policy updates that don’t require human intervention.

Why is this important? Any cloud solution that does not enable high levels of automation will be impossible to support and will be abandoned by customers. Legacy security approaches that rely heavily on human intervention cannot scale to meet the volume, velocity and variety of today’s cybersecurity threats, Manual processes are also slow and prone to error. As in many other areas of IT, in security as well the only solution is rule-based, adaptive automated workflows.

Integration and Ease of Use 5

The solution must work well with your company’s configuration management stack, including support for Infrastructure as Code deployments. In addition, the solution has to be deeply integrated with the cloud providers’ offerings. In general, your goal should be to streamline operations and promote ease of use by minimizing the number of point security solutions that have to be deployed and managed separately.

Why is this important? Integration is critical to a number of other considerations described here, such as enabling borderless operations and increasing visibility. It plays an important role in creating a cross-functional cloud security platform that addresses not only infrastructure security but also application security, cloud security posture management, and more. Tight integration also contributes greatly to overall ease of use, allowing configurations and tasks to be carried out with the least number of clicks and minimal navigation through complex interfaces.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 6

Granular Traffic Inspection and Control 3

Look for next generation firewall (NGFW) capabilities, such as fine matching granularity that goes

beyond basic whitelisting, deep inspection to ensure that traffic matches the purposes of the allowed

ports, advanced filtering based on URL addresses, and controls at not just the port level but the

application level as well.

Why is this important? Without deep traffic inspection, organizations are easy prey to evasion

techniques that attempt to carry out unauthorized actions through seemingly legitimate access

points. And trying to control application activity by blocking URLs and IP addresses is doomed to

failure because these protections are easy to bypass; the only solution is application level control as easy as “block Facebook”.

Automation 4

In order to match the speed and scalability of DevOps, the solution must support high levels

of automation, including programmatic command and control of security gateways, seamless integration

with CI/CD processes, automated threat response and remediation workflows, and dynamic policy

updates that don’t require human intervention.

Why is this important? Any cloud solution that does not enable high levels of automation will be

impossible to support and will be abandoned by customers. Legacy security approaches that rely

heavily on human intervention cannot scale to meet the volume, velocity and variety of today’s

cybersecurity threats, Manual processes are also slow and prone to error. As in many other areas

of IT, in security as well the only solution is rule-based, adaptive automated workflows.

Integration and Ease of Use 5

The solution must work well with your company’s configuration management stack, including support for

Infrastructure as Code deployments. In addition, the solution has to be deeply integrated with the cloud providers’ offerings. In general, your goal should be to streamline operations and promote ease of

use by minimizing the number of point security solutions that have to be deployed and managed separately.

Why is this important? Integration is critical to a number of other considerations described here,

such as enabling borderless operations and increasing visibility. It plays an important role in creating a cross-functional cloud security platform that addresses not only infrastructure security but also application security, cloud security posture management, and more. Tight integration also contributes greatly to overall ease of use, allowing configurations and tasks to be carried out with the least number of clicks and minimal navigation through complex interfaces.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 7

Visibility 6

The solution’s dashboards, logs, and reports should provide end-to-end and actionable visibility into events as they are happening. For example, logs and reports should use easy-to-parse cloud object names rather than obscure IP addresses. This visibility is also important for enhanced forensic analytics should a breach take place.

Why is this important? At the most basic level, you can’t secure what you can’t see. Even more important, however, is that what you see is both easily understandable and context-aware— correlating across the different signals, events, and data streams that are being monitored.

Scalable, Secure Remote Access 7

The solution must secure remote access to the company’s cloud environment with features such as multi-factor authentication, endpoint compliance scanning, and encryption of data-in-transit. Remote access must also be able to scale quickly so that, during times of disruption such as the COVID-19 pandemic, any number of remote employees can work productively yet securely.

Why is this important? The work-from-home trend was accelerated by the pandemic, but many analysts are predicting that it will continue to grow even after the crisis is behind us. In a world of highly distributed and mobile work forces, remote access to the corporate network that is both secure and performant is a must-have.

Dynamic Policies / Context-aware Security Management 8

The cloud network security solution must be able to aggregate and correlate information across the entire environment—public and private clouds as well as on-premises networks so that security policies can be both context-aware and consistent. Changes to network, asset, or security group configurations within the cloud control plane should be automatically reflected in their relevant security policies eliminating manual intervention and change control.

Why is this important? High levels of integration and automation are critical for the intelligent and consistent management of security policies across complex environments. With asset, change and configuration management frameworks playing a central role in vulnerability remediation efforts, your security platform must be able to seamlessly publish changes, and adapt in real-time to all relevant security policies.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 7

Visibility 6

The solution’s dashboards, logs, and reports should provide end-to-end and actionable visibility into

events as they are happening. For example, logs and reports should use easy-to-parse cloud object

names rather than obscure IP addresses. This visibility is also important for enhanced forensic

analytics should a breach take place.

Why is this important? At the most basic level, you can’t secure what you can’t see. Even more

important, however, is that what you see is both easily understandable and context-aware—correlating across the different signals, events, and data streams that are being monitored.

Scalable, Secure Remote Access 7

The solution must secure remote access to the company’s cloud environment with features such as

multi-factor authentication, endpoint compliance scanning, and encryption of data-in-transit. Remote

access must also be able to scale quickly so that, during times of disruption such as the COVID-19 pandemic, any number of remote employees can work productively yet securely.

Why is this important? The work-from-home trend was accelerated by the pandemic, but many

analysts are predicting that it will continue to grow even after the crisis is behind us. In a world of highly distributed and mobile work forces, remote access to the corporate network that is both secure and performant is a must-have.

Dynamic Policies / Context-aware Security Management 8

The cloud network security solution must be able to aggregate and correlate information across the

entire environment—public and private clouds as well as on-premises networks so that security

policies can be both context-aware and consistent. Changes to network, asset, or security group

configurations within the cloud control plane should be automatically reflected in their relevant security policies eliminating manual intervention and change control.

