CrowdStrike is a world-renowned cybersecurity company that has built its established and reputable brand to incredible heights since its inception back in 2011.
The company provides various cybersecurity services such as endpoint security, cloud workload, and cyber attack response.
They have also been involved in investigating several high-profile cyber-attacks, such as the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures and the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak.
They released their first product – CrowdStrike Falcon – in 2013, which we are going to be diving into a little deeper here today in our review.
First, let's take a closer look at CrowdStrike themselves to get a more intricate look at the services that they provide.
What Is CrowdStrike?
Crowdstrike was founded in 2011 by George Kurtzman, John Hultquist, and Dmitri Alperovich. It became one of the most prominent companies within the cybersecurity industry because of its vast experience and success in the field.
With an initial investment worth $1 million, the founders set up shop in Silicon Valley, California, where they began working on their product. Each member had over 20 years’ previous experience in the field.
Their first major break was when they were hired by the British government to investigate the Wanna Cry ransomware attack that hit the United Kingdom in May 2017.
After successfully identifying the origin of the attack, the FBI brought the team on board to help them identify the perpetrators behind the attack, which turned out to be North Korean hackers.
Since then, Crowdstrike has continued to work alongside some of the biggest companies in the world, including Apple, Google (Google), Uber, Twitter, Yahoo!, and many more.
What Does CrowdStrike Do?
Crowdstrike’s business model relies on providing a range of cybersecurity services for both businesses and individuals.
These include endpoint threat prevention, network intrusion prevention, web application firewall, and cloud workload protection.
Each of these products has its own unique features, but they're all designed to help you protect yourself against cyber threats.
What Is CrowdStrike Falcon?
As mentioned earlier, the CrowdStrike Falcon is the name of their flagship product, which is basically a cloud-based security platform designed to stop malicious software before it reaches your endpoints.
It uses artificial intelligence to detect potential security threats, and once detected it will automatically block any suspicious activity.
With this type of service, there is no need to install any additional software or spend hours manually monitoring your system. Everything is done automatically.
It also includes a number of additional features, such as real-time incident response, automated reporting and threat hunting, breach notification, and much more.
How Does The CrowdStrike Falcon AI Work?
The CrowdStrike Falcon artificial intelligence uses machine learning algorithms and deep learning neural networks. This allows it to make predictions about future activities based on past data.
For example, if a file has a virus inside, it may recognize this as a potential security risk and block it before it can do any harm.
The AI will use various factors to determine whether something safe or not, including but not limited to:
- URL
- URL parameters
- IP address
- User behavior
- File contents
- Web server headers
- Network traffic
- File extensions
The AI will also look at other information like user-agent strings, Cookies, and Browser Plugins. If it determines that something is not right, it will alert the user so that they can take action accordingly.
How Much Does CrowdStrike Falcon Cost?
With CrowdStrike Falcon, you get a free trial for 30 days, during which time you can test out the product without having to pay anything at all.
You will be required to pay either monthly or annually after the trial period ends. There is no set minimum contract length. You will only be billed for services used after the end of your trial period. Both the free and premium plans include unlimited users and an active customer support team.
CrowdStrike Enterprise is the paid-for, premium edition of Falcon. The main difference between CrowdStrike Enterprise and Falcon is that the Enterprise package comes with additional features.
These features include custom dashboards and 24/7 customer support.
If you decide to go ahead with the basic plan, you will be billed $5 per user, per day. You will also incur a small fee for bandwidth usage.
The Enterprise charges $10 per user per day, along with a monthly subscription fee of $99.95. As mentioned above, both plans come with an unlimited number of users. Prices are accurate at the time of writing.
How Do You Use CrowdStrike Falcon?
After signing up for CrowdStrike Falcon and purchasing one of their plans, they will give you access to their dashboard, where you can manage your account settings and see reports.
First, you will need to create a new project in order to start working on it. You will then be able to create projects, for which you can add users.
Each user has his own unique email address, but they all share the same password. When adding users to a project, you will need to enter their username, email address, and password.
Once added, each user will have access to the dashboard, where they can view all the information pertaining to their projects.
