DEFENDING AGAINST THE UNSEEN: George Kurtz

CROWDSTRIKE’S

As digitalisation and migration to the cloud grow ever-pervasive, safeguarding against threat and loss remains an imminent priority for businesses. With recent predictions estimating a momentous 90% reduction in financial costs if companies adopt a cybersecurity network architecture, the benefits cannot be overstated.

Enter, CrowdStrike. With a market cap of $31bn, industry-leading cybersecurity company CrowdStrike provides cutting-edge endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and services designed for the next generation.

The brain behind CrowdStrike

A highly-renowned figure in the security industry, George Kurtz is recognised globally as an expert in security, an accomplished author, entrepreneur, and speaker. With over three decades of experience in the field, he has demonstrated exceptional skills in driving revenue growth and scaling organisations worldwide. His entrepreneurial background and aptitude for commercialising emerging technologies have propelled him to introduce innovative products to the market throughout his career.

Kurtz has held several high-ranking positions at McAfee, a $2.5bn security firm, including Worldwide Chief Technology Officer and GM, and Executive Vice President of Enterprise.

Throughout his illustrious career spanning over three decades, Kurtz has remained at the forefront of cutting-edge developments in cybersecurity, relentlessly working towards making the digital world a safer place.

“I launched my first company, Found Stone, in the vulnerability management space. I sold that to McAfee in 2004 and spent seven years at McAfee. And McAfee really sent me on a journey for CrowdStrike, because it was there that I saw the challenges, the endpoint market, and that the industry was focused on detecting malware rather than preventing breaches. And they were doing it in a way that looked like Siebel, not Salesforce.

So I thought there was a better way to create a foundational platform company like Salesforce and Workday or ServiceNow, but there was no platform company for security. And that’s what I started at CrowdStrike,” Kurtz explained in a CrowdStrike blog post.

Stopping Breaches with CrowdStrike: “Fast. Easy. Effective.” cybersecurity software market by prioritising prevention over detection or response. By gathering more information about an attack, the organisation improves their ability to prevent similar attacks from occurring in the future. This approach is particularly advantageous in preparing for potential attacks before they happen.

Kurtz spearheaded this speed-focused business model, believing that this was the key factor that was missing from the cybersecurity landscape when he first created the company.

“Speed is a critical element when we talk about breakout time and how long it takes to exploit these machines. And it’s probably about an hour and thirty this year versus four hours last year. So somebody gets on a machine, you don’t have a lot of time to be able to identify and prevent that. And again, I think we do a great job with our ransomware prevention and detection on the endpoint itself, but you want to have full visibility across other systems that are not just standpoints,” Kurtz explains.

Looking ahead

With the company recently surpassing $2bn in annual revenue just 18 months after reaching $1bn, the company is doing better than ever.

CrowdStrike is expanding beyond cybersecurity and venturing into the broader IT industry by leveraging data analytics. Kurtz has expressed the aspiration for CrowdStrike to become a significant contender in areas such as data observability and IT operations in the broader IT landscape.

When asked about the advice he would give his younger self, Kurtz expressed: “I would say it’s going to be a great journey, and it’s not about the destination; it’s really about the journey, enjoy it. And I would also just reinforce: stay the course.”

Looking to the future, CrowdStrike is emphasising its foundational nature rather than just being a point product. With 21 distinct offerings, the platform consolidates various technologies to decrease costs, simplify processes, and improve outcomes by preventing breaches. However, the benefits of the company’s Humio acquisition go beyond preventing breaches and include optimising IT systems to enhance customer interactions and satisfaction. The company's core focus is on security, but with acquisitions like Humio, they are expanding into related areas that make sense and reach beyond security.