How a stable firewall can create a false sense of security
In many companies, a firewall is primarily assessed by whether it works. As long as users can work, applications remain accessible and no disruptions occur. It is easy to assume that the security infrastructure is in good condition. From a security reviewer’s perspective, however, that is only part of the picture.
Check Point Health Checks, Firewall Reviews, and Security Audits regularly reveal that technically stable environments can still contain avoidable security risks. Rulebases that have grown over many years, administrator accounts that are no longer required, unused security functions and missing security standards are common findings.
This is where Check Point Security Hardening comes in. The objective is to use existing security capabilities consistently, reduce unnecessary attack surfaces, and make the entire Check Point environment more resilient against current threats.
Why a functioning firewall can still be insecure
Most Check Point environments already include powerful security capabilities. The underlying problem is rarely a lack of technology; it is more often the configuration and day-to-day operation of that technology.
Over time, rulebases become increasingly complex, administrators change, new projects require exceptions and legacy configurations remain in place. These settings may continue to work perfectly from a technical standpoint while no longer reflecting current Check Point best practices.
Typical findings from Security Reviews include:
- Administrator accounts with permissions that are too broad
- GUI clients or management access permitted from unnecessarily large network ranges
- Outdated password policies
- Missing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Rulebases containing Any rules that are no longer required
- Disabled or unused firewall rules
- Missing Stealth rules
- Licensed security functions that are not being used
- Insufficient documentation and a lack of Security Lifecycle Management
These weaknesses create additional attack surfaces that often remain unnoticed during normal operations.
Why firewall security risks often grow unnoticed
Many organisations only respond after a security incident, an audit finding or a vendor warning. In the meantime, the firewall is primarily administered to maintain business operations.
At first, this approach appears understandable: the infrastructure must remain stable and support business processes. In practice, however, it often leads to a gradual decline in security quality. New requirements are implemented, existing rules are extended and temporary exceptions become permanent.
These modern Check Point environments are also becoming increasingly complex:
- Cloud integrations
- Remote Access VPN
- Identity Awareness
- HTTPS Inspection
- Threat Prevention
- APIs
- Automation
- Hybrid Mesh Security concepts
The larger the environment, the more difficult it becomes to review every security-relevant configuration manually. As a result, many organisations lack a clear view of the actual security posture of their firewall infrastructure. To learn more about how modern network and security architectures are designed and which components work together, visit our section on network and security solutions.
Check Point firewall hardening checklist: areas you should review
Effective firewall hardening follows a structured process:
- Current-state assessment
- Comparison with security best practices
- Identification of risks and quick wins
- Prioritised implementation
- Continuous review
Each step builds on the previous one and creates the foundation for sustainable Check Point firewall hardening. The five phases are explained below.
1. Current-State Assessment
The first step is to analyse the existing Check Point environment. The assessment typically covers:
- Operating system configurations
- Gateway and cluster topology
- Management system configurations
- Firewall administration
- Security policies
- Logging and monitoring
- Backup and recovery
- Access Control rulebases
- Threat Prevention configurations
2. Comparison with Security Best Practices
The environment is then compared with current vendor recommendations, established security standards and proven operational experience.
Typical review areas include:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Trusted clients
- Protection of management access
- Gaia operating system security
- SNMP configuration
- Expert Mode governance
- Threat Prevention
- HTTPS Inspection
- Stealth rules
- Implicit rules
- Logging and reporting
Many of these topics are also recommended in the current Check Point Hardening Guide. At SITS, they have been a standard part of Security Reviews and Hardening Assessments for years.
3. Identification of Quick Wins and recommended actions
A large proportion of the risks identified during a firewall review can often be reduced with relatively little effort.
Typical quick wins include:
- Implementing current Check Point best practices and vendor recommendations
- Improving the self-protection of firewall systems
- Removing configuration inconsistencies to improve redundancy and resilience
- Completing and updating technical documentation
- Updating outdated software versions
- Strengthening password security policies
- Removing legacy configuration items
- Cleaning up zero-hit rules, disabled rules, expired temporary rules and obsolete test rules
- Restricting overly broad Any rules
- Activating additional security capabilities such as Geo Policies, dynamic blocklists, HTTPS Inspection, Content Inspection, DLP and Compliance Blades
- Verifying regular backups and policy exports
4. Prioritised Implementation
Not every measure has the same priority. Findings should therefore be assessed and prioritised according to risk, effort and business value. This allows the most serious security risks to be addressed first.
5. Continuous Review
Security Hardening is not a one-time project. New requirements, software updates and organisational changes make regular reviews essential if the achieved security standard is to be maintained over time. Many companies complement this approach with Managed Services to ensure long-term operation, monitoring and continuous optimization.
