Inside Check Point’s three-acquisition bet on AI security and the MSP market

Описание: Roi Karo, chief strategy officer at Check Point


Check Point Software has been on an acquisition tear. Under new CEO Nadav Zafrir (https://www.checkpoint.com/about-us/l...) , the company has picked up five startups since early 2025, with three announced simultaneously in February (https://www.crn.com/news/security/202...) : Cyclops, Cyata, and Rotate. But these aren’t opportunistic bolt-ons. They map directly to a four-pillar strategy (https://blog.checkpoint.com/innovatio...) that Check Point says defines the future of its security platform: Hybrid Mesh Network Security, Workspace Security, Exposure Management, and AI Security.



In this episode, we sit down with Roi Karo (  / roi-karo  ) , Check Point’s Chief Strategy Officer, and Angelo Valentini (  / angelo-valentini  ) , head of channel sales for Canada, to dig into the thinking behind the acquisitions and what they mean for the channel. Roi brings an unusual perspective to the table, shaped by 25 years in Israeli defense intelligence and a stint as Chief Risk and Strategy Officer at blockchain infrastructure company Fireblocks (https://www.fireblocks.com/) before joining Check Point.

(https://i0.wp.com/channelbuzz.ca/wp-c...) Angelo Valentini, head of channel sales for Canada at Check Point


The conversation covers how each acquisition fits into the broader strategy: Rotate brings MSP-native expertise to the Workspace Security pillar, where Check Point is consolidating endpoint, email, browser, and mobile security under a single management layer. Cyclops completes a full Continuous Threat Exposure Management cycle by adding internal asset scanning alongside CyberInt’s external scanning and Veriti’s automated remediation. And Cyata addresses the emerging challenge of governing autonomous AI agents operating on user endpoints, a category that barely existed a year ago but is evolving fast.



We also explore what Check Point means by an “open garden” platform, including how its tools integrate with and remediate across competitors’ products, and how that philosophy plays out in practice for MSPs managing multi-vendor security stacks. Angelo adds a Canadian lens, touching on the opportunity in Canada’s SMB-dominant market and the compliance implications of Bill C-26 (https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill...) . Check Point’s MSSP Partner Program (https://www.checkpoint.com/partners/m...) offers consumption-based pricing and multi-tenant management for solution providers looking to explore the opportunity.



Roi closes with a pointed message for partners: the assumption that there’s still time to learn and prepare is “terribly wrong.” The threat landscape is accelerating, and the window to adapt is narrower than most people think.



Read Full Transcript



Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and as always your host for the show.



Check Point Software has been making some big moves. Under new CEO Nadav Zafrir, the company has acquired five companies since early 2025, including three announced simultaneously in February: Cyclops, Cyata, and Rotate. And these aren’t random bolt-ons. They map to a deliberate four-pillar strategy that Check Point says defines the future of the platform.



Those four pillars are: Hybrid Mesh Network Security, covering data centers, cloud, SASE, and SD-WAN. Workspace Security, protecting endpoints, email, browsers, and SaaS applications. Exposure Management, giving organizations visibility into their full attack surface. And AI Security, governing the new wave of autonomous AI agents operating inside enterprise environments.



For solution providers, the most interesting piece here might be the Rotate acquisition. It’s an acqui-hire that brings in a team with deep roots in the MSP ecosystem, including veterans of Datto and Kaseya. Cyclops adds a data lake with over 150 integrations for attack surface management. And Cyata tackles a category that barely existed a year ago: identity management for AI agents.



To unpack the strategy and what it means for the channel, I sat down with Roi Karo, Check Point’s chief strategy officer, and Angelo Valentini, who leads Check Point’s Canadian partner business. Roi brings an unusual perspective – 25 years in Israeli defense intelligence and a stint as chief risk and strategy officer at blockchain infrastructure company Fireblocks before joining Check Point.



Here’s our conversation.



Gentlemen, thank you for taking the time. I appreciate it.



Roi Karo: Thank you very much.



Angelo Valentini: Thanks for having us.



Robert Dutt: Roi,...