“The quality of technical intelligence and expertise of the dedicated analysts were noted by multiple customer references. One customer specifically felt like CrowdStrike was a ‘true partner of their security organization’ and ‘the [dedicated analyst] is an extension of their team’

– The Forrester Wave™: External Threat Intelligence Services, Q1 2021

We are excited to announce that Forrester has named CrowdStrike a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave™: External Threat Intelligence Services, Q1 2021. In addition, among all vendors in the report, CrowdStrike is the only vendor with the highest score possible in the Market Presence category, and has the highest possible score for 17 criteria and the highest score across all vendors for Raw Intelligence Collection.

The Forrester Wave evaluates top vendors in the External Threat Intelligence space on a variety of criteria and groups them into: Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders and Challengers. The criteria are mapped into three categories:

• Current Offering: CrowdStrike has the top score in Raw Intelligence Collection criteria and the highest possible scores in Intelligence Requirements, Intelligence Analysis, Dissemination and Cyber Threat Intelligence criteria.
• Strategy: CrowdStrike has the highest possible scores in Product Vision, Supporting Products and Services, Commercial Model and Strategic Partners criteria.
• Market Presence: CrowdStrike is the only vendor to receive the highest score possible, with the highest possible scores in the Number of Clients and Overall Service Revenue criteria.

CrowdStike was also named a leader in two other Forrester Wave reports — The Forrester Wave™: Endpoint Security Suites, Q3 2019, and The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Detection And Response, Q1 2020 — and now External Threat Intelligence Services. It’s this powerful combination of technology, services and intelligence that enables CrowdStrike to prevent breaches.

CrowdStrike Knows Your Adversaries

In the Forrester Wave, they took a deep look into the 12 most significant Threat Intelligence providers. Here are our highlights.

How CrowdStrike scores on criteria mapped to the threat intelligence cycle. Forrester recognized the importance of the threat intelligence cycle by including five criteria that map directly to each stage of the intelligence cycle. CrowdStrike defines the five stages of the cycle as:

      1. Intelligence Requirements: Sets the roadmap and objectives for intelligence operations
      2. Raw Intelligence Collection: Collects information to satisfy the desired objectives
      3. Intelligence Analysis: Answers the questions outlined during the requirement phase
      4. Dissemination: Translates analysis into a digestible format for stakeholders
      5. Feedback: Receives stakeholder feedback and establishes adjustments for the future

CrowdStrike received the top scores possible in four of the above five criteria. These scores validate for us that CrowdStrike is second to none with superior collection, tradecraft and analysis. CrowdStrike received the top score in Raw Intelligence Collection across all vendors. We believe this important criteria underscores CrowdStrike’s ability to collect data that no one else can, resulting in threat intelligence that no other vendor can provide.

This set of five criteria is critical, as they form the foundation that each vendor’s threat Intelligence capabilities are built upon. Due to the scores in this area, it is not surprising to us that CrowdStrike also received the highest score possible in the Cyber Threat Intelligence criterion.

Forrester report recognizes service delivered by CrowdStrike CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE™ Elite.Forrester notes, “Reference customers using the CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence Elite tier were extremely impressed with the level of service provided by the dedicated intelligence analysts. The quality of technical intelligence and expertise of the dedicated analysts were noted by multiple customers references.” This feedback is tremendously exciting as it validates for us CrowdStrike’s status as a trusted threat intelligence partner. “One customer specifically felt like CrowdStrike was a ‘true partner of their security organization’ and ‘the [dedicated analyst] is an extension of our team.’”

CrowdStrike is the only vendor with the highest score possible in the Market Presence category. CrowdStrike is the only vendor to receive a 5/5 score in the Number of Clients criterion. Why is this important? We believe more customers trust CrowdStrike with their threat intelligence than any other vendor. The significant market presence also means that CrowdStrike services virtually all sectors and can deliver more sector-relevant intelligence — and relevance is critical when it comes to finding value in threat intelligence.

This incredible adoption of the CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence product suite also demonstrates that CrowdStrike has democratized threat intelligence across all types and sizes of customers. For the first time, all organizations, regardless of size or expertise, can easily operationalize intelligence within the SOC, gain visibility into the cybercriminal underground to protect their brand and executives, and receive best-of-breed intelligence reporting and technical analysis backed by a dedicated team of intelligence professionals whom clients feel are a “true partner of their security organization.”

Defending Against Threats with CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE

Forrester states in its report, “Buyers should consider CrowdStrike even if they’re not using the vendor’s EDR tools, especially if state-nexus threats are in their landscape” — and we agree (and also recommend a free trial of Falcon). The CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence suite includes a comprehensive set of threat intelligence capabilities built with superior tradecraft. The CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence suite includes:

• CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE: Enriches the events and incidents detected by the CrowdStrike Falcon®  platform, automating intelligence so security operations teams can make better, faster decisions. 
• CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE RECON: Provides visibility into the cybercriminal underground so customers can effectively mitigate threats to their brands, employees and sensitive data.
• CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE PREMIUM: Delivers world-class intelligence reporting, technical analysis, malware analysis and threat hunting capabilities. CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence Premium enables organizations to build cyber resiliency and more effectively defend against sophisticated nation-state, eCrime and hacktivist adversaries.
  
• CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE ELITE: Expands your team with access to an intelligence analyst with the expertise to help you better defend against threats targeting your organization.

Additional Resources

• Read the press release.
• Download the report: The Forrester Wave™: External Threat Intelligence Services, Q1 2021.
• To find out more about how to incorporate intelligence on threat actors into your security strategy, visit the CROWDSTRIKE FALCON® INTELLIGENCE™ Threat Intelligence page.
• Read about big game hunting adversaries tracked by CrowdStrike Intelligence in 2020 in the CrowdStrike 2021 Global Threat Report.
• Learn more about the powerful, cloud-native CrowdStrike Falcon® platform by visiting the product webpage. 
• Get a full-featured free trial of CrowdStrike Falcon® Prevent™ and learn how true next-gen AV performs against today’s most sophisticated threats.