Why is this important? High levels of integration and automation are critical for the intelligent and consistent management of security policies across complex environments. With asset, change and configuration management frameworks playing a central role in vulnerability remediation efforts, your security platform must be able to seamlessly publish changes, and adapt in real-time to all relevant security policies.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 8

Vendor Support and Industry Recognition 9

In addition to the features and capabilities of the solution itself, it is also important to take a close look at the vendor. Is it highly rated by independent industry analysts and third party security testing companies? Can it meet your SLAs? Does it have a proven track record? Can it provide added value, such as network security advisory services? Can it support your global operations? Is it committed to innovation so that its solution will be future-proof? Is its software mature, with few vulnerabilities, and does it deliver timely fixes?

Why is this important? Recognition by trusted evaluators has become a key factor in purchasing decisions in general and certainly plays an important role here as well. Use these impartial recommendations to seek out a vendor that can drive your cloud security strategy forward, with the capacity to adapt and scale to your ever-changing business requirements. Look for a vendor who meets your security needs and can be a trusted cloud security advisor for many years into the future. Remember, an ill- matched vendor can be a constraining factor in achieving enterprise-grade cloud security.

Total Cost of Ownership 10

The total cost of ownership is determined by a number of factors, all of which should be considered as part of the buying process: the flexibility of the licensing model, the extent to which the cloud security platform seamlessly integrates with and leverages existing IT systems, the level and scope of personnel required to administer the system, the vendor’s MTTR and availability SLAs, and more.

Why is this important? You want your cloud security platform to streamline operations, optimize workflows, and reduce costs while enhancing your security posture. The last thing you want is to be surprised by hidden infrastructure, personnel and other costs that emerge only after the system is up and running.

The last thing you want is to be surprised by hidden infrastructure, personnel and other costs

that emerge only after the system is up and running.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 8

Vendor Support and Industry Recognition 9

In addition to the features and capabilities of the solution itself, it is also important to take a close look at the vendor. Is it highly rated by independent industry analysts and third party security testing companies? Can it meet your SLAs? Does it have a proven track record? Can it provide added

value, such as network security advisory services? Can it support your global operations? Is it committed

to innovation so that its solution will be future-proof? Is its software mature, with few vulnerabilities, and does it deliver timely fixes?

Why is this important? Recognition by trusted evaluators has become a key factor in purchasing

decisions in general and certainly plays an important role here as well. Use these impartial recommendations to seek out a vendor that can drive your cloud security strategy forward, with the capacity to adapt and scale to your ever-changing business requirements. Look

for a vendor who meets your security needs and can be a trusted cloud security advisor for many years into the future. Remember, an ill- matched vendor can be a constraining factor in achieving enterprise-grade cloud security.

Total Cost of Ownership 10

The total cost of ownership is determined by a number of factors, all of which should be considered as

part of the buying process: the flexibility of the licensing model, the extent to which the cloud security platform seamlessly integrates with and leverages existing IT systems, the level and

scope of personnel required to administer the system, the vendor’s MTTR and availability SLAs, and more.

Why is this important? You want your cloud security platform to streamline operations, optimize workflows, and reduce costs while enhancing your security posture. The last thing you want is to

be surprised by hidden infrastructure, personnel and other costs that emerge only after the

system is up and running.

The last thing you want is to be surprised by hidden infrastructure, personnel and other costs that emerge only after the system is up and running.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 9

Check Point: Advanced Cloud Network Security

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service network security platform provides unified cloud native

security for all your assets and workloads and across your multi-cloud environments, giving you the

confidence to automate security, prevent threats, and manage posture.

One of Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service’s fundamental capabilities is cloud network security,

delivered as a service that extends Check Point’s advanced threat prevention and industry-leading

catch rate to dynamic and elastic cloud environments. It is adapted and configured specifically for

easy deployment on public cloud platforms as well as software-defined, private cloud-based data

centers.

Cloud Firewall as a Service extends Check Point’s advanced threat prevention and industry- leading catch rate to the dynamic and elastic cloud environment.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 9

Check Point: Advanced Cloud Network Security

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service network security platform provides unified cloud native

security for all your assets and workloads and across your multi-cloud environments, giving you the

confidence to automate security, prevent threats, and manage posture.

One of Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service’s fundamental capabilities is cloud network security,

delivered as a service that extends Check Point’s advanced threat prevention and industry-leading

catch rate to dynamic and elastic cloud environments. It is adapted and configured specifically for

easy deployment on public cloud platforms as well as software-defined, private cloud-based data centers.

Cloud Firewall as a Service extends Check Point’s advanced threat prevention and industry-leading catch rate to the dynamic and elastic cloud environment.

https://www.checkpoint.com/cloudguard/cloud-network-security/ https://www.checkpoint.com/cloudguard/cloud-network-security/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 10

The Key Cloud Firewall as a Service Features and

Benefits are:

Enterprise-grade, advanced,

multilayered threat prevention

Check Point preemptively protects cloud

assets against known and unknown

(zero-day) vulnerabilities, leveraging one

of the world’s largest threat databases,

Check Point ThreatCloud AI, as well as

advanced threat extraction and threat

emulation technologies.

Granular traffic inspection and control

Check Point implements deep SSL/TLS

inspection for incoming and outgoing

traffic as well as for lateral traffic behind

the firewall. Check Point next generation

firewall supports finely granular

matching policies, including exclusions,

verifying traffic against port

configurations, and application-level

blocking.

Borderless

Check Point is quickly deployed on and works seamlessly with multiple public cloud service providers and private cloud software-defined data center solution providers. Cloud Firewall as a Service software that is completely portable from one cloud to the next.

Automated,

Automated, agile network security at

scale

Cloud-defined elements (asset tags,

objects, security groups) are updated in

real time and security policies adjusted

automatically to changes in the cloud

environment. Check Point also promotes

the automation of threat response,

remediation processes, and workflows.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 10

The Key Cloud Firewall as a Service Features and Benefits are:

Enterprise-grade, advanced, multilayered threat prevention

Check Point preemptively protects cloud

assets against known and unknown

(zero-day) vulnerabilities, leveraging one

of the world’s largest threat databases, Check Point ThreatCloud AI, as well as advanced threat extraction and threat

emulation technologies.

