CrowdStrike warranty stirring up endpoint debate

Among the many announcements at the recent InfoSec event the decision by CrowdStrike to offer a $1m warranty if a breach occurs in a protected environment stood out.

The warranty comes against a background of the endpoint protection specialist looking to take advantage of customer movement away from legacy products.

A few security experts have shared the view that now only are customers looking for consolidation but some of the old products are no longer able to fend off the threats.

Matthew Polly, vp of worldwide alliances, business development and channels at CrowdStrike, said that it was noticing a change among customers.

"The legacy vendors are really designed for file-based attacks b ut the threat is now over 50% file-less hacks," he added that hackers were, "threading laterally, dumping credentials on the way and the legacy technology is not designed to plot that type of activity."

The firm is working with resellers, MSPs and ISVs as well as striking up technology alliances that give it the chance to reach out to other vendor reseller bases.

Polly said that customers wanted to feel that the endpoint was protected and that they would be notified of any malicious activity. Beyond that stage there was plenty of opportunities for resellers to help with remediation.

He said that the reaction from partners and customers to the warranty had been positive and it was stirring a debate about endpoint protection. "Resellers have been excited about it and it is a very fast growing offering" .

In a statement issued on the warranty launch, Adam Thornton, head of alliances at Bytes Software Services, said that it was the first partner to work with CrowdStrike over the scheme.

“We see this as a rapid way to increase our customer’s security maturity, while showing them the value of Bytes by offering new and innovative ways of stopping breaches," he said.