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Check Point Software was founded in 1993 by Gil Shwed (CEO), Marius Nacht, and Shlomo Kramer, all three Unit 8200 alumni. The company invented the commercial firewall (FireWall-1), which became the standard for enterprise security worldwide. Check Point IPO\'d on Nasdaq in 1996. Today it pulls roughly $2.5B annual revenue, employs around 6000 people, and is headquartered in Tel Aviv. Gil Shwed is the longest-serving founder-CEO in the cyber industry, over 30 years at the helm.
Cultural note, Check Point is "the original." Every Israeli cyber unicorn (Imperva, CyberArk, SentinelOne, Wiz) descends from this lineage either directly (founders worked at Check Point) or via the broader 8200 → cyber pipeline that Check Point pioneered. The Tel Aviv HQ on the Yarkon (Park HaYarkon area) employs ~3000. Gil Shwed\'s reputation: builds for the long term, hates the IPO-and-flip pattern, treats Check Point as a multi-decade institution. Israel\'s cyber industry is sometimes called "Check Point + descendants."
Company Basics
Cybersecurity Vocabulary
Check Point Products
Cyber Industry & Competition
Israeli Cyber Ecosystem
Three 8200 Friends Start a Company
Origin story: 1993 Tel Aviv apartment, three 8200 vets build the first commercial firewall.