CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a strategic collaboration on Tuesday that maps adversary naming conventions between both platforms, creating what CEO George Kurtz called a “Rosetta Stone” for cyber defenders worldwide.
What Happened: The partnership addresses a critical gap in threat intelligence by unifying how both companies identify and track cyber adversaries, enabling joint customers to better defend against attacks regardless of which nomenclature system they encounter.
“Through this Rosetta Stone collaboration, we unite defenders in knowing the adversary,” Kurtz said during CrowdStrike’s first quarter earnings call. “Together, we take the guesswork out of adversary attribution for the benefit of our joint customers and the entire market.”
The announcement comes as CrowdStrike positions itself for explosive growth in AI agent protection, with Kurtz noting that 96% of enterprises plan to expand AI agent usage within 12 months. Some companies target deploying over one billion production agents, dramatically expanding the attack surface cybersecurity firms must protect.
“Every AI agent represents a unique superhuman identity necessitating visibility, control, and protection,” Kurtz explained. “AI agents dramatically increase the size, severity, and speed of the enterprise attack surface.”
Why It Matters: CrowdStrike reported strong first-quarter results with $1.1 billion total revenue, up 20% year-over-year, and $194 million in net new Annual Recurring Revenue. The company’s FalconFlex subscription model generated $3.2 billion in total deal value across 820+ accounts.
CFO Burt Podbere disclosed regulatory scrutiny, stating the company received DOJ and SEC information requests regarding “revenue recognition and reporting of ARR for certain transactions, the July 19, [2024] outage, and related matters.”
Price Action: CrowdStrike closed at $488.76 on Tuesday, up 2.00%. In pre-market trading on Wednesday, it fell 6.97% to $454.70. Year to date, the stock is up 40.72%.
According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, CRWD shows strong momentum and modest growth. While the stock has a negative valuation, it maintains a positive price trend across short to long-term periods. Click here to view the full breakdown.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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