Our organization still uses Infoblox, and my role is a little bit different now. I am conducting the POC of new solutions, which we have to deploy in our infrastructure. I evaluate the new products, and then if we purchase them, we deploy them.

EDR is effective in CrowdStrike. Real-time response (RTR) is a feature of EDR. CrowdStrike provides a lot of visibility in their tool. CrowdStrike is from the EDR point of view. It is a good tool, and we have rolled it out in our infrastructure.

The KDR solution is immature. They do not have much preemption in ITDR. Threat prevention should be their first priority, and false positive reductions are needed. They should improve their support as well. Response resolution time is too high.

I have a little bit of experience with Infoblox. I do not have too much experience with it. Recently, we deployed CrowdStrike, media, and SVR. We purchased CrowdStrike around one and a half years ago, and now we have completely rolled it out in our infrastructure.

Response resolution time is too high.

Neutral

Implementation was comprehensive. It took around seven to eight months.

Overall, seven to eight people from different teams were involved.

SentinelOne and Palo Alto were looked into.

Support is an area that needs attention. Overall, EDR is fine. ITDR is not mature, and other tools are also not mature. If we talk about SIEM and cloud security, those are also not mature. I would rate it five out of ten.

We are using it for endpoint protection, as well as for cloud security coverage. It includes monitoring all our critical servers and endpoint devices. We also design workflows for anomaly behavior detection using machine learning techniques for anything malicious or abnormal. We monitor everything suspicious. We either design the workflows or use CrowdStrike to monitor any new detections and anomaly behaviors, as well as do vulnerability management.

The best benefit of CrowdStrike Falcon is 99% MITRE coverage. It detects suspicious or undetected activities on the system and provides protection for zero-day vulnerabilities. If there is a sudden rise in CPU consumption or abnormal storage use, it helps us by creating a ticket, allowing us to investigate any abnormal behavior present. We can look into the machine and investigate. It reduces the false negatives common with other technologies.

The real-time response helps with MTTR. We achieve faster detection and response times.

It helped prevent breaches. In the past, there was abnormal consumption of RAM along with CPU on a server. It also started communicating with other subnets. CrowdStrike Falcon triggered an alert. We did our investigation and found that we had ransomware. We successfully mitigated it.

The machine learning behavior for anomaly detection is a valuable feature. It helps identify any suspicious or unusual activities within the system.

Furthermore, it has impressive MITRE coverage. 

Deployment in cloud environments is challenging. Another concern is CrowdStrike's GUI. It changes annually, making it hard to work and find options. After a year, options change or integrate with something else, which is challenging for me as it requires relearning. It is time-consuming.

I started working on CrowdStrike in 2018. 

We are following N-1 versions across our environment, which is stable. Due to our requirements, we never switch to the N version; we always stick to N-1 and never face anything abnormal while using it.

It has proven to be a good technology for me. It has adequate coverage and is easy to deploy. Its scalability is good.

It is deployed across the globe.

I would rate them a seven out of ten. They take a lot of time to come back to us.

Neutral

I have used SentinelOne as well. SentinelOne was similar but had major challenges with workflow implementation. Workflow implementation is far easier in CrowdStrike compared to SentinelOne.

We have it in the on-premises environment and cloud environments. For endpoint hosts, it is very easy, but in the cloud environment, there are challenges, especially if we have AWS technologies with Lambda functions, which are serverless.

My implementation strategy was simple. I segregated servers based on criticality, then network, and finally OS level. Anything critical was based on my CMDB asset configuration. Following criticality was the network, determining internal versus public-facing. The last segmentation was on OS configuration. These three categorizations were primarily used in deploying agents across our environment.

In terms of maintenance, there are patches or version upgrades. 

We had a group of five people, which was enough to manage this.

It is worth the money.

It is expensive compared to SentinelOne, but as the market leader, it is worth it.

I would rate CrowdStrike Falcon an eight out of ten. They have some challenges with the cloud environment, which is a major drawback, especially with the serverless aspect. Their GUI also causes issues with regular changes.

If anyone has worked with CrowdStrike, they would promote it. However, cloud security presents challenges. Moving from physical to cloud environments is difficult. I have raised 7-8 tickets to resolve cloud issues, especially with AWS.