Granular traffic inspection and control

Check Point implements deep SSL/TLS

inspection for incoming and outgoing traffic as well as for lateral traffic behind

the firewall. Check Point next generation

firewall supports finely granular matching policies, including exclusions,

verifying traffic against port

configurations, and application-level

blocking.

Borderless

Check Point is quickly deployed on and

works seamlessly with multiple public cloud service providers and private cloud software-defined data center solution

providers. Cloud Firewall as a Service

software that is completely portable from one cloud to the next.

Automated,

Automated, agile network security at scale

Cloud-defined elements (asset tags,

objects, security groups) are updated in

real time and security policies adjusted

automatically to changes in the cloud

environment. Check Point also promotes

the automation of threat response,

remediation processes, and workflows.

https://www.checkpoint.com/ai/threatcloud/ https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/ https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/ https://www.checkpoint.com/ai/threatcloud/ https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 11

Integration with your existing
 tool stack

Check Point integrates via APIs with the

leading configuration management,

Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD tools.

Check Point is also deeply integrated

with cloud native tools and services, as

described in more detail below.

Secure remote access

Check Point ensures that all remote

connections to cloud resources are

securely authenticated—including two-

factor authentication for mobile access.

Check Point also encrypts incoming and

outgoing data-in-transit. On Azure, for

example, Check Point leverages Virtual

Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) to deliver

highly scalable and dynamic secure

remote access with automatically

managed connectivity and load sharing.

Visibility

Check Point consolidates incoming log

data from the entire corporate

infrastructure and substitutes cloud

object names for IP addresses in order to

enhance network security visibility and

forensics.

Context-aware management across

cloud and on-premises infrastructures

Check Point Smart-1 unified

management console is easy to use and

customers consistently rank it highly in

the regular surveys that Check Point

conducts. Security policies can be

enforced consistently and security events

tracked easily across all networks no

matter where they are.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 11

Integration with your existing tool stack

Check Point integrates via APIs with the

leading configuration management, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD tools.

Check Point is also deeply integrated with cloud native tools and services, as described in more detail below.

Secure remote access

Check Point ensures that all remote

connections to cloud resources are

securely authenticated—including two- factor authentication for mobile access.

Check Point also encrypts incoming and

outgoing data-in-transit. On Azure, for example, Check Point leverages Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) to deliver

highly scalable and dynamic secure

remote access with automatically

managed connectivity and load sharing.

Visibility

Check Point consolidates incoming log

data from the entire corporate infrastructure and substitutes cloud

object names for IP addresses in order to

enhance network security visibility and forensics.

Context-aware management across cloud and on-premises infrastructures

Check Point Smart-1 unified

management console is easy to use and

customers consistently rank it highly in

the regular surveys that Check Point

conducts. Security policies can be

enforced consistently and security events

tracked easily across all networks no

matter where they are.

https://pages.checkpoint.com/cloudguard-cloud-security-demo https://pages.checkpoint.com/cloudguard-cloud-security-demo https://pages.checkpoint.com/cloudguard-cloud-security-demo

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 12

Industry leadership and global presence

Check Point has been recognized as a

Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for

network firewalls more than 20 times,

including recognition in the 2025 Magic

Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewalls and

100% security efficacy by CyberRatings.Org. Check Point supports

over 100,000 organizations worldwide. Its

worldwide support organization includes

Technical Assistance Centers in the

United States, Israel, Canada, Japan,

India, China, and Australia, providing

24×7x365 global technical support and

professional services to customers

around the world.

Total Cost of Ownership

Another area in which Check Point leads

the industry is its low-latency

performance, which translates into a

lower total cost of ownership since fewer

cloud compute resources are needed to

achieve the required throughput. Check

Point can provide detailed TCO estimates

for has provided public guidance on the

TCO and pricing of cloud firewalls.

Check Point operates in 88+ countries, with over 7,000 employees, 6500 global channel partners, and four global TACs (Technical Assistance Centers) which “follow the sun”, providing 24x365 global support.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 12

Industry leadership and global presence

Check Point has been recognized as a

Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for network firewalls more than 20 times,

including recognition in the 2025 Magic

Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewalls and

100% security efficacy by CyberRatings.Org. Check Point supports

over 100,000 organizations worldwide. Its

worldwide support organization includes Technical Assistance Centers in the

United States, Israel, Canada, Japan,

India, China, and Australia, providing

24×7x365 global technical support and

professional services to customers around the world.

Total Cost of Ownership

Another area in which Check Point leads

the industry is its low-latency

performance, which translates into a

lower total cost of ownership since fewer

cloud compute resources are needed to

achieve the required throughput. Check

Point can provide detailed TCO estimates

for has provided public guidance on the

TCO and pricing of cloud firewalls.

Check Point operates in 88+ countries, with over 7,000 employees, 6500 global channel

partners, and four global TACs (Technical Assistance Centers) which “follow the sun”,

providing 24x365 global support.

https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/what-is-cloud-firewall/cloud-firewall-pricing/ https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/what-is-cloud-firewall/cloud-firewall-pricing/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 13

What do customers say? Customers utilizing security solutions are often hesitant to publicize their choice of vendor and

product. They may be concerned that threat actors will use this information as a vector of attack,

which is often the case when using security vendors with a high propensity for vulnerabilities in their

own products.

As a result, satisfied customers who tell their story publicly are always a good indication of solution

and vendor quality.

The table below provides customer stories for the top 10 considerations defined previously.

Consideration Customer story Learn more

1  Advanced Threat

Prevention and Deep

Security

BH Telecom receives all their cloud security needs in one solution, “from firewall filtering to IPS, to content filtering to antivirus. By combining everything, we can join the dots in our service offering.”

Customer

Story →

2  Borderless Hallmark is a global ecommerce company that leverages Check Point Cloud Firewalls to secure their multi-cloud environment. See this video as they explain the value Check Point cloud integration makes to their DevOps capabilities and ultimately enhance their customer experience.

Customer

Story →

3  Granular Traffic

Inspection and Control

Paschaolotto ran a comparison using two models in

parallel (one with Check Point; one without) while under attack by various types of malware. CloudGuard, which protects all network layers, including the application layer (Layer 7), stopped application-based attacks that passed undetected without Check Point installed.

