Falcon for IT Redefines Vulnerability Management with Risk-based Patching

CrowdStrike accelerates cybersecurity and IT consolidation by enabling customers to identify, prioritize, and fix the vulnerabilities that matter most through a single platform.

CrowdStrike is introducing Risk-based Patching in CrowdStrike Falcon® for IT to close the gap between security and IT teams. With AI-powered Risk-based Patching and CrowdStrike Falcon® Exposure Management, organizations can identify, prioritize, and fix the vulnerabilities most critical to them through a single console and workflow while accelerating security and IT consolidation.

Traditional vulnerability management is broken. Security teams rely on one set of tools to find vulnerabilities; IT teams rely on another set to apply patches. These fragmented tools create a disconnect between vulnerabilities identified and patches deployed, increase the complexity of the IT environment, and lead to patching delays that give adversaries time to target exposed systems. Legacy tools lack the ability to prioritize issues based on the risks facing each organization, instead flooding teams with an overwhelming number of patches to apply based on generic CVSS prioritization.

The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform empowers organizations to move away from legacy vulnerability management tools and bring the security and IT teams together around their shared goal: to identify and quickly address the most critical risks across Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints all through a single agent, console, and workflow.  

Accelerating Patch Management with Falcon for IT

Risk-based Patching, coming soon to Falcon for IT, accelerates the consolidation of security and IT. Falcon Exposure Management relies on adversary activity and attack paths to prioritize which vulnerabilities are most likely to be exploited. Falcon for IT Risk-based Patching acts on this information by using AI-powered patching with Patch Safety Scores and sensor intelligence to remediate risk. Together, Falcon for IT and Falcon Exposure Management close the gap between knowing where exposures are and addressing them, providing security and IT with a single unified workflow. 

With Falcon for IT Risk-based Patching, live threat context enables smarter decision-making for every operator. Teams no longer need to rely on static severity scores; they can patch with an understanding of which vulnerabilities and exposures adversaries are actively exploiting. Pre-deployment safety scores, which combine rich Falcon platform telemetry with vendor insights to assess the real-world impact of each update, help teams operate with confidence. These help avoid system-breaking patches without delaying critical security fixes.

Ring-based deployments and smart rollout coordination capabilities make safe patching scalable. Teams can roll out updates in progressive waves, monitor impact in real time, and automatically optimize installation timing to minimize user disruption without slowing down the business.

Risk-based Patching isn’t a bolt-on feature or a separate tool. It’s built directly into Falcon for IT and delivered through the same lightweight Falcon agent already deployed across the enterprise. For customers already using Falcon Exposure Management, Risk-based Patching is a natural extension — a way to act on prioritized vulnerabilities from the same platform. For IT teams, it provides the visibility, safety, and control needed to deploy patches with confidence.

Because all of this happens within the Falcon platform, Risk-based Patching eliminates the traditional handoff between security and IT. The two teams no longer need to export spreadsheets or submit tickets to coordinate patching. Risk-based Patching enables fast, collaborative remediation to drive down breach risk — powered by intelligence.

Streamlining Additional SOC Workflows

Not every workflow is as complex as patching, but operational effectiveness matters across every task the SOC touches. Even the most straightforward security and IT tasks can be challenging for teams to build and maintain. Without the right tools, operators are often stuck scripting from scratch or stitching together disjointed workflows. Falcon for IT now provides prebuilt, turnkey workflows for common operational tasks that previously required scripting, custom tools, or long deployment cycles.

Available through the new Falcon for IT Content Library, these turnkey workflows allow teams to:

  • Ensure critical applications are installed, running, and healthy, helping teams maintain endpoint and application resilience without manual effort
  • Enable