Gil Shwed founded Check Point Software Technologies and led it as chief executive for three decades, one of the longest runs at the helm of a major technology company. He is credited with inventing stateful inspection, the firewall technology that became
the standard method for filtering network traffic and turned a small Israeli firm into a global security vendor. Under his leadership the company built a model centred on recurring subscription revenue and unusually high operating margins, making it one of
the most profitable names in Israeli technology. Shwed moved to the role of executive chairman when he handed over daily management. For readers tracking הייטק and סייבר,
his career maps closely onto the rise of צ'ק פוינט and of the local security industry as a whole.
Nadav Zafrir, Check Point's new CEO, speaks after the earnings release: "Thirty years of experience have prepared me well for this role—we can do big things at Check Point." On AI’s impact on cybersecurity: "We know some things have changed, some things won’t,
and some changes we can’t yet predict. But Check Point can lead in this space, too."