Customer

Story →

Openlink is very focused on automation and efficiency. “Check Point has always excelled in unified management —whether it’s two or two thousand instances. We’re currently working through orchestration and scripting to automate as many steps as possible. Our goal is to minimize the human resources needed to deploy new environment and manage the cloud."

Customer

Story →

4  Automation

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 13

What do customers say?

Customers utilizing security solutions are often hesitant to publicize their choice of vendor and

product. They may be concerned that threat actors will use this information as a vector of attack,

which is often the case when using security vendors with a high propensity for vulnerabilities in their

own products.

As a result, satisfied customers who tell their story publicly are always a good indication of solution

and vendor quality.

The table below provides customer stories for the top 10 considerations defined previously.

Consideration Customer story Learn more

1 Advanced Threat

Prevention and Deep

Security

BH Telecom receives all their cloud security needs in

one solution, “from firewall filtering to IPS, to content filtering to antivirus. By combining everything,

we can join the dots in our service offering.”

Customer

2 Borderless Hallmark is a global ecommerce company that

leverages Check Point Cloud Firewalls to secure their

multi-cloud environment. See this video as they explain

the value Check Point cloud integration makes to their

DevOps capabilities and ultimately enhance their

customer experience.

Customer

3 Granular Traffic

Inspection and Control

Paschaolotto ran a comparison using two models in

parallel (one with Check Point; one without) while under

attack by various types of malware. CloudGuard, which

protects all network layers, including the application layer (Layer 7), stopped application-based

attacks that passed undetected without Check Point installed.

Customer

4 Automation Openlink is very focused on automation and efficiency. “Check Point has always excelled in unified management —whether it’s two or two thousand

instances. We’re currently working through orchestration and scripting to automate as many steps as possible. Our goal is to minimize the human

resources needed to deploy new environment and manage the cloud."

Customer

https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/bh-telecom/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/bh-telecom/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/hallmark/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/hallmark/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/paschoalotto/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/paschoalotto/ https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/openlink/index.html https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/openlink/index.html https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/bh-telecom/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/hallmark/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/paschoalotto/ https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/openlink/index.html

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 14

Consideration Customer story Learn more

5  Integration and

Ease of Use

NHS Scotland benefits from Check Point seamless

integration with their SIEM solution: “That means that we

don’t have to go and actually start writing and creating

configurations, it just links in and just automatically

starts to work.”

Customer

Story →

For Avianca, consolidated monitoring, logging and

reporting give security teams immediate visibility into

status and incidents—whether in the cloud, on-premises

or across all environments.

Customer

Story →

7  Scalable, Secure

Remote Access

Gas South planned to provide secure remote access to a

small number of employees in early 2020, but after the

first Covid lockdown, needed to support all employees

working remotely. Fortunately Check Point supported

this without any difficulty.

Customer

Story →

8  Context-aware

Security Management

Invitalia no longer has to toggle between different

security consoles to benefit from consistent visibility,

policy management, logging, reporting, and control.

Customer

Story →

9  Vendor Support and

Industry Recognition

X by Orange assessed Check Point against strict criteria:

“From an operational point of view, working with Check

Point also gave us access to a wide network of first-class

support across Spain."

Customer

Story →

10  Total Cost of

Ownership

With on-demand cloud and security infrastructure

scalability, Xero can confidently ensure that peak usage

periods deliver the high performance that customers

expect. At the same time, during lulls in activity Xero is

not paying for capacity that sits idle. AWS and Check

Point enabled Xero to achieve its primary goals of

reducing service delivery costs while assuring high

service availability.

Customer

Story →

“Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard) has been a saving grace for Gas South. It is the only solution that gives us secure, stable, complete access to our critical applications and services in Azure.”

– Rajiv Thomas, Senior Systems Engineer, Gas South

6  Visibility

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 14

Consideration Customer story Learn more

5 Integration and Ease of Use

NHS Scotland benefits from Check Point seamless

integration with their SIEM solution: “That means that we

don’t have to go and actually start writing and creating

configurations, it just links in and just automatically starts to work.”

Customer

6 Visibility For Avianca, consolidated monitoring, logging and

reporting give security teams immediate visibility into

status and incidents—whether in the cloud, on-premises or across all environments.

Customer

7 Scalable, Secure Remote Access

Gas South planned to provide secure remote access to a

small number of employees in early 2020, but after the

first Covid lockdown, needed to support all employees

working remotely. Fortunately Check Point supported

this without any difficulty.

Customer

8 Context-aware

Security Management

Invitalia no longer has to toggle between different

security consoles to benefit from consistent visibility,

policy management, logging, reporting, and control.

Customer

9 Vendor Support and

Industry Recognition

X by Orange assessed Check Point against strict criteria:

“From an operational point of view, working with Check

Point also gave us access to a wide network of first-class

support across Spain."

Customer

10 Total Cost of

Ownership

With on-demand cloud and security infrastructure

scalability, Xero can confidently ensure that peak usage

periods deliver the high performance that customers

expect. At the same time, during lulls in activity Xero is

not paying for capacity that sits idle. AWS and Check

Point enabled Xero to achieve its primary goals of

reducing service delivery costs while assuring high

service availability.

Customer

“Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard) has been a saving grace for Gas

South. It is the only solution that gives us secure, stable, complete access to our critical applications and services in Azure.”

– Rajiv Thomas, Senior Systems Engineer, Gas South

https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/nhs-scotland/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/nhs-scotland/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/avianca/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/avianca/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/gas-south/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/gas-south/ https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/invitalia/index.html https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/invitalia/index.html https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/x-by-orange/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/x-by-orange/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/xero/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/xero/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/nhs-scotland/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/avianca/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/gas-south/ https://www.checkpoint.com.cn/customer-stories/invitalia/index.html https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/x-by-orange/ https://www.checkpoint.com/customer-stories/xero/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 15

How Check Point Extends Cloud Native Security Check Point is fully optimized for the cloud environment. It takes just minutes to deploy and configure

Cloud Firewall as a Service gateways using automated cloud provider workflows and templates that

can be customized to align with your corporate security ecosystem.

The Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service seamlessly and deeply integrates with cloud native

resiliency and scalability features, such as auto-scaling, failover, and high availability across multiple

regions.

