What is CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. and what cybersecurity services does it provide?

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It specializes in providing endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services, which are crucial for protecting computer networks and data from malicious activities.

What were some of the high-profile cyberattack investigations CrowdStrike has been involved in?

CrowdStrike has played a role in investigating several notable cyberattacks, including the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, the 2015–16 cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the 2016 email leak associated with the DNC.

What is the company type of CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. and how is it publicly traded?

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is a public company, meaning its shares are available for trade on stock exchanges. It is traded on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CRWD (Class A) and is recognized as a component of both the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 indices.

When and by whom was CrowdStrike founded?

CrowdStrike was co-founded in 2011 by George Kurtz, who serves as CEO; Dmitri Alperovitch, who was the former CTO; and Gregg Marston, who was the CFO before his retirement.

Where is CrowdStrike's current headquarters located, and where was it previously?

CrowdStrike's current headquarters is in Austin, Texas, United States. Previously, its principal executive office was located in Sunnyvale, California, where a branch office still exists.

Who was an early key hire for CrowdStrike Services, Inc. and what was their background?

In 2012, Shawn Henry, a former official from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was hired to lead CrowdStrike Services, Inc., a subsidiary focused on offering security and response services.

What was CrowdStrike's first product, and when was it launched?

CrowdStrike launched its first product, an antivirus package named CrowdStrike Falcon, in June 2013. This marked its entry into providing endpoint protection, which helps secure individual devices like computers and mobile phones.

How did CrowdStrike's reports impact the U.S. Department of Justice's actions against Chinese military hackers in 2014?

In May 2014, CrowdStrike's reports were instrumental in helping the United States Department of Justice bring charges against five Chinese military hackers for economic cyber espionage targeting U.S. corporations. Cyber espionage involves using computer networks to gain unauthorized access to confidential information.

What Russian government-connected group did CrowdStrike identify, and what was their primary target?

CrowdStrike identified the activities of Energetic Bear, a group linked to Russia's Federal Security Service. This group conducted intelligence operations primarily against targets within the global energy sector, aiming to gather sensitive information.

What was the significance of CrowdStrike's discovery of the VENOM vulnerability in May 2015?

In May 2015, CrowdStrike disclosed information about VENOM, a critical flaw found in Quick Emulator (QEMU), an open-source hypervisor. This vulnerability posed a serious threat as it could allow attackers to gain access to sensitive personal information within virtualized environments, where multiple operating systems share a single hardware host.

What did CrowdStrike report about Chinese hacking activities following the U.S.-China agreement in October 2015?

In October 2015, CrowdStrike reported identifying Chinese hackers targeting technology and pharmaceutical companies. This activity was significant because it occurred around the time U.S. President Barack Obama and China's leader Xi Jinping had publicly agreed not to engage in economic espionage against each other, suggesting a potential violation of that agreement.

Summarize CrowdStrike's funding and valuation milestones leading up to its IPO.

In July 2015, Google invested in CrowdStrike's Series C funding round. By 2017, the company achieved a valuation of over $1 billion with an estimated annual revenue of $100 million. By June 2018, its valuation exceeded $3 billion, having raised a total of $480 million through Series D and Series E rounds as of May 2019.

When did CrowdStrike go public, and what was the initial market reaction?

CrowdStrike made its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in June 2019. Following the IPO, its shares experienced a significant jump, increasing by more than 70%, indicating strong investor confidence.

How has CrowdStrike expanded its product and service offerings in recent years (2020-2024)?

CrowdStrike expanded its identity security with Falcon Identity Threat Protection (2020), which became a managed service in 2022, and launched a Cloud Threat Hunting Service (2022). In 2023, it introduced CrowdStream with Cribl.io and Charlotte AI, a generative AI security analyst. September 2023 saw the launch of Falcon Foundry, a no-code application development platform, followed by CrowdStrike Financial Services in September 2024.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2025?

For fiscal year 2025, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $3.95 billion and a net cash flow from operations of $1.38 billion. Net cash flow from operations indicates the amount of cash generated by a company's regular business activities.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2024?

For fiscal year 2024, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $3.06 billion and a net cash flow from operations of $1.17 billion.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2023?

For fiscal year 2023, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $2.24 billion and a net cash flow from operations of $941 million.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2022?

