Check Point & Illumio expand AI cyber defence tie-up

Check Point and Illumio have expanded their partnership, with a focus on countering AI-driven cyber attacks.

The broader arrangement combines Check Point's network and perimeter security tools with Illumio's internal network visibility and microsegmentation products. The aim is to help customers block attacks before they enter and restrict their spread if an intrusion succeeds.

Under the expanded tie-up, customers can buy Illumio products directly through Check Point. The companies have also added deeper integration with Illumio Segmentation, building on an earlier integration with Illumio Insights.

That earlier work linked Check Point threat intelligence with workload visibility from Illumio to help security teams spot the risk of lateral movement inside networks. The latest step is designed to align Check Point firewall policy with Illumio's workload model across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

AI threat shift

The announcement reflects a wider concern in cyber security that more advanced AI systems could shorten the time between an initial compromise and a broader breach. Attackers can use AI to automate discovery, exploitation, and movement across systems with much less human input, the companies said.

For defenders, that shifts the balance between keeping intruders out and limiting damage once they are inside. The partnership is framed around those two stages of defence, with Check Point focused on prevention at the edge and Illumio on containment within the network.

Paul Barbosa outlined that position in remarks accompanying the announcement.

"Security teams are being asked to defend environments that are moving faster and that are more complex - against attackers who are using AI to do in minutes what used to take weeks," said Paul Barbosa, VP of Cloud & SASE at Check Point. "Expanding our partnership both in terms of joint product development and go-to-market with Illumio gives our customers something attackers don't want them to have: a coordinated defense that works on both sides of the perimeter. Check Point prevents threats from getting in. Illumio ensures they can't run free if they do. Together, we are working to close the gap that every attacker is looking to exploit."

The tighter product integration is intended to reduce unnecessary connectivity between workloads and make lateral movement harder to carry out without detection. In practical terms, that means linking firewall rules and segmentation policies more closely across mixed IT estates.

Customer demand

Vendor consolidation is another factor behind the move. Security buyers have sought closer integration between network security and zero trust tools as they try to manage rising operational complexity across on-premises and cloud systems.

Andrew Rubin, chief executive officer and founder of Illumio, said the faster pace of attacks was changing how organisations needed to respond.

"AI is compressing the time between intrusion and impact, fundamentally changing the math for defenders," said Rubin. "Cyber security now has two jobs: prevent what you can, and for everything else, find it fast and stop it from spreading. That's exactly why Illumio and Check Point are working together-to help organizations change that math and contain attacks before they become disasters."

Industry researchers have also pointed to growing interest in microsegmentation, which is designed to limit communications between applications, workloads, and systems so an attacker cannot move freely after an initial breach.

IDC Research Manager Pete Finalle said demand for such tools is rising as buyers move from trials to broader deployment.

"IDC forecasts microsegmentation to grow at 23.5% CAGR as organizations shift from evaluation to scaled deployment, with 96% of buyers experiencing a noticeable improvement in security posture, cyber resiliency, and ransomware preparedness. However, customers today are often overburdened with disparate tools and products, and IDC research shows that 98.3% of microsegmentation buyers prefer their solution to have tight integration with SASE, firewall, or other zero trust technologies," said Pete Finalle, research manager at IDC. "This partnership directly addresses these concerns, as microsegmentation and the broader network security stack are integrated as a coherent platform that simplifies limiting lateral movement and enforcing zero trust at scale."

Check Point says it protects more than 100,000 organisations worldwide. The expanded integration with Illumio is available now for joint customers.