Each cloud provider offers tools and services to help its customers monitor and secure their cloud

resources. The following table provides a sampling of some typical cloud provider tools.

CSP
 Firewalls

Cloud monitoring
 and threat detection

Security
 console

AWS Security Groups

Network ACLs

AWS Network Firewall

Amazon GuardDuty

AWS CloudTrail Logs

AWS Security Hub

Microsoft Azure

Azure Firewal l

Network Security Groups

Azure Defende r

Azure Advanced Threat Protection

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

M icrosoft Defender
 for Cloud

Microsoft Sentinel

Google Cloud

Google Cloud Firewalls Event Threat Detection Cloud Security

Command Center

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and complements the cloud provider security services

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 15

How Check Point Extends Cloud Native Security

Check Point is fully optimized for the cloud environment. It takes just minutes to deploy and configure

Cloud Firewall as a Service gateways using automated cloud provider workflows and templates that

can be customized to align with your corporate security ecosystem.

The Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service seamlessly and deeply integrates with cloud native

resiliency and scalability features, such as auto-scaling, failover, and high availability across multiple

regions.

Each cloud provider offers tools and services to help its customers monitor and secure their cloud

resources. The following table provides a sampling of some typical cloud provider tools.

CSP

Firewalls

Cloud monitoring

and threat detection

Security

console

AWS Security Groups Network ACLs

AWS Network Firewall

Amazon GuardDuty AWS CloudTrail Logs

AWS Security Hub

Microsoft

Azure

Azure Firewall

Network Security Groups

Azure Defender

Azure Advanced Threat

Protection

Microsoft Defender for

Cloud

Microsoft Defender

for Cloud

Microsoft Sentinel

Google Cloud

Google Cloud Firewalls Event Threat Detection Cloud Security Command Center

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and complements the cloud provider security services

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 16

What are the main areas where Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and

complements the cloud provider security services?

Cloud Firewall as a Service provides a self-service, automatic, adaptive solution that complements

cloud native security constructs in order to prevent malicious activity in real time. Check Point delivers enterprise-grade security in the cloud, including fine matching granularity and control, deep inspection and advanced evasion protection, and proactive threat prevention against both known and unknown vulnerabilities. Key integration with CSP networking technologies like load balancers, peering, virtual routing, ensures simplicity, reliability, and non-disruptive, in-band cloud firewall service insertion.

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service Simplify operations with fully managed Check Point Cloud Firewall infrastructure

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a ServiceCustomer Tenant Network Security Integration or

PeeringAWS

Microsoft Azure

Google Cloud

Customer Security

Management

Check Point Smart-1 Cloud

Management

Security
 Management

Monitor Patch Upgrade

Reduce Risk, Enhance Compliance Accelerate Security Operations Lower TCO

Reduce risk of outdated firewall
 SW with 99.99% SLA and industry leading 99.8% effectiveness

Eliminate the burden and let Check Point Network Operations Center (NOC) manage your cloud firewall infrastructure

Eliminate cloud skills gap to support complex cloud networks, HA, and auto-scaling

Cloud Firewall as a Service also provides truly unified and multi-cloud management of cloud security

and compliance from a single management console. After the initial connection, all cloud assets are

automatically imported into the console, and changes to instance/VM attributes, such as IP, name, or

location, are updated automatically in Check Point security policies and logs. In addition, cloud object

names are used in both policies and logs for enhanced visibility and searching.

Cloud Firewall

as a Service

Threat

prevention

GenAI

security

Anti-bot

IPS

URL

filtering

Data loss

prevention

Anti-virus

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 16

What are the main areas where Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and

complements the cloud provider security services?

Cloud Firewall as a Service provides a self-service, automatic, adaptive solution that complements

cloud native security constructs in order to prevent malicious activity in real time. Check Point delivers enterprise-grade security in the cloud, including fine matching granularity and control, deep

inspection and advanced evasion protection, and proactive threat prevention against both known and

unknown vulnerabilities. Key integration with CSP networking technologies like load balancers, peering,

virtual routing, ensures simplicity, reliability, and non-disruptive, in-band cloud firewall service insertion.

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service Simplify operations with fully managed Check Point Cloud Firewall infrastructure

Monitor Patch Upgrade

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a ServiceCustomer Tenant

AWS

Microsoft Azure

Google Cloud

Customer Security Management

Check Point Smart-1 Cloud

Security

Network Security Integration or Peering

Management

Reduce Risk, Enhance Compliance

Reduce risk of outdated firewall

SW with 99.99% SLA and industry leading 99.8% effectiveness

Accelerate Security Operations

Eliminate the burden and let Check Point Network

Operations Center (NOC) manage your cloud

firewall infrastructure

Lower TCO

Eliminate cloud skills gap to support complex cloud networks, HA, and auto-scaling

URLGenAI

Data loss

IPS

Anti-virusAnti-bot

Threat

Cloud Firewall

Cloud Firewall as a Service also provides truly unified and multi-cloud management of cloud security

and compliance from a single management console. After the initial connection, all cloud assets are automatically imported into the console, and changes to instance/VM attributes, such as IP, name, or

location, are updated automatically in Check Point security policies and logs. In addition, cloud object

names are used in both policies and logs for enhanced visibility and searching.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 17

Cloud security is absolutely critical today as the 2025 Check Point Research security report finds:

65% 9% 6% of organizations experienced a cloud- related security incident in the past year

Only 9% detected the incident within the first hour

Just 6% were able to remediate the incident within that first hour

How Check Point Compares with the Competition This table compares Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service and the cloud network security solutions

of leading cloud security vendors:

Consideration Check Point Cloud
 Firewall as a Service

Cloud security
 competitors

1  Deep Security,

Advanced Threat

Prevention

Provides enterprise-grade threat

extraction and sandboxing, including zero-day threats.

Provide threat extraction and sandbox capabilities but cannot block zero-day threats.

Check Point detects and prevents against a large number of risky apps and known vulnerabilities. 100% security efficacy and 99.9% successful block rate.

Competitors detect and prevent

against fewer risky apps and CVEs, according to their own online publications.

Supports the broadest range of public and private cloud providers, over 22 vendors including AWS, Azure Stack, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei, Tencent, OpenStack, Nutanix, Microsoft Hyper-V and KVM.

