Each month, we plan to highlight a specific member of the community. For August, that person is Tim Hall!
Tim Hall is the founder and owner of Shadow Peak Inc., an independently run enterprise started in 2004 that specializes in Check Point training and consulting services. His company has assisted clients from all over the world, including one with firewalls located in Antarctica.
Tim has been working with Check Point products since 1997, and as part of his work authored "Max Power: Check Point Firewall Performance Optimization", which centers on the performance intricacies of Check Point products. His newest publication, a second edition focusing on the R80 and R80.10 updates, is currently under development.
Although Tim would consider himself an expert in R80.10, he noted, “CheckMates has helped me with learning about the new R80 release, learning about little nooks and crannies in the GUI, and the underlying implementation.”
Apart from his love for technology, he also has a passion for collecting. Tim has a basement full of antique pinball machines from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, as well as a collection of arcade video games including Galaga, Tempest, and Pac-Man.
In Tim’s words:
"CheckMates is the continuation of spreading knowledge and assisting administrators with various problems.”
On behalf of CheckMates, we thank Tim for sharing his valuable knowledge with us!
Our interview questions and answers are below:
Tell us a little about yourself & what you do
I've been working with Check Point products since 1997. I have had my own independently run business since 2004. My business Shadow Peak Incorporated is a one-man corporation that specializes in Check Point training and consulting services.
Tell us a little about your experience with Check Point
In 1997, with a company called Evolving Systems, we needed a firewall that could do a VPN, and there was this relatively new kid on the block called Check Point. It was a logical pairing of product to experience based on the Solaris systems experience I had. It's been 20 years this year that I've used a variety of Check Point products.
Do you have a unique deployment of a Check Point product?
There's a large defense contractor with firewalls in Antarctica that I did a fair amount of work for that had a pretty large Check Point deployment. I was doing some work with a firewall and I’m like, “Why is this one so slow?” It was because we’re going over a satellite to reach that area and we could only do it at certain times of day.
What do you use the CheckMates platform for?
With CheckMates for me, the best thing was learning about the new R80 release, learning about little nooks and crannies in the GUI, and the underlying implementation. Definitely learning about the new R80 and of course R80.10 releases is mainly what I use it for.
What do you like to do for fun? (Hobbies)
I collect antique pinball machines and video games. In my basement I have pinball machines ranging from the 1970s to the 1990s. I also have a Galaga, Tempest, Pac-Man – actual full size arcade cabinets. I'm also always reading about different technology or articles on CPUG. I strive to be a pure force of technical knowledge.
If you could create any new technology right now, what would it be?
If I could create any new technology, I'd say it would be for an individual's personal data that is bought, bartered, brokered, traded, etc., to notify them every time that data is used or accessed. It would be very scary and I think people would realize how much their personal data is just kind of floating around and being leaked and sold.
