Check Point today announced that it ranked #1 in Miercom’s 2026 Hybrid Mesh Network Security Benchmark report. A significant accomplishment marking the fourth consecutive year leading the industry as AI accelerates the speed and scale of cyber attacks. Check Point achieved the top overall security effectiveness score of 99.8%, with 100% phishing detection and 99.9% AI-powered malware prevention versus leading competitors.
“As AI increases the speed of attacks, the ability to stop them early and consistently becomes critical.” said Nataly Kremer, Chief Product Officer at Check Point “Miercom’s 2026 results reinforce Check Point’s leadership in delivering prevention‑first security at scale.”
Cyber attacks are escalating faster than ever, with the most damaging activity often unfolding early in the attack lifecycle. During the first 24 hours of a malware and phishing campaign, emerging threats can bypass traditional, signature‑based defenses and spread undetected. The pace continues to accelerate, with the FBI reporting more than 60 new ransomware variants identified in 2025 alone. Miercom’s validation highlights how Check Point led with the highest score preventing 99.9% of malware downloads. This directly addresses this challenge, delivering real‑time prevention against unknown threats without sacrificing performance or user experience.
“Check Point earned the Miercom Certified Secure certification by delivering consistently strong results across key security and performance metrics,” said Rob Smithers, CEO of Miercom. “Our evaluation confirmed Check Point’s leadership in security effectiveness, product integrity, and vulnerability exposure, providing comprehensive protection across the hybrid mesh architecture and aligned with enterprise requirements.”
The 2026 report highlights include:
- Industry-leading threat prevention: Highest overall security effectiveness score of 99.8% across all categories evaluated, outperforming all competing vendors against today’s AI-driven threats
- Immediate protection against emerging malware: threat prevention, 36% higher than competing vendors, stopping never-before-seen and AI-generated malware during the earliest and most dangerous stage of a campaign
- Complete phishing protection: 100% of malicious AI-driven phishing URLs detected and blocked, including previously unseen threats and those active within their first 24 hours in the wild
- Lowest vulnerability and risk exposure: Up to 97% fewer reported Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV’s) than leading competitors, reducing exposure as AI accelerates the discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities
- Performance that doesn’t compromise security: Leading user experience across all vendors, maintaining network speed and file download performance while preventing AI-driven threats
The Miercom assessment measured real‑world security effectiveness across on‑premises, cloud, and Firewall‑as‑a‑Service (SSE/SASE) deployments, evaluating each vendor’s end‑to‑end security capabilities against live malware samples and phishing URLs.