Support a subset of these, at most 17 vendors. Often their integration with some cloud providers lacks depth and functionality (e.g., not integrated with VMware vCenter).

4  Automation /

Integration and

5 Ease of Use

(Licensing)

Customer-centric licensing: allows automatic license assignment per used cores in public cloud (BYOL), managed centrally or Pay as You Go (PAYGO)

Require manual license assignment, with no central management.

2  Borderless

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 17

Cloud security is absolutely critical today as the 2025 Check Point Research security report finds:

65% of organizations experienced a cloud-related security incident in the past year

9% Only 9% detected the incident within the first hour

6% Just 6% were able to remediate the incident within that first hour

How Check Point Compares with the Competition

This table compares Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service and the cloud network security solutions

of leading cloud security vendors:

Consideration

Check Point Cloud

Firewall as a Service

Cloud security

competitors

1 Deep Security, Advanced Threat

Prevention

Provides enterprise-grade threat

extraction and sandboxing, including

zero-day threats.

Provide threat extraction and

sandbox capabilities but cannot

block zero-day threats.

Check Point detects and prevents

against a large number of risky apps and known vulnerabilities. 100%

security efficacy and 99.9% successful block rate.

Competitors detect and prevent

against fewer risky apps and CVEs,

according to their own online

publications.

2 Borderless Supports the broadest range of public

and private cloud providers, over 22 vendors including AWS, Azure Stack, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud,

Alibaba Cloud, Huawei, Tencent, OpenStack, Nutanix, Microsoft Hyper-V and KVM.

Support a subset of these, at most

17 vendors. Often their integration

with some cloud providers lacks

depth and functionality (e.g., not integrated with VMware vCenter).

4 Automation /

Integration and 5 Ease of Use

(Licensing)

Customer-centric licensing: allows automatic license assignment per used

cores in public cloud (BYOL), managed

centrally or Pay as You Go (PAYGO)

Require manual license

assignment, with no central management.

https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/2026-miercom-hybrid-mesh-network-security-benchmark https://engage.checkpoint.com/2026-miercom-hybrid-mesh-network-security-benchmark https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/ https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/ https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/ https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/2026-miercom-hybrid-mesh-network-security-benchmark https://blog.checkpoint.com/securing-the-cloud/check-point-named-leader-in-gigaom-radar-for-cloud-network-security-for-3-years-in-a-row-protects-22-cloud-vendors/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 18

Consideration Check Point Cloud
 Firewall as a Service

Cloud security
 competitors

5  Integration and

Ease of Use

Dynamic policies auto update with integration to cloud provider APIs and control planes to import and update asset/object name and tags.

Provides limited dynamic

enforcement; objects must be created manually and then linked to a security policy.

Optimized for how real users work to solve real problems easily and efficiently: Testing shows that Cloud Firewall as a Service is easiest to use over standard cloud network security use cases.

To complete three standard cloud network security use cases, leading cloud network security vendors require on average 3-4 times longer, 4 times more mouse-clicks and 4-10 more menus navigated than CloudGuard. For details, please refer to the Agony Meter.

Dynamically updated cloud instance

names are used in logs, events, and

reports. Can search logs by

VM/instance name along with MS

Copilot generative AI-based search.

Cloud instances in logs, events and

reports are identified by dynamic,

hard-to-resolve IP. Logs cannot be

searched by VM/instance name.

9  Vendor Support

and Industry

Recognition

CyberRatings.Org gave Check Point

100% efficacy with Check Point

leading all vendors in head-to-head

comparisons.

Competitors received more Neutral

and Caution ratings than Check Point.

For more details, please refer to this

document.

Check Point’s software is mature,

with few vulnerabilities, and

delivers timely fixes.

Competitors have significantly more

SW vulnerabilities and take longer to

fix these and require constant

patching and maintenance

10  Total Cost of

Ownership

For organizations with Check Point

on-premises security that are

migrating to the cloud, Check Point

provides the easiest, quickest and

most secure cloud network security

with the lowest total cost of

ownership.

Check Point has TCO calculators to

help estimate cost savings and have

published information that depict

Check Point TCO much lower than

it’s competitors.

Table 2: Comparison of Cloud Network Security Key Requirements

6  Visibility

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 18

Consideration

Check Point Cloud

Firewall as a Service

Cloud security

competitors

5 Integration and Ease of Use

Dynamic policies auto update with

integration to cloud provider APIs and control planes to import

and update asset/object name and tags.

Provides limited dynamic

enforcement; objects must be

created manually and then linked to

a security policy.

Optimized for how real users work to

solve real problems easily and

efficiently: Testing shows that Cloud Firewall as a Service is easiest to

use over standard cloud network security use cases.

To complete three standard cloud

network security use cases, leading

cloud network security vendors

require on average 3-4 times longer, 4 times more mouse-clicks and 4-10

more menus navigated than

CloudGuard. For details, please refer

to the Agony Meter.

6 Visibility Dynamically updated cloud instance

names are used in logs, events, and

reports. Can search logs by

VM/instance name along with MS

Copilot generative AI-based search.

Cloud instances in logs, events and

reports are identified by dynamic,

hard-to-resolve IP. Logs cannot be

searched by VM/instance name.

9 Vendor Support

and Industry

Recognition

CyberRatings.Org gave Check Point

100% efficacy with Check Point

leading all vendors in head-to-head

comparisons.

Competitors received more Neutral

and Caution ratings than Check Point.

For more details, please refer to this document.

Check Point’s software is mature,

with few vulnerabilities, and

delivers timely fixes.

Competitors have significantly more

SW vulnerabilities and take longer to

fix these and require constant

patching and maintenance

10 Total Cost of

Ownership

For organizations with Check Point

on-premises security that are

migrating to the cloud, Check Point

provides the easiest, quickest and

most secure cloud network security with the lowest total cost of

ownership.

Check Point has TCO calculators to

help estimate cost savings and have

published information that depict Check Point TCO much lower than

it’s competitors.