I am currently using CrowdStrike Falcon as an EDR, which is integrated with SIEM. We also work in a real-time environment with the product. As a Falconist, I perform investigation actions on it. There are three different kinds of alerts I deal with: one based purely on IOCs, another process-oriented IOA, and those based on machine learning alerts. This is what I work on, and it is actually a good tool. It has multiple features, including real-time connection to the RTR environment, allowing direct remote host connection through CrowdStrike. I have multiple options like host search and event search, enabling me to do everything I need. It's a comprehensive package. It's a challenging tool to explore, but once accustomed to it, it is quite excellent.

Obviously, when checking in the SIEM, not all logs are available. In CrowdStrike, unlike SIEM, actions are clearly defined. For example, a regular AV like Symantec might indicate a file was quarantined or failed to quarantine, but in CrowdStrike, I can verify the action. As an incident response analyst, I can use CrowdStrike to perform actions like directly wiping a file from a host if given access. I can investigate by accessing the customer's host based on the RTR environment and utilize host search to know details for the past seven days, including logins, processes, file installations, malicious processes, and network connections. Event search also allows for detailed investigations, showing accessed files and remote installations.

In CrowdStrike, with the variety of security tools available, learning the different query languages can be challenging. I use KQL queries with Sentinel and AQL with QRadar, and CrowdStrike's query language is different as well. This requires constant learning for security analysts. Simplifying the querying process, such as using double quote queries or directly obtaining logs based on IP addresses or usernames, would be beneficial. The event search tab in CrowdStrike is complex, though the host search is more straightforward and gets details from the past week. The querying system, similar to Splunk, could be made more user-friendly.

I have been using it for the past two years.

The stability is always great. I have never seen instability in the CrowdStrike tool.

When it comes to scalability, it is entirely based on premium models according to demand. Our log retention is low, but paying more increases it. Scalability is moderate, based on the charges paid to the CrowdStrike product service team. Offering good services, like better log retention at a lower price, would be excellent.

The CrowdStrike team is very efficient; I would rate them ten out of ten. They respond quickly when it comes to providing services.

Positive

I have worked on Symantec ATP, advanced threat protection, but it is a legacy product. Many companies have moved away from Symantec, and they use legacy antivirus solutions. The integration with Symantec ATP was tough, and event or host searches were based entirely on raw logs.

The current setup is easy, but it could be more natural and make drill-down searches simpler. With advancements in AI, integration could streamline responses further, but there is still room for making the process easier.

The integration task should be done by engineers. I'm interested in the process and have learned something about integration, but we have not fully explored all integration aspects.

CrowdStrike is a great solution. It's a hands-on tool. I have not seen other EDRs like it. Compared to Carbon Black, which is much more difficult with a different UI, CrowdStrike allows direct, detailed investigation with a PID generated for each process. It offers unique abilities not seen in other EDRs. Overall product rating: nine out of ten.

CrowdStrike Falcon is used for incident response.

It is very easy to hunt a threat in the organization. It keeps logs, making it very easy to investigate any kind of incident using CrowdStrike by looking at the processes that are running on a machine. There's more visibility over the endpoint through CrowdStrike.

The ability to remote into other devices for investigation and the way it presents a graphical representation of the detection, like the parent-child process, are valuable features.

The new interface, the UI, seems a bit messy. The previous one was quite clear. It might be because of my adaptation to it. That's what I see as needing improvement.

I have been using CrowdStrike Falcon for more than three years, around three and a half years.

It is quite stable. I would rate it eight or nine out of ten.

I would rate customer service and support a ten. I am very satisfied with the support.

Positive

I have used antiviruses like Symantec before. Compared to all of that, I found CrowdStrike quite striking. Even compared to Defender, I find CrowdStrike more appealing.

On the terms of investigating, I find it's quite easy to investigate an event and have a broader look at the event using CrowdStrike. I would rate the time saved around eight, nine, or even ten out of ten. Compared to Defender, it makes it faster to investigate.

I think the pricing is quite reasonable with the services they provide.

For an incident investigator, it's quite easy to use, and it provides great visibility over the processes.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

It gives an overview and insights into my AD accounts. It shows if any identity, like an AD user, is compromised, has a weak password, or is logging in from an unusual system. Any anomalies.

I like the insights and detailed view of my AD structure. How protected it is, or is there any loophole or an area that needs more protection. 

Another feature I like is that it gives insights into all my domain controllers and ADCs. The configuration is also really easy.

The real-time monitoring feature is good. For example, a user account is hacked. It alerts me that it's been hacked and prompts me to look into it or have the user change their password. I can then log in to my AD, change the password, or notify the user that their account has been compromised and ask them to change their password.

AI capabilities of CrowdStrike are also good. 

When I use Identity Protection, I want the full stack, like going for XDR. If anything happens, like a laptop being compromised using a password, it gives me the entire attack flow. For example, the attack came from a particular user, like an IT admin. If their identity is hacked and they log into multiple systems, and those systems are affected, we can see those details and provide good support or recovery for customers and partners.

I'm concerned about the recent issue in July 2024. It involved a faulty content configuration update. What if another update causes the same problem again?

I have been using it for two years.

Stability, I would rate it as a seven out of ten. There are a few instances where our customers have complained about the digital signatures it uses. Sometimes, even if you create a policy, it still tends to block it. A few applications get flagged as malicious even though the customer trusts them. Even if you create an exception rule, it might still block it after a few weeks. Also, there's the recent issue we faced with CrowdStrike and Windows. So, based on that, I'd give it a seven out of ten.

There is room for improvement. They need to conduct more thorough R&D before releasing updates. I think they didn't do that this time, but it was just a one-time issue. However, what if it happens again? That's a concern.

Scalability-wise, I would give it a ten out of ten. It's simple because it's a SaaS solution. For example, this month, I have 50 users. Next month, I have 50 additional users. I just need to buy more licenses and add those systems to CrowdStrike. If I need to put them in certain groups with specific policies, that's easy too.

We work with all types of businesses, including small, medium, and enterprise businesses. Scalability is simple. I don't even need to install it on my laptop. One more good thing is that it offers an XDR view where I can add other components, like the email security solution Proofpoint. I can integrate it, so I'll get my emails and everything will be in a single pane of glass.  

We have a Technical Account Manager (TAM). We can directly call them and raise a ticket. Initially, it was a six or even a five because we had to send an email, and it would take three to four days for them to reply. Now, with the TAM, we can get issues resolved faster.

Positive

I have experience with CrowdStrike, apart from their Cloud Security offering, which is on GCP. I've worked with CrowdStrike Identity Protection, Device Control, Device Control, EDR, XDR - basically everything except their cloud solution.

The initial setup is straightforward. I don't need to install an agent in my AD, and I can get alerts from my read-only domain controller, which is also good.

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a ten out of ten, with ten being easy and one being difficult. 

It's not required to deploy on-premises. It's a SaaS solution. I just need to download the agent and install it on each of my devices, whether they're VMs or my laptop. 

One more good thing is that I don't need to be in my office network for it to keep protecting me. I can take the system home, and it will still be protected.

The deployment itself takes about a day to install everything if it's user-based. But for CrowdStrike to learn what to block and what not to block in your specific environment, it will take easily about two weeks. There will be some applications that it might consider a threat because it's a next-gen AV that uses AI. 

So, some applications the customer uses might be flagged. I can whitelist them or create a policy to allow them. That's also a very good feature of CrowdStrike. 

So, for the initial setup takes two weeks. For it to get to know your environment and work smoothly, just to install agents and set up the dashboard, policies, and all that, it takes about one day.

It offers seamless integration with the existing security infrastructure. We haven't faced any challenges because our customers use CrowdStrike only for endpoint and server security. They haven't gone to the XDR level yet. However, many other OEMs I've spoken to, like Zerto, have said that the CrowdStrike and Zerto integration is very seamless. So, if anything happens on my server end, I'll know when it happened and what the issue is from CrowdStrike. Or, for example a ransomware attack happens, I can restore from my Zerto application.

The benefit I've seen is their backend, which powers the EDR, XDR, and NGAV. It's really good because it can detect anything due to the wide range of customers they have. 

For example, one customer has a vulnerability because of a zero-day attack. All the other customers will benefit because it propagates to the cloud and analyzes if other customers are on the same version of the drivers or any other Windows patch. If they are, it will tell us that there's an issue and provide remediation steps. Many of our customers find this very helpful. It's called the CrowdStrike community.

I would rate it a seven out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive because it's a bit on the costlier side. Compared to Symantec or Trend Micro, CrowdStrike is more expensive.

Overall, I would rate the product an eight out of ten because of one recent issue that happened. 

I'm concerned about the recent issue that happened. What if another update causes the same problem again? Is it really as good as it seems? Even our customers have given very good feedback, they get more insights into what's happening, what they should do, and what remediation steps to take. So, in that way, it's very good.

I would recommend it, especially if you're going for endpoint security. I'd definitely recommend CrowdStrike first because it's more mature than SentinelOne and other EDR solutions in the APAC region.