Checkpoint Firewall is an award-winning security firewall. Several corporate organizations use it for internal network security. You have many opportunities for positions like network security engineer, network security specialist, security analyst, and more. 

In this blog, you can find the Checkpoint Firewall Interview Questions and Answers. If you did not find questions you faced in your past interviews, then write those in the comment section, and we will add them.

In this article, we will cover the following:

• Checkpoint Interview Questions
• Checkpoint Firewall Interview Questions
• Checkpoint Scenario-Based Questions

Most Frequently asked Checkpoint Interview Questions

What is a firewall?  What is a software blade?  What are the differences between ESP and AH IPsec protocols?  What is a packet flow?  Types of Checkpoints  What is an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)?  What is ClusterXL?  What are the differences between automatic NAT and manual NAT?  What is Load Sharing?  What are the benefits of Gaia?

Checkpoint Interview Questions

Q1) What is a firewall? 

Ans: A firewall is a network security device. It monitors and filters incoming and outgoing network traffic. 

Q2) What are the features of the firewall? 

Ans: The features are: 

• VPN and mobile device connections 
• Identity and computer awareness 
• Internet access and filtering 
• Applications control 
• Intrusion and threat prevention 
• Data Loss Prevention 

Q3) What is the 3-tier architecture of the Checkpoint firewall?

Ans: The checkpoint firewall includes the following components: 

• Smart Management Console 
• Security Firewall Management 
• Security Gateway 

Q4) What is a software blade? 

Ans: A software blade is a security application or module, such as a firewall. Examples are Virtual Private Network (VPN) and  Intrusion Prevention System (IPS). 

Q5) What is the Order of Rule Enforcement? 

Ans: The firewall examines each incoming connection to the network and compares the data to the first rule. If the connection matches the rule, the firewall applies the rule action. If the connection does not match the rule, it continues with the next rule in the Rule Base. 

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Q6) What connections are allowed by the firewall? 

Ans: 

• Connections to the DNS server 
• Specified external connections 
• Connections to servers in the DMZ 
• Connections from the internal network to the internal network 
• VPN connections 

Q7) What is the use of Identity Awareness Software Blade? 

Ans: The Identity Awareness Software Blade allows firewall configuration to enable access control for individual users and groups. 

Q8) What are the differences between ESP and AH IPsec protocols? 

Ans: 

Q9) What is the difference between IKE and IPsec? 

Ans:

• Internet Key Exchange (IKE): It is a standard key management protocol that creates VPN tunnels. 
• IPsec: It is a protocol that supports secure IP communications. 

Q10) What is IP Pool NAT in checkpoint? 

Ans: An IP Pool is a range of IP addresses that are routed to the gateway. It ensures proper routing for encrypted connections.

Q11) Functions of Rule Base 

Ans:

1. It defines the quality of the access control of the firewall 
2. Gives authorized users access to internal networks 
3. Improves network performance 
4. Inspects connections 

Q12) What are the types of installations for remote access solutions? 

Ans:

Client-based: The client application is installed on endpoint computers and devices. The client is installed on managed devices, like a company-owned computer. 

Clientless: Users connect through web browsers and use HTTPS connections. Clientless solutions give access to web-based corporate resources. 

On-demand client: Users connect through a web browser. The client is installed when required.

Q13) What is an SSL network extender? 

Ans: SSL network extender is an on-demand SSL VPN client. It supplies secure access to internal network resources. 

Q14) Functions of Granular Routing Control feature. 

Ans: The granular routing control feature enables the security gateway to: 

• Find the best possible route for VPN traffic. 
• Configure IP address used for VPN traffic 
• Use route probing to choose available VPN tunnels 
• Use load sharing for link selection to equally distribute VPN traffic to VPN tunnels. 

Q15) What is a packet flow? 

Ans: The packet flow of the checkpoint firewall contains: 

• SAM database 
• Address spoofing 
• Session lookup 
• Policy lookup 
• Destination NAT
• Route lookup 
• Source NAT 
• Layer 7 Inspection 
• VPN 
• Routing. 

Q16) What are the different SIC management ports?

Ans: The different checkpoint SIC management ports are: 

Checkpoint Firewall Interview Questions

Q17) Types of Checkpoints

Ans:

Q18) What is anti-spoofing? 