Table 2: Comparison of Cloud Network Security Key Requirements

https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/report--cyberratings-cloud-firewall-test-results-q1-2025?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/report--cyberratings-cloud-firewall-test-results-q1-2025?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/what-is-cloud-firewall/cloud-firewall-pricing/ https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/report--cyberratings-cloud-firewall-test-results-q1-2025?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/cyber-hub/cloud-security/what-is-cloud-firewall/cloud-firewall-pricing/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 19

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service

100%

BLOCK
 RATE

100%

MALWARE

PREVENTION

100%

EXPLOIT

RESISTANCE

0%

FALSE
 POSITIVES

In summary, Check Point stands out from its competitors for the following reasons:

— Most secure threat prevention with industry-leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and

other types of attacks: Highest security effectiveness score with 100% block rate, 100% malware

prevention, 100% exploit resistance and 0% false positives.

— Recognized as a long-term leader by third-party analysts: Leader on the 2025 Gartner Magic

Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewall, with over 30 years of security gateway intellectual property

and cybersecurity technology innovation.

— Real-time detection and auto-remediation of known and unknown vulnerabilities.

— Ease of use when compared with its competitors - evidence is over 160 highly rated User Reviews

(4.3 out of 5)

— Automatic and dynamic enforcement of security policies consistently across complex hybrid and

multi-cloud environments using cloud instance objects (Dynamic Policies)

— Very high level of interconnectivity and integrations throughout the enterprise ecosystem,

including cloud native services, vulnerability scanners, and SIEM solutions.

— Seamless integration with WIZ CNAPP and Check Point WAF / AppSec, which automates

application security and API protection, powered by contextual AI.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 19

Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service

100% BLOCK

RATE

100% MALWARE

PREVENTION

100% EXPLOIT

RESISTANCE

0% FALSE

POSITIVES

In summary, Check Point stands out from its competitors for the following reasons:

—

Most secure threat prevention with industry-leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and

other types of attacks: Highest security effectiveness score with 100% block rate, 100% malware

prevention, 100% exploit resistance and 0% false positives.

—

Recognized as a long-term leader by third-party analysts: Leader on the 2025 Gartner Magic

Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewall, with over 30 years of security gateway intellectual property

and cybersecurity technology innovation.

— Real-time detection and auto-remediation of known and unknown vulnerabilities.

—

Ease of use when compared with its competitors - evidence is over 160 highly rated User Reviews (4.3 out of 5)

—

Automatic and dynamic enforcement of security policies consistently across complex hybrid and

multi-cloud environments using cloud instance objects (Dynamic Policies)

—

Very high level of interconnectivity and integrations throughout the enterprise ecosystem,

including cloud native services, vulnerability scanners, and SIEM solutions.

—

Seamless integration with WIZ CNAPP and Check Point WAF / AppSec, which automates

application security and API protection, powered by contextual AI.

https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/press-releases/check-point-named-a-leader-in-the-2025-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-hybrid-mesh-firewall/ https://www.checkpoint.com/press-releases/check-point-named-a-leader-in-the-2025-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-hybrid-mesh-firewall/ https://www.peerspot.com/products/check-point-cloudguard-network-security-reviews?review_id=8116426 https://www.checkpoint.com/integrations/wiz/ https://www.checkpoint.com/cloudguard/waf/ https://engage.checkpoint.com/cyber-ratings-resource-page/items/webinar--cyberratings-puts-cloud-network-firewalls-to-the-test?fw=3027d https://www.checkpoint.com/press-releases/check-point-named-a-leader-in-the-2025-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-hybrid-mesh-firewall/ https://www.peerspot.com/products/check-point-cloudguard-network-security-reviews?review_id=8116426 https://www.checkpoint.com/integrations/wiz/ https://www.checkpoint.com/cloudguard/waf/

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 20

Five Questions You Must Ask Cloud Security

Vendors When an enterprise chooses a specialized cloud network security vendor, it expects a solution that is

easy to deploy and scalable as well as one that visualizes the entire cloud network security

environment, supports single-pane, policy-driven security management, enforces compliance best

practices, and provides comprehensive real-time threat prevention and remediation.

With this in mind, here are five questions that you must ask cloud security vendors, or cloud providers

with security services, as you consider which specialized cloud security solution is optimal for your

organization:

Q1 How do you preempt cyber security attacks before they can harm our cloud assets?

Being able to detect known threats in real time is no longer sufficient to protect cloud

assets. Your cloud security solution must also be able to apply advanced threat

intelligence, emulation and extraction techniques in order to provide real time detection

of unknown zero-day threats. In addition, the solution must be able to demonstrate that it

immediately and automatically neutralizes all detected threats (known or unknown)

before they can compromise cloud-based applications and services and their data. Lastly,

does the vendor have an industry-recognized security track record or are they not

cybersecurity experts and relatively new to the security scene?

Q2 How do you support our security posture requirements?

Whether or not your company is subject to formal regulatory laws or standards,

compliance with data protection best practices is a critical business requirement these

days. Your cloud security solution must make it easy to define security policies and

enforce them consistently across your multicloud, hybrid architecture. Further, those

policies must be automatically updated, with no need for human intervention, in order to

keep pace with your dynamic and elastic cloud environment. Compliance monitoring

must be continuous and alert your team to irregularities. And audit reports should be

available at the click of a button.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 20

Five Questions You Must Ask Cloud Security Vendors

When an enterprise chooses a specialized cloud network security vendor, it expects a solution that is

easy to deploy and scalable as well as one that visualizes the entire cloud network security

environment, supports single-pane, policy-driven security management, enforces compliance best

practices, and provides comprehensive real-time threat prevention and remediation.

With this in mind, here are five questions that you must ask cloud security vendors, or cloud providers

with security services, as you consider which specialized cloud security solution is optimal for your

organization:

Q1 How do you preempt cyber security attacks before they can harm our cloud assets?

Being able to detect known threats in real time is no longer sufficient to protect cloud

assets. Your cloud security solution must also be able to apply advanced threat

intelligence, emulation and extraction techniques in order to provide real time detection

of unknown zero-day threats. In addition, the solution must be able to demonstrate that it immediately and automatically neutralizes all detected threats (known or unknown)

before they can compromise cloud-based applications and services and their data. Lastly,

does the vendor have an industry-recognized security track record or are they not

cybersecurity experts and relatively new to the security scene?

