Security · 15:00
The commercial firewall
Between your office network and the internet sits a gatekeeper that checks every connection. Check Point turned that idea into software companies could simply install.
The everyday moment
In the middle of the afternoon someone at work clicks a link that tries to open a connection it shouldn't. Nobody notices, because the connection never gets through. A firewall checked it against the company's rules and what it knew about the conversations already open, and quietly said no.
How it works
- Rules at the gateA firewall sits between a network and the internet and checks traffic against rules: which computers, which services, which directions are allowed.
- Remember the conversationCheck Point's approach, stateful inspection, keeps a table of every connection that is open. A reply to a request you made is let in; data that claims to be a reply to something nobody asked for is not.
- Faster and saferBecause packets in an approved conversation match the table, the firewall doesn't have to re-check each one against every rule, which keeps it fast.
- Software, not a lab projectCheck Point packaged this as a product companies could install and manage, rather than something only specialists could build.
The Israeli story
Check Point was founded in Ramat Gan in 1993 by Gil Shwed, Marius Nacht and Shlomo Kramer. Its first product, FireWall-1, was built on stateful inspection, a technique Shwed conceived.
Firewall software that companies could buy, install and run themselves helped make it safe for businesses to connect to the internet at all in the 1990s.
In 2004 Check Point bought Zone Labs, maker of the ZoneAlarm firewall for home computers. The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv.
Where you meet it today
Stateful inspection is now standard in office firewalls, home routers and the security built into operating systems. Check Point employs about 6,800 people and makes firewalls and security for networks, the cloud, laptops and phones.
Did you know?
Your home Wi-Fi router almost certainly runs a stateful firewall: it lets in replies to what you asked for and blocks the rest.