2024-07-21 18:10:09
US company Crowdstrike, whose software caused a massive global computer blackout on Friday, has taken advantage of the emergence of cloud computing to become a key player in cybersecurity in just over a decade.
The failure was caused by the group’s software update on the Windows operating systems of the giant Microsoft and caused chaos in numerous IT facilities around the world, from airports to hospitals.
This incident brought to light the little-known influence of Crowdstrike in the digital sector.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Crowdstrike is currently the world leader in security for network-connected devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones.
George Kurtz, the group’s co-founder and CEO, wants to focus on protecting against intrusions rather than just fighting viruses.
In doing so, he has distanced himself from traditional antivirus software services such as Symantec and McAfee, of which he was chief technology officer until 2011, when he founded Crowdstrike.
A report released this year by Crowdstrike estimated that 70% of cyberattacks do not involve viruses, but rather manipulations carried out directly by hackers who often use stolen or recovered credentials.
With its flagship product, Falcon, launched in 2012, CrowdStrike also took advantage of the democratization of broadband and the proliferation of data storage centers to offer a fully cloud-based product.
Remote computing enables updates to be performed quickly and regularly.
CrowdStrike also integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology into its platform to facilitate the detection of anomalous activities that may be related to a virus or an intrusion attempt.
– Identify threats –
George Kurtz and his two other co-founders, Dimitri Alperovitch and Gregg Marston, took a proactive approach to risk.
They created a team of hundreds of people dedicated to identifying computer threats around the world, in order to better anticipate possible attacks.
The unit determined that the attack on the Sony Pictures film studio in 2014 was carried out by hackers linked to the communist regime in North Korea.
They had targeted Sony to discourage it from releasing a satirical film about a US plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
CrowdStrike also established that individuals backed by the Russian government were behind a cyberattack on Democratic Party servers during the 2016 US presidential campaign.
In 2023, CrowdStrike’s chief security officer Shawn Henry publicly criticized Microsoft for what he saw as failures in its risk management.
In an interview with Forbes magazine, he criticized the tech giant for continuing to employ hundreds of people in China.
Microsoft, a CrowdStrike customer, is also a competitor, offering its own cyber protection services, as do major rivals such as Amazon and Google.
As of January, CrowdStrike had 7,925 employees, according to its annual report.
In 2023, the group generated sales of $3.05 billion, up 36% year-on-year.
Fueled by the surge in so-called generative AI, which requires the development of additional cloud capabilities, CrowdStrike raised its annual forecast in June.
It is now targeting sales growth of 30% to 31% this year.
Although its business is booming, the group is struggling to increase its profitability. In 2023, it only recorded a net profit of $89 million, its first annual profit since its creation.
© Agence France-Presse