What are the benefits of regular Firewall Hardening?
Reduced attack surface: Unnecessary services, access paths and configurations are identified, restricted or removed.
Greater transparency: Companies gain a clear overview of risks, technical debt and opportunities for improvement.
Improved compliance: Security requirements can be documented more effectively and demonstrated to auditors.
Higher operational resilience: Consistent standards simplify administration, operations and troubleshooting.
Better use of existing investments: Many environments do not fully use security functions that are already licensed. Check Point Security Hardening helps organisations gain more value from existing investments.
Firewall Hardening in Practice: Examples from Financial Services, Industry and the Public Sector
Financial services
A financial services company was already using modern Check Point gateways but still had numerous legacy administrator accounts. Introducing MFA and revising administrator roles significantly improved the security posture.
Industrial company
During a Firewall Review, numerous rulebases were analysed. The review showed that years of exceptions, overly broad Any rules and unnecessary complexity had accumulated. Cleaning up the rulebase reduced both complexity and attack surface.
Public administration
Following a Quick Check, a public-sector organisation established regular Security Reviews and reporting processes. This reduced audit findings and enabled configuration deviations to be identified at an early stage.
Check Point Quick Check and Advanced Firewall Review: Starting points for Hardening
A Check Point Quick Check or an Advanced Firewall Review is often the most effective starting point for evaluating the actual security posture of a Check Point environment. These services provide companies with a well-founded current-state assessment and concrete recommendations for improving their security architecture. Such Security Assessments provide the necessary transparency regarding the actual security status of the environment.
Important success factors include:
- Up-to-date documentation
- Clearly defined responsibilities
- Regular reviews
- Clear administration standards
- Security Lifecycle Management
- Continuous reporting
The most successful hardening projects combine technical measures with organisational processes.
What should companies look for in a firewall hardening partner?
An effective Check Point hardening approach should provide considerably more than a list of technical weaknesses.
Important criteria include:
- Strong vendor expertise
- Proven practical experience
- Alignment with recognised best practices
- Transparent and understandable risk assessment
- Specific, actionable recommendations
- Scalability
- Meaningful reporting
- Integration into existing operational processes
What’s particularly important here is the combination of technical analysis and practical implementation, as well as reliable partnerships with vendors. Companies should ensure that their service provider works closely with leading technology companies and has up-to-date vendor expertise. We, too, place great importance on strong partner networks and ongoing communication with our technology partners so that we can always advise our clients based on the latest best practices. You can learn more about our partnerships here.
How SITS analyses, hardens and continuously secures Check Point environments
For many years, the SITS Group has been helping companies analyze, optimize and secure Check Point environments – from security reviews to professional firewall management.
Services include:
- Check Point Quick Checks
- Hardening Assessments
- Advanced Firewall Reviews
- Professional Services
- Managed Services
- Monitoring and reporting
- Security Audits
Our experienced and certified experts assess existing environments against proven best practices, identify risks and develop concrete recommendations for the sustainable improvement of the security architecture.
Conclusion: Firewall Hardening is an ongoing process
A firewall can function perfectly from a technical perspective while still containing significant security risks.
For this reason, Security Hardening should not be treated as a one-off measure, but as a continuous process. Regular reviews, established security standards and active Security Lifecycle Management help organisations identify risks early and reduce the attack surface over the long term.
The growing complexity of modern IT environments makes transparency, structured assessments and continuous optimisation more important than ever. Simply operating a firewall leaves valuable security potential unused. Regularly reviewing and deliberately hardening it creates the foundation for a resilient, sustainable security architecture.
Do you know how secure your Check Point environment really is?
Use our Quick Checks, Hardening Assessments or Advanced Firewall Reviews to receive a well-founded evaluation of your security configuration and concrete recommendations for sustainably improving your security architecture.
About the author
Danny Jung is a cybersecurity evangelist specializing in Check Point security solutions.
For many years, he has been assisting companies with security reviews, firewall audits, health checks, hardening projects, and managed security services. His focus is on ensuring the long-term security of complex Check Point environments through best practices, automation, security assessments, and practical consulting. In addition, he develops his own tools, SmartConsole extensions, and best practices that are used by the international Check Point community.
FAQ
Security Hardening includes all technical and organisational measures used to reduce the attack surface of a Check Point environment.
At least once a year, as well as after major infrastructure changes or version upgrades.
Gateways, management systems, administrator access, security policies, Threat Prevention functions, logging, monitoring and the Gaia operating system.
A reliable assessment of the security level requires a holistic review of the entire Check Point environment.
A Quick Check provides a rapid assessment of key security aspects. An Advanced Firewall Review additionally analyses the infrastructure, topology, operating systems, management systems, rulebases, documentation and operational processes in detail.
