Check Point 2000 Edition Sets New Standard for Advanced Security, High Availability, Support for Windows 2000 &Linux.

Business Editors &High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

New Release Furthers Secure Virtual Network -- SVN --

Architecture for New Century

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced Check Point 2000, a new edition of its integrated software for comprehensive Internet security.

Built upon the company's Secure Virtual Networking (SVN) architecture, Check Point 2000 introduces key capabilities that extend VPN security and high availability and broaden the number of supported platforms. Check Point also introduced its Visual Policy Editor, the industry's first graphical security management tool that gives security managers greater control of their Internet security network. (See separate release)

&uot;Customers worldwide are deploying Check Point's SVN architecture as the key enabler for E-Business and E-Commerce initiatives,&uot; said Asheem Chandna, vice president of marketing and business development for Check Point Software Technologies. &uot;The Check Point 2000 edition breaks new ground for the industry by furthering advanced security, high availability and support for new platforms.&uot;

Advanced Security: Malicious Activity Detection; Advanced Authentication Support

Malicious Activity Detection is a new technology that centrally analyzes traffic patterns across all firewall and VPN gateways to detect malicious or suspicious events, such as port scanning, successive login failures and SYN attacks. Upon detection, the system automatically notifies the security manager to take appropriate action. Malicious Activity Detection complements existing intrusion detection solutions, by integrating critical functionality into Check Point's centrally managed security infrastructure.

The Check Point 2000 edition incorporates support for &uot;hybrid mode&uot; authentication, enabling easy deployment of standards-based VPNs with widely used strong authentication systems such as SecurID tokens and RADIUS and TACACS+ servers. With Check Point's unique hybrid mode, customers can benefit from the interoperability and scalability offered by IPSec VPNs while leveraging widely deployed existing authentication technologies.

Check Point 2000 also adds its new Secure Authentication API (SAA) providing integration and interoperability with a broad range of third-party authentication products, including biometrics, e.g. voice or fingerprint recognition, user proximity and hardware tokens.

High Availability: New Product, Failover for Content Security Servers

With Check Point 2000, the company introduces its own High Availability Module as an option to provide automatic and transparent failover of VPN sessions to a secondary gateway without loss of connectivity. This ensures that VPN sessions can be guaranteed to continue uninterrupted.

The Check Point 2000 edition also uniquely provides high availability for critical content security servers. This new capability automatically provides failover to a secondary content security server should the primary server become unavailable. VPN-1/FireWall-1 integrates content security solutions from OPSEC partners to perform services such as virus scanning, URL filtering and Java/ActiveX screening directly at the gateway.

New Platforms: Linux and Windows 2000 Support

With the Check Point 2000 edition, Check Point introduces support for the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Red Hat Linux operating systems. With the inclusion of these new operating systems, Check Point extends its industry leadership in platform and operating system support.

&uot;Check Point 2000 Edition demonstrates the power of the SVN architecture, integrating the key components for a secure and reliable Internet infrastructure,&uot; adds Chandna. &uot;This new edition is a critical enabler for trusted business-to-business (B2B) communications.&uot;

Product Availability

The Check Point 2000 edition is planned for general availability in February 2000. Check Point 2000 is based on the version 4.1 release and adds the above new features.

About Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is the worldwide leader in securing the Internet. The company's Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture provides the infrastructure that enables secure and reliable Internet communications. SVN secures business-to-business (B2B) communications between networks, systems, applications and users across the Internet, Intranets and extranets.

Check Point's Open Platform for Security (OPSEC) provides the framework for integration and interoperability with &uot;best-of-breed&uot; solutions from over 200 leading industry partners. For more information, please call us at 800/429-4391 or 650/628-2000 or visit us on the Web at http://www.checkpoint.com or at http://www.opsec.com.

Note to Editors: Check Point, the Check Point logo, FireWall-1, FloodGate-1, INSPECT, IQ Engine, Meta IP, Open Security Extension, OPSEC, Provider-1, User-to-Address Mapping, VPN-1, VPN-1 Accelerator Card, VPN-1 Appliance, VPN-1 Certificate Manager, VPN-1 Gateway, VPN-1 SecuRemote, VPN-1 SecureServer, Secure Virtual Network and ConnectControl are trademarks or registered trademarks of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. or its affiliates. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The products described in this document are protected by U.S. Patent No. 5,606,668 and 5,835,726 and may be protected by other U.S. Patents, foreign patents, or pending applications.

Please see separate release on Check Point's new product for revolutionizing security management. For the press presentation regarding the CP 2000 edition (Microsoft Power Point), please go to www.checkpoint.com/press/cp2000.