Ans: The anti-spoofing (or address spoofing) feature of the checkpoint firewall gives protection from the attacker who generated the IP packet with a fake source address. It determines whether the traffic flow is legitimate or not. In the case of illegitimate traffic, the firewall blocks it on its interface. 

Q19) What is Check Point DLP? 

Ans: The checkpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software blade allows the firewall to prevent users from sending sensitive data to external networks. 

Q20) What are the features of DLP? 

Ans: The features of the Data Loss Prevention software blade are: 

• UserCheck 
• MultiSpect 
• Out-of-the-Box Security 
• Data Owner Auditing and 
• CPcode 

Q21) What are the primary components of the checkpoint solution? 

Ans: There are three primary components of a checkpoint solution: 

Security Gateway: It is the engine that implements the organization’s security policy. 

Security Management Server: It is the application that manages, stores, and distributes the security policy to the security gateways. 

SmartDashboard: It is a checkpoint client that creates and manages the security policy. 

Q22) What is a SmartEvent software blade? 

Ans: The SmartEvent software blade is a security event management and analysis solution. It delivers real-time graphical threat management information. 

Q23) What is a SmartLog software blade? 

Ans: The SmartLog software blade is a log management tool. It works with the SmartLog Index Server that brings log files from different log servers and indexes them. 

Q24) What are the features of SmartLog? 

Ans: The features of the SmartLog software blade are: 

• It allows quick search through billions of logs with simple search strings. 
• The applicable logs are selected from many default search engines. 
• It monitors logs from administrator activity and connections in real time. 
• Administrators can quickly identify essential security events. 

Q25) What is the Stealth Rule? 

Ans: The stealth rule does not allow any communication to the firewall and protects it from attacks. This rule is placed on the top of the rule base. 

Checkpoint Scenario-Based Questions

Q26) What is an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)? 

Ans: Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) or Intrusion Detection prevention system (IDPS) is a technology that identifies any suspicious activity in a network. It either detects and allows (IDS) or prevents (IPS) the threat. 

Q27) What are the benefits of using Intrusion Prevention Systems? 

Ans: 

• They can detect or prevent security attacks on the networks. For example, it prevents brute force attacks. 
• They quickly block the attacks before the attackers exploit them. 
• They enforce the use of secure protocols. 
• They deny the use of insecure protocols such as protocols that use weak cyphers. 

Q28) What are the elements of a Security Zone? 

Ans: The critical elements in a security zone are: 

• External network: Includes insecure data. 
• Internal network: Includes company data. 
• Perimeter: The border between the internal and external networks. 
• DMZ: Includes company servers.  

Q29) What is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)? 

Ans: The Demilitarized zone (DMZ) contains Internet servers. The DMZ makes sure that the servers do not connect to the internal networks. 

Q30) When are automatic rules used? 

Ans: These SmartDashboard objects use automatic NAT rules: 

• Security gateways 
• Nodes 
• Networks 
• Address ranges 

Q31) What is ClusterXL? 

Ans: ClusterXL is a Load Sharing and High Availability solution to distribute network traffic flow between clusters of security gateways. 

Q32) What are the functions of ClusterXL?

Ans: 

• There is openness in cases of machine failure. 
• Zero downtime for mission-critical environments. 
• Improved throughput. 
• Transparent upgrades. 

Q33) What is Load Sharing? 

Ans: ClusterXL Load Sharing distributes traffic within a cluster. The total throughput of machines is increased. In this configuration, all functioning machines in the cluster are active. 

Q34) What is High Availability? 

Ans: If an individual Checkpoint gateway becomes unreachable, a transparent failover will occur in the remaining machines in the cluster. In this configuration, all connections are shared between the leftover gateways. 

Q35) What are the differences between automatic NAT and manual NAT? 

Ans: 

Q36) What are the benefits of Gaia? 

Ans: Gaia is the latest version of the checkpoint and is a combination of SPLAT and IPSO. Some of its benefits are: 

• Web-based UI with search navigation feature 
• The full software blade support
• High connection capacity 
• Role-based administrative access 
• Smart software updates 
• Manageable Dynamic Routing Suite and 
• Full compatibility with IPSO and SecurePlatform