The dashboard itself is very simple and straightforward, allowing you to easily monitor and control your accounts. There are four main sections of the dashboard: Dashboard, Reports, Settings, and Users.
The Dashboard section contains various graphs and charts that show you the current status of your project, including things like total incidents, incident types, severity levels, etc.
The Reports section allows you to view detailed reports on specific events within your project. These reports provide details on the type of events, when they occurred, the affected systems, and more.
You can also filter these reports by date, system, or even individual user.
Furthermore, the Settings tab gives you complete control over the project’s settings Here, you can create new projects, set email notifications, and more.
The last section is Users, which allows you to assign permissions to specific users. This will include giving users read-only access, editing access, deleting access, and more.
The Advantages Of CrowdStrike Falcon
One of the biggest issues with traditional antivirus software is that it often misses threats.
So, combining it with an AI-based security solution like CrowdStrike Falcon gives you a powerful combination that is able to detect even the most sophisticated malware attacks.
With this platform, you get a number of additional benefits, including:
Real-Time Incident Response
With CrowdStrike Falcon, you can quickly respond to incidents as soon as they happen. There is no waiting around until the next business day.
This feature allows you to take immediate action in order to prevent future attacks, rather than having to wait for the next breach report.
Improved Productivity
Since the platform uses artificial intelligence learning to identify threats, the software is far less likely to misidentify any legitimate files as malicious.
There is no having to spend countless hours manually reviewing each file uploaded to your network. All the work has already been done for you!
Advanced Threat Detection
The platform automatically scans every file that passes through your network, therefore making it capable of identifying threats before they can even reach your systems.
Never again do you have to worry about missing critical data because of a painfully slow backup process! Any and all sensitive documents will remain safe, no matter where they might be stored or how long they stay on your hard drive.
Automated Reporting
CrowdStrike Falcon is unique in that it automatically sends reports to your email address if and whenever a new threat is detected.
Keeping track of any issues that may arise is easier than ever thanks to this feature, and it also ensures that you don’t forget to follow up on important alerts.
Additional Features
As mentioned above, the premium version of CrowdStrike includes various additional features, such as advanced analytics, customized reporting, and more.
These extra features contribute towards making the platform even better suited for businesses, as it emphasizes the ability to make networks better protected against emerging threats.
The Disadvantages Of CrowdStrike Falcon
There are certainly some advantages to CrowdStrike Falcon, but there are also disadvantages.
For example, while its capabilities for detecting threats are far superior to traditional antivirus programs, they still take some time to scan everything on a computer.
This means that you may not be able to detect attacks right away, which could result in missing opportunities to stop them.
Another potential downside is that the platform doesn't offer the same level of security against zero-day threats that traditional antivirus programs do. However, this isn’t particularly a problem if you aren’t planning on storing highly sensitive information on your network.
Why Use CrowdStrike Falcon?
There are plenty of good reasons why you should invest in CrowdStrike Falcon, ranging from cost-saving to improved productivity.
As an initial step, the platform offers significant savings over traditional methods of protection against cyberattacks.
Compared to similar services, it has been estimated that CrowdStrike Falcon could save organizations anywhere between 20% and 50% on their IT budgets.
This means that you won't have to spend money on high-priced hardware and software, whilst also reducing your risk from attacks.
Is CrowdStrike Falcon Safe?
With CrowdStrike Falcon, there is no need for you to worry about security because it handles everything automatically. All of your data will be encrypted before being sent to the CrowdStrike servers.
They also offer a wide range of tools that allow you to secure backup and restore your data, and perform regular backups. Furthermore, all the sensitive data is stored off-site in multiple locations.
Is CrowdStrike Falcon Worth It?
Short answer: Yes! CrowdStrike Falcon is among the best cloud-based cybersecurity solutions available today, and we strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to protect their systems against advanced threats.
With its intuitive interface and easy setup process, this platform really does provide all the functionality you could ever need from a security tool! With just $5 per user each week, it’s also very affordable, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes.
Final Thoughts
If you want to be protected against advanced cyberattacks, like ransomware, then we strongly recommend that you check out Falcon from CrowdStrike.
The service offers excellent value for money, which can significantly improve your organization's (or your personal) cybersecurity posture.