Product Summary:
Crowdstrike is best known for their cloud-based endpoint protection and response (EDR) solution to detect intrusions across networks and endpoints. The flagship product is Falcon that includes a suite of security products that strive to protect the enterprise against malware and threats in real-time with deep threat intelligence. Arguably, they are known for the breadth and depth of their threat intelligence to identify malicious code or other threats before they do damage or spread across the network. The company claims that its technology can detect 99% of all malware threats before they impact your organization or personal device. Endpoint security is considered a combination of an endpoint protection platform (such as anti-virus, anti-malware) and endpoint detection and response, which is a more proactive response to identifying and mitigating threats.
Efficacy:
The efficacy of Crowdstrike security tools has rewarded them with industry leading market share that, according to IDC, at 12.6%, is the largest supplier in the EDR market and has recently experienced 68% year-over-year growth. While a dominant supplier, it is also a very fractured market with plenty of competition from Microsoft, Symantec (Broadcom), Trellix (formally McAfee), Cisco, Sophos and Palo Alto, among many others. Microsoft, for their part, is promoting their Enterprise Agreements inclusive of their competing Microsoft Defender product line to build market share in the EDR market, with many Microsoft customers simply taking what’s offered to them in the EA.
Market Share
Pricing:
The product is priced first on the number of endpoints to protect, with an endpoint being any physical or virtual device, such as, a computer, server, laptop, desktop computer, mobile, cellular, container, pod, or virtual machine image. Endpoints are sometimes referred to as workload(s). Then you choose a product in the Falcon suite, such as Falcon Prevent for Next Anti-virus, Falcon Insight XDR for EDR or Falcon Intelligence for threat intelligence. One endpoint can have multiple Falcon products applied for security. They also offer bundles from Falcon Pro, which includes NGAV Intelligence, USB device control and firewall management, all the way up to their Falcon Complete product which is a full complement of security products delivered as a managed service.
Falcon Complete can be expensive, but it could be a good solution for an enterprise that does not have their own in-depth cybersecurity SMEs or a sophisticated security operations center. The individual module costs can range from $5 to $10 per endpoint per year, with bundles ranging from $9 to up to $75 per endpoint per year for managed detection and response. Support (“Support Essential”) is typically a separate fee as a percentage of the total module or bundle cost. With thousands of endpoints in the typical enterprise, these costs can add up quickly.
Crowdstrike’s fiscal year end is the end of January, so you may be under increasing pressure if you are one of the many customers whose agreements are coming due. Given the economic uncertainty and looming recession, suppliers like Crowdstrike are going to be very aggressive in their negotiating posture and are not likely to give very much ground or concessions. As I mentioned earlier in the article, there is competition in this space, and its never been a better time to keep your options open when choosing a provider.
Crowdstrike Stock Performance
Summary:
Crowdstrike is an excellent end-point protection tool, but this comes at a premium. As with most security investments, the efficacy of the security solution should be the primary focus, but not at all costs. There are plenty of very capable competitors in this space, so it is always best to introduce competition and perform proof of concepts with multiple suppliers before making a decision, as Crowdstrike will respond if they know they are competing for your business.
If you are in need of some support or benchmarking your potential deal, its never too late to have us take a look and see if we can help. Contact us here on Crowdstrike, or any other IT supplier deal that’s in question.
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