The Check Point ThreatCloud

In This Section: Configuring Check Point ThreatCloud on a Gateway Check Point ThreatCloud Network Scheduling Updates The ThreatCloud Intellistore

Check Point ThreatCloud is a dynamically updated service that is based on an innovative global network of threat sensors and organizations that share threat data and collaborate to fight against modern malware. Customers can send their own threat data to the ThreatCloud and benefit from increased security and protection and enriched threat intelligence. The ThreatCloud distributes attack information, and turns zero-day attacks into known signatures that the Anti-Virus Software Blade can block. The Security Gateway does not collect or send any personal data.

Participation in Check Point information collection is a unique opportunity for Check Point customers to be a part of a strategic community of advanced security research. This research aims to improve coverage, quality, and accuracy of security services and obtain valuable information for organizations.

The ThreatCloud repository contains more than 250 million addresses that were analyzed for bot discovery and more than 2,000 different botnet communication patterns. The ThreatSpect engine uses this information to classify bots and viruses.

For the reputation and signature layers of the ThreatSpect engine, each Security Gateway also has:

• A local database, the Malware database that contains commonly used signatures, URLs, and their related reputations. You can configure automatic or scheduled updates for this database.
• A local cache that gives answers to 99% of URL reputation requests. When the cache does not have an answer, it queries the ThreatCloud repository.
  • For Anti-Virus - the signature is sent for file classification.
  • For Anti-Bot - the host name is sent for reputation classification.

Access the ThreatCloud repository from:

• SmartConsole - You can add specific malwares to rule exceptions when necessary. From the Threat Prevention Rule Base in SmartConsole, click the plus sign in the Protection column in the rule exceptions, and the Protection viewer opens.
• ThreatWiki - A tool to see the entire Malware database. Open ThreatWiki in SmartConsole or access it from the Check Point website.

Data which Check Point Collects

When you enable information collection, the Check Point Security Gateway collects and securely submits event IDs, URLs, and external IPs to the Check Point Lab regarding potential security risks.

For example:

<entry engineType="3" sigID="-1" attackName="CheckPoint - Testing Bot" sourceIP="7a1ec646fe17e2cd" destinationIP="d8c8f142" destinationPort="80" host="www.checkpoint.com" path="/za/images/threatwiki/pages/TestAntiBotBlade.html" numOfAttacks="20" />

This is an example of an event that was detected by a Check Point Security Gateway. It includes the event ID, URL, and external IP addresses. Note that the data does not contain confidential data or internal resource information. The source IP address is obscured. Information sent to the Check Point Lab is stored in an aggregated form.

Configuring Check Point ThreatCloud on a Gateway

To configure the Security Gateway to share information with the Check Point ThreatCloud:

1. Double-click the Security Gateway.

   The gateway window opens and shows the General Properties page.

2. Configure the settings for the Anti-Bot and Anti-Virus Software Blades.
   1. From the navigation tree click Anti-Bot and Anti-Virus.

      The Anti-Bot and Anti-Virus page opens.

   2. To configure a Security Gateway to share Anti-Bot and Anti-Virus information with the ThreatCloud, select Share anonymous attack information with Check Point ThreatCloud. To disable sharing Anti-Bot and Anti-Virus information with the ThreatCloud, clear this option.
3. Configure the settings for the Threat Emulation Software Blade.

   Note - These settings are not relevant when you use the ThreatCloud emulation service, because with this service, the files are already sent to the ThreatCloud service for emulation.

   1. From the navigation tree click Threat Emulation > Advanced.

      The Threat Emulation page opens.

   2. To configure a Security Gateway to share Threat Emulation information with the ThreatCloud, select Share anonymous attack information with Check Point ThreatCloud. To disable sharing Threat Emulation information with the Check Point cloud, clear this option.
   3. Select Share malicious files with Check Point to send malicious malware files that the Threat Emulation Software Blade identified to the ThreatCloud. To disable sending malicious files to the Check Point cloud, clear this option.
4. Configure the settings for the IPS Software Blade.
   1. From the navigation tree click IPS.

      The IPS page opens.

   2. To configure a Security Gateway to share IPS information with the ThreatCloud, select Help Improve Check Point Threat Prevention product by sending anonymous information about feature usage, infections details and product customizations. To disable sharing IPS information with the Check Point cloud, clear this option.
5. Click OK.

Check Point ThreatCloud Network

By default, all gateways send threat information to the ThreatCloud.

You can change this default behavior in SmartConsole.

To configure all gateways not to send information to the ThreatCloud:

1. Open Global Properties > Security Management Access.
2. In the Internet Access area, clear this setting: Improve product experience by sending data to Check Point.
3. Click OK.
4. Restart SmartConsole.
5. Install Policy.

Scheduling Updates

You can change the default automatic schedule for when updates are automatically downloaded and installed. If you have Security Gateways in different time zones, they are not synchronized when one updates and the other did not yet update.

To configure Threat Prevention scheduled updates:

1. In SmartConsole, go to the Security Policies page and select Threat Prevention.
2. In the Threat Tools section of the Threat Prevention Policy, click Updates.
3. In the section for the applicable Software Blade, click Schedule Update.

   The Scheduled Update window opens.

4. Make sure Enable <feature> scheduled update is selected.
5. Click Configure.
6. In the window that opens, set the Update at time and the frequency:
   • Daily - Every day
   • Days in week - Select days of the week
   • Days in month - Select dates of the month
7. Optional, for IPS only:
   • Select Perform retries on update failure - lets you configure how many tries the Scheduled Update makes if it does not complete successfully the first time.
   • Select On successful update perform Install Policy - automatically installs the policy on the devices you select after the IPS update is completed. Click Configure to select these devices.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Close.
10. Install Policy.

The ThreatCloud Intellistore

ThreatCloud Intellistore is a threat intelligence marketplace which supplements ThreatCloud and provides intelligence data from leading cyber security vendors. The data includes threat information such as IPs, domains, URLs, command and control networks, DOS attacks and more. Intellistore classifies the information feeds according to specific geographies, types of attacks or industries, and you can select the feeds that best suit your needs.

A security feed represents specialized intelligence gathered and analyzed by the vendors. ThreatCloud translates these feeds into protections which run on Security Gateways.