Check Point tackles Internet security

Held last week, National E-security week brought together industry, community organisations, academia and government agencies for an open dialogue on the online security threats facing Australian Internet users.

One of the partner’s during the week, Check Point’s regional director A/NZ, Scott McKinnel, said that while viruses and Trojans remain threats, fraud and identity theft perpetrated by organised crime, and terrorist-funded ideological attacks are increasingly changing the threat landscape.

He added that businesses, particularly the SMB sector, are often unaware of the risks of unprotected Internet access, with many relying on outdated OEM security products or simply having no protection at all.

“There is an awareness that there are threats, but for people to make the link between what the threats are and what the implications are I’d say there isn’t a great understanding,” he said.

To meet this need, Zone Alarm has launched its Force Field security program. Force Field uses virtualised technology, placing a “bubble of security” around a user’s browser to protect it from increasingly sophisticated attacks such as phishing and link masking.

Check Point has also streamlined its channel program, titled Pure Advantage, to reward partners who make investments into training engineers around the vendor’s product set. The program demarcates between several tiers, ranging from Platinum, Gold and Silver “partners” down to Bronze associates and resellers. The Advantage scheme provides tier discount pricing, with larger partners receiving bigger discounts based on their economic investment into Check Point’s products.

While all associates receive support, the vendor’s Platinum, Gold and Silver partners benefit from increased attention from local field channel managers and greater mind share from marketing resources such as joint marketing programs and workshops. McKinnon said that Check Point currently has 38 companies that fall into the partner category, with 80 percent of revenue in Australasia driven through its partner community.

“Given the volumes that we’re doing, the sophistication of our product sets, the markets we are trying to address, it’s working very well. There is enough for diversification, but there’s not so many that we start diluting our relationship with the partner community,” he said.