CrowdStrike Wins Patent, Raises $100M for Next-Gen Endpoint Security

CrowdStrike has been hard at work protecting endpoints from threats with its security software, and now the Irvine, California-based company has protected its own technology with a new patent. The company also has secured $100 million more in funding from notable investors—including Google Capital—for its endpoint security strategy and solutions.

CrowdStrike has secured a patent from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) for the core functionality of CrowdStrike Falcon endpoint security sensor.

The USPTO Patent No. 9,043,903 covers kernel-mode sensor technology that was invented by CrowdStrike architects Dave Diehl and Alex Ionescu and co-founders Dmitri Alperovitch and George Kurtz. The technology monitors, detects and prevents sophisticated attacks with what’s called an Indicator of Attack (IOA) approach, which the company said is the future of next-generation security solutions.

An IOA approach focuses on detecting the intent of what an attacker is trying to accomplish, regardless of the malware or exploit used in an attack, according to paper published on the CrowdStrike website. This is in comparison to an Indicator of Compromise (IOC) approach—used by traditional security solutions—which can’t detect the increasing threats from malware-free intrusions and zero-day exploits, the company said.

“Massive worldwide deployments of CrowdStrike Falcon sensors across our large customer base have resulted in us detecting and thwarting highly sophisticated nation-state and organized criminal threat actors every single day,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and CTO of CrowdStrike, in a press release unveiling the patent win. “We are excited to have secured this patent from USPTO, further validating the unique architecture and capabilities of our platform.”

CrowdStrike Falcon is a software-as-a-service-based endpoint protection solution that detects malware and non-malware-based attacks, offering critical context and real-time search capability, according to CrowdStrike. The patented kernel-based security agent is critical to the core functionality of the platform, which requires no on-premise management services or additional costs of ownership for customers, which also are other key benefits of Falcon, according to the company.

Key industry players also see merit in CrowdStrike’s security strategy, as the company recently closed a $100 million funding round led by Google Capital. Rackspace (RAX), a CrowdStrike customer, also participated in the round along with existing investors Accel and Warburg Pincus, bringing the company’s current total funding raised to $156 million.

“[CrowdStrike has] a truly unique SaaS-based endpoint security model, a highly scalable subscription revenue model, and a visionary technical approach that has huge potential to transform the industry, which is why we’re thrilled to make this investment,” said Gene Frantz, partner at Google Capital, in a press release about the funding.