Q2 How do you support our security posture requirements?

Whether or not your company is subject to formal regulatory laws or standards,

compliance with data protection best practices is a critical business requirement these

days. Your cloud security solution must make it easy to define security policies and

enforce them consistently across your multicloud, hybrid architecture. Further, those

policies must be automatically updated, with no need for human intervention, in order to

keep pace with your dynamic and elastic cloud environment. Compliance monitoring

must be continuous and alert your team to irregularities. And audit reports should be available at the click of a button.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 21

Q3 Can you give us a single source of cloud security truth and a single point of cloud

security control?

There are many cloud security stakeholders in your company, from security teams to line

of business managers and C-suite executives. The solution must be able to provide a

cross-organizational single source of truth of the current cloud security status in a highly

visual and easy-to-read format. In addition, security teams must be able to centrally

define, implement, and maintain security policies and gateways for all relevant cloud

environments—public, private and hybrid—in a single, intuitive command and control

interface.

Q4 Are we going to have to disrupt our current compliance and security practices and the

tools that support them?

You have invested heavily in your compliance and security programs. You have well-

defined best practices and workflows and a well-functioning stack for vulnerability

scanning, configuration and change management, asset management, infrastructure

provisioning, and more. You need to be sure that your cloud security platform does not

disrupt what is already in place but rather extends your current capabilities with deep

and programmatic integration.

Q5 How can we be sure that you can continue to meet our cloud security requirements as

they evolve over the long term?

You are in it for the long haul and your cloud security vendor has to be a reliable partner.

Here you need to look carefully at the vendor’s track record in terms of sustained

investment in innovative intellectual property over time. They should be security thought

leaders who anticipate trends and launch new products and features at the cutting edge.

They should be recognized by industry watchers as significant players. And they should

have a global support infrastructure that can provide real time responses to specific

issues, as well as advisory guidance for your long-term strategies.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 21

Q3 Can you give us a single source of cloud security truth and a single point of cloud security control?

There are many cloud security stakeholders in your company, from security teams to line

of business managers and C-suite executives. The solution must be able to provide a

cross-organizational single source of truth of the current cloud security status in a highly

visual and easy-to-read format. In addition, security teams must be able to centrally

define, implement, and maintain security policies and gateways for all relevant cloud

environments—public, private and hybrid—in a single, intuitive command and control interface.

Q4 Are we going to have to disrupt our current compliance and security practices and the tools that support them?

You have invested heavily in your compliance and security programs. You have well-

defined best practices and workflows and a well-functioning stack for vulnerability

scanning, configuration and change management, asset management, infrastructure

provisioning, and more. You need to be sure that your cloud security platform does not

disrupt what is already in place but rather extends your current capabilities with deep

and programmatic integration.

Q5 How can we be sure that you can continue to meet our cloud security requirements as they evolve over the long term?

You are in it for the long haul and your cloud security vendor has to be a reliable partner.

Here you need to look carefully at the vendor’s track record in terms of sustained

investment in innovative intellectual property over time. They should be security thought

leaders who anticipate trends and launch new products and features at the cutting edge.

They should be recognized by industry watchers as significant players. And they should

have a global support infrastructure that can provide real time responses to specific

issues, as well as advisory guidance for your long-term strategies.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 22

Summary and Calls to Action

Generative AI and multi-cloud networks are revolutionizing the way we build and deploy applications.

Cloud migration, which is the process of migrating data and workloads from on-premises to a cloud

computing environment, continues to be a major task with inherent risk, for IT teams. As part of this

process, each organization must consider carefully how it will uphold security requirements in the

cloud environment, especially their cloud network security.

The cloud providers offer some tools and services to help their customers monitor and secure their

cloud resources; the Buyer’s Guide explains how Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and

complements these solutions.

Organizations using Check Point on-premises security gateways and in the process of migrating to

the cloud with Check Point receive unified and consistent security management of all their on-

premises and cloud environments and experience the most secure, easiest and quickest cloud

migration, with lowest total cost of ownership. Organizations currently burdened with expensive

maintenance of cloud firewalls or at undue business risk should consider implementing Check Point

Cloud Firewall as a Service to secure their value cloud asserts.

Contact Check Point for more information to discuss your cloud security needs with a cloud security

engineer or schedule a personalized demo of Cloud Firewall as a Service to understand the best and

easiest way to protect your cloud assets.

Contact Check Point

Worldwide Headquarters
 5 Shlomo Kaplan Street, Tel Aviv 6789159, Israel | Tel: +972-3-753-4599

U.S. Headquarters
 100 Oracle Parkway, Suite 800, Redwood City, CA 94065 | Tel: 1-800-429-4391

www.checkpoint.com

© 2026 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.

Buyer’s Guide to Cloud Network Security 22

Summary and Calls to Action

Generative AI and multi-cloud networks are revolutionizing the way we build and deploy applications.

Cloud migration, which is the process of migrating data and workloads from on-premises to a cloud

computing environment, continues to be a major task with inherent risk, for IT teams. As part of this

process, each organization must consider carefully how it will uphold security requirements in the

cloud environment, especially their cloud network security.

The cloud providers offer some tools and services to help their customers monitor and secure their

cloud resources; the Buyer’s Guide explains how Cloud Firewall as a Service enhances and

complements these solutions.

Organizations using Check Point on-premises security gateways and in the process of migrating to

the cloud with Check Point receive unified and consistent security management of all their on-

premises and cloud environments and experience the most secure, easiest and quickest cloud

migration, with lowest total cost of ownership. Organizations currently burdened with expensive

maintenance of cloud firewalls or at undue business risk should consider implementing Check Point Cloud Firewall as a Service to secure their value cloud asserts.

Contact Check Point for more information to discuss your cloud security needs with a cloud security

engineer or schedule a personalized demo of Cloud Firewall as a Service to understand the best and

easiest way to protect your cloud assets.

Contact Check Point

Worldwide Headquarters 5 Shlomo Kaplan Street, Tel Aviv 6789159, Israel | Tel: +972-3-753-4599

U.S. Headquarters

100 Oracle Parkway, Suite 800, Redwood City, CA 94065 | Tel: 1-800-429-4391

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