For fiscal year 2022, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $1.45 billion and a net cash flow from operations of $574.8 million.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2021?

For fiscal year 2021, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $874.4 million and a net cash flow from operations of $356.6 million.

What was CrowdStrike's total revenue and net cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2020?

For fiscal year 2020, CrowdStrike reported a total revenue of $481.4 million and a net cash flow from operations of $99.9 million.

What did James Comey testify about CrowdStrike's findings regarding the DNC cyberattacks?

On March 20, 2017, James Comey testified before Congress that CrowdStrike, along with Mandiant and ThreatConnect, reviewed the evidence of the DNC hack and concluded with high certainty that it was the work of APT 28 and APT 29, which are known Russian intelligence services. APT stands for Advanced Persistent Threat, referring to sophisticated, long-term cyberattack campaigns.

Why did the FBI not directly access the DNC servers for forensics, according to James Comey?

According to James Comey's testimony in January 2017, the FBI's request for its forensics investigators to directly access the DNC servers was denied. Instead, an agreement was made for CrowdStrike, the private company handling the investigation, to share what they observed, indicating a reliance on third-party analysis.

What were the findings of CrowdStrike's December 2016 report concerning Russian hacking and Ukrainian artillery?

CrowdStrike's December 2016 report claimed that the Russian government-affiliated group Fancy Bear had hacked a Ukrainian artillery app, leading to significant losses for Ukrainian artillery units. The app, called ArtOS, was used for fire-control on tablet PCs.

How did other organizations respond to CrowdStrike's report on Ukrainian artillery losses?

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense both rejected CrowdStrike's assessment, stating that the data on Ukrainian D30 howitzer losses was misused and that actual losses were much smaller and not linked to Russian hacking.

What evidence emerged to support CrowdStrike's claims about Fancy Bear's targeting of the Ukrainian artillery app developer?

Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks discovered a list of email addresses targeted by Fancy Bear in phishing attacks, which included Yaroslav Sherstyuk, the developer of the ArtOS app. Additionally, research by the Associated Press also supported CrowdStrike's conclusions, showing the app had indeed been targeted.

What conspiracy theory involving CrowdStrike and the DNC hack was promoted during the Trump-Ukraine scandal?

During the Trump-Ukraine scandal, a conspiracy theory, widely promoted on far-right websites and Russian state media, alleged that the Ukrainian government, in collaboration with CrowdStrike, hacked the Democratic National Committee's servers in 2016 to falsely implicate Russia and undermine Donald Trump's presidential campaign. This theory has been repeatedly debunked by various sources.

What was the immediate financial impact on CrowdStrike's stock after the July 2024 incident?

On July 19, 2024, the day of the incident, CrowdStrike shares closed trading down by $38.09, or 11.10%, at a price of $304.96. Two days later, on July 22, 2024, shares dropped further by $41.05, or 13.46%, closing at $263.91, reflecting significant market concern.

What was the technical mechanism behind the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage?

The outage was caused by an update to a configuration file, specifically Channel File 291, within the Falcon endpoint detection and response agent. CrowdStrike stated that this update triggered a logic error, leading to blue screens of death (BSOD) and bootloops on affected Microsoft Windows machines, rendering them unusable.

What were the recommended solutions for users affected by the July 2024 CrowdStrike outage?

CrowdStrike recommended booting affected computers into safe mode or Windows Recovery Mode to manually delete Channel File 291. This process required local administrator access and, if BitLocker encryption was enabled, a recovery key. Microsoft also suggested that some issues could be resolved by rebooting devices up to 15 times.

What was the estimated financial cost of the July 2024 CrowdStrike incident to Fortune 500 companies?

The CrowdStrike incident in July 2024 was estimated to have cost Fortune 500 companies $5.4 billion, highlighting the significant economic impact of such widespread IT disruptions.

What is CrowdStrike's approach to engagement with the U.S. government?

CrowdStrike has focused on actively working with the U.S. government and selling its cybersecurity services to various government agencies, indicating a strategic partnership in national security.

What was the purpose of CrowdStrike's acquisition of Payload Security in November 2017?

In November 2017, CrowdStrike acquired Payload Security, a firm that developed automated malware analysis sandbox technology. This acquisition aimed to enhance CrowdStrike's capabilities in detecting and analyzing malicious software.

Which company did CrowdStrike acquire in September 2020, and for how much?

In September 2020, CrowdStrike acquired Preempt Security, a zero trust and conditional access technology provider, for $96 million. Zero trust is a security model that requires strict identity verification for every person and device trying to access resources on a private network, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the network perimeter.

Why did CrowdStrike acquire Humio in February 2021?

CrowdStrike acquired the Danish log management platform Humio for $400 million in February 2021, with the strategic intent to integrate Humio's log aggregation capabilities into CrowdStrike's Extended Detection and Response (XDR) offering. XDR is a unified security incident detection and response platform that automatically collects and correlates data across multiple security layers.

What was the focus of SecureCircle, acquired by CrowdStrike in November 2021?

In November 2021, CrowdStrike acquired SecureCircle, a SaaS-based cybersecurity service designed to extend zero trust endpoint security to encompass data protection. SaaS (Software as a Service) is a software distribution model where a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet.

What was the purpose of acquiring Reposify in October 2022?

CrowdStrike acquired Reposify, an external attack surface management vendor, in October 2022, to enhance its risk management capabilities by identifying and managing potential vulnerabilities on an organization's internet-facing assets.

Which Israeli cybersecurity startup did CrowdStrike acquire in 2023, and for what amount?

In 2023, CrowdStrike acquired the Israeli cybersecurity startup Bionic.ai for $350 million, further expanding its technological portfolio.

What were CrowdStrike's cloud security acquisitions in 2024?

In 2024, CrowdStrike acquired two Israeli cloud security startups: Flow Security for $200 million and Adaptive Shield for $300 million. Cloud security refers to the technologies, policies, controls, and services that protect cloud-based data, applications, and infrastructure.

What was the strategic reason behind CrowdStrike's acquisition of Onum in August 2025?

In August 2025, CrowdStrike acquired the Spanish company Onum, which specializes in managing real-time telemetry pipelines, with the aim to 'supercharge' its Falcon Next-Generation Security Information and Event Management (NG SIEM) platform. Telemetry involves the collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment for monitoring.

Crowdstrike Wiki: CrowdStrike: Fortifying Digital Defenses Against Evolving Cyber Threats

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Introduction

A Leader in Cybersecurity

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is a prominent American cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It specializes in providing advanced endpoint security, comprehensive threat intelligence, and expert cyberattack response services.^[3] The company has established itself as a critical player in safeguarding digital assets against sophisticated cyber threats.

High-Profile Interventions

CrowdStrike has been instrumental in investigating several significant cyberattacks that have garnered international attention. These include the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, the complex cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2015–2016, and the subsequent DNC email leak in 2016.^[4]^[5] Their involvement in such high-stakes cases underscores their expertise in digital forensics and incident response.

The 2024 Global Outage

In a notable incident on July 19, 2024, a faulty software update issued by CrowdStrike to its security software led to widespread global computer outages. This disruption affected critical services across various sectors, including air travel, banking, broadcasting, and emergency services, highlighting the profound impact of cybersecurity infrastructure on modern society.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Company History

Founding and Early Growth

CrowdStrike was co-founded in 2011 by George Kurtz (CEO), Dmitri Alperovitch (former CTO), and Gregg Marston (retired CFO).^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12] The company quickly expanded its leadership, bringing in Shawn Henry, a former FBI official, in 2012 to head CrowdStrike Services, Inc., focusing on security and response.^[13]^[14] Its flagship antivirus product, CrowdStrike Falcon, was launched in June 2013.^[15]^[16]

Milestones and Expansion

The company's trajectory saw significant milestones, including Google's investment in its Series C funding round in July 2015, contributing to a total of $480 million raised by May 2019.^[25]^[26]^[27] CrowdStrike achieved a valuation exceeding $1 billion in 2017 and over $3 billion by June 2018.^[28]^[26] It went public on the Nasdaq in June 2019.^[31]^[32] In December 2021, CrowdStrike relocated its headquarters from Sunnyvale, California, to Austin, Texas.^[35] By June 2024, CrowdStrike was included in the prestigious S&P 500 index.^[40]

Product Evolution and Innovation

CrowdStrike has continuously evolved its offerings, expanding beyond traditional endpoint security. Key developments include the introduction of Falcon Identity Threat Protection in 2020, which later integrated into a managed service with Falcon Complete by 2022, and a Cloud Threat Hunting Service in July 2022.^[33]^[34] Further innovations in 2023 saw the launch of CrowdStream in collaboration with Cribl.io,^[36] and Charlotte AI, a generative AI security analyst designed to enhance automated threat triaging and response.^[37] In September 2023, Falcon Foundry, a no-code application development platform, was introduced to broaden accessibility.^[38] The company also launched CrowdStrike Financial Services in September 2024 to facilitate access to its Falcon platform.^[39]>

Strategic Acquisitions

Expanding Capabilities

CrowdStrike has strategically acquired several companies to bolster its cybersecurity portfolio and expand its technological capabilities. These acquisitions reflect a commitment to integrating cutting-edge solutions and extending its reach across various security domains.

November 2017: Payload Security – Acquired for its automated malware analysis sandbox technology, enhancing threat detection capabilities.^[43]
September 2020: Preempt Security – Acquired for $96 million, this acquisition expanded CrowdStrike's offerings in zero trust and conditional access technology, crucial for modern identity security.^[44]
February 2021: Humio – Purchased for $400 million, Humio's log management platform was integrated to enhance CrowdStrike's Extended Detection and Response (XDR) capabilities, providing deeper visibility into security events.^[45]
November 2021: SecureCircle – This acquisition brought SaaS-based cybersecurity services that extend zero trust endpoint security to include data, reinforcing data protection measures.^[46]
October 2022: Reposify – Acquired to enhance external attack surface management, helping organizations identify and mitigate risks across their digital footprint.^[47]
2023: Bionic.ai – An Israeli cybersecurity startup acquired for an estimated $350 million, further strengthening CrowdStrike's security posture.^[48]
2024: Flow Security – An Israeli cloud security startup acquired for $200 million, expanding cloud security offerings.^[49]
2024: Adaptive Shield – Another Israeli cloud security startup acquired for $300 million, reinforcing cloud security capabilities.^[50]
August 2025: Onum – A Spanish company focused on managing real-time telemetry pipelines, acquired to supercharge Falcon NG SIEM.^[51]

Financial Overview

Recent Financial Performance

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. has demonstrated consistent growth in its financial performance over recent fiscal years, reflecting its expanding market presence and demand for its cybersecurity solutions. The table below provides a summary of key financial metrics.

Recent Financial Information (Fiscal Year Ended January 31)

Year	Revenue	Net Cash Flow (from operations)
FY 2020	$481.4 MM	$99.9 MM^[52]
FY 2021	$874.4 MM	$356.6 MM^[53]
FY 2022	$1.45 B	$574.8 MM^[54]
FY 2023	$2.24 B	$941 MM^[55]
FY 2024	$3.06 B	$1.17 B^[56]
FY 2025	$3.95 B	$1.38 B^[2]

For fiscal year 2024, total revenue reached $3.06 billion, marking a substantial 36% increase from the previous year.^[41] As of FY2025, the company reported a revenue of US$3.95 billion, with an operating income of US$-120.4 million and a net income of US$-19.27 million. Total assets stood at US$8.7 billion, and total equity at US$3.28 billion, with a global workforce of 10,118 employees.^[2]

Russian Hacking Probes

DNC Cyberattacks Investigation

CrowdStrike played a pivotal role in investigating the cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), establishing a connection to Russian intelligence services. Their analysis concluded with high certainty that the attacks were orchestrated by APT 28 and APT 29, groups known to be affiliated with Russian intelligence.^[57]^[58] Notably, the FBI did not directly access the DNC servers, instead relying on CrowdStrike's findings for their investigation.^[59]>

Ukrainian Artillery App Incident

In December 2016, CrowdStrike released a report alleging that the Russian government-affiliated group Fancy Bear had hacked a Ukrainian artillery application, ArtOS. The report claimed this hack resulted in significant losses for Ukrainian artillery units.^[60]^[61] However, this assessment faced scrutiny, with the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense rejecting the claims of artillery losses being linked to Russian hacking.^[63]>

Conspiracy Theories and Debunking

During the Trump–Ukraine scandal, a conspiracy theory emerged, promoted on far-right websites and Russian state media, suggesting that the Ukrainian government used CrowdStrike to hack the DNC servers in 2016 and falsely implicate Russia to undermine Donald Trump's presidential campaign.^[68]^[69] This theory has been widely debunked by multiple sources, including the Associated Press and CNN, which found no evidence to support such claims.^[71]^[72]^[73]>

The 2024 Incident

Global IT Outage

On July 19, 2024, a software configuration file update, specifically Channel File 291, released by CrowdStrike for its Falcon endpoint detection and response agent, contained flaws that triggered a logic error. This error caused Microsoft Windows machines worldwide to experience "blue screens of death" (BSOD), forcing them into an unusable bootloop.^[74]^[75] The incident led to widespread disruption across critical infrastructure globally.

Widespread Impact

The faulty update had a cascading effect, causing significant disruptions across various sectors. Commercial airline flights were grounded, major broadcasters like Sky News went offline, and essential banking and healthcare services were severely impacted. Even 911 emergency call centers experienced outages, underscoring the critical reliance on robust cybersecurity systems.^[8]^[77] The financial repercussions were substantial, with Fortune 500 companies incurring an estimated $5.4 billion in losses.^[41]>

Remediation and Response

CrowdStrike promptly issued a patch to rectify the error. However, affected computers in a bootloop could not easily download the fix. The recommended solution involved booting into safe mode or Windows Recovery Mode to manually delete Channel File 291, a process that required local administrator access and potentially a BitLocker recovery key if the device was encrypted.^[79]^[80] Microsoft also noted that some devices could be remediated by rebooting up to 15 times.^[81]>

Post-Incident Measures

In the aftermath, CrowdStrike published a Preliminary Post-Incident Review on July 24, 2024, followed by a comprehensive Root Cause Analysis on August 6, 2024, detailing the incident's origins and mitigation steps.^[83]^[87] The company implemented several process improvements, including new content configuration test procedures, additional deployment layers with acceptance checks, engaging third-party vendors for code and process reviews, and introducing staggered update rollouts to allow users more control.^[88]^[41]

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References

"CrowdStrike introduces a new cloud threat hunting service," VentureBeat, July 26, 2022, retrieved March 3, 2025.

"CrowdStrike adds generative AI assistant to security tools," Axios, May 30, 2023, retrieved March 6, 2025.

A full list of references for this article are available at the CrowdStrike Wikipedia page

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CrowdStrike: Fortifying Digital Defenses

💡 Dive in with Flashcard Learning! 💡

Introduction 🌐

🏢 A Leader in Cybersecurity

🕵️‍♀️ High-Profile Interventions

⚠️ The 2024 Global Outage

Company History 📜

🚀 Founding and Early Growth

📈 Milestones and Expansion

💡 Product Evolution and Innovation

Strategic Acquisitions 🤝

🧩 Expanding Capabilities

Financial Overview 💰

📊 Recent Financial Performance

Recent Financial Information (Fiscal Year Ended January 31)

Russian Hacking Probes 🇷🇺

🏛️ DNC Cyberattacks Investigation

🇺🇦 Ukrainian Artillery App Incident

💬 Conspiracy Theories and Debunking

The 2024 Incident 🚨

💻 Global IT Outage

✈️ Widespread Impact

🩹 Remediation and Response

✅ Post-Incident Measures

Teacher's Corner 🧑‍🏫

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References

📜 References

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Disclaimer ⚠️

📜 Important Notice

Dive in with Flashcard Learning!

Introduction

A Leader in Cybersecurity

High-Profile Interventions

The 2024 Global Outage

Company History

Founding and Early Growth

Milestones and Expansion

Product Evolution and Innovation

Strategic Acquisitions

Expanding Capabilities

Financial Overview

Recent Financial Performance

Russian Hacking Probes

DNC Cyberattacks Investigation

Ukrainian Artillery App Incident

Conspiracy Theories and Debunking

The 2024 Incident

Global IT Outage

Widespread Impact

Remediation and Response

Post-Incident Measures

Teacher's Corner

True or False?

Test Your Knowledge!

Gamer's Corner

Discover other topics to study!

References

Feedback & Support

Disclaimer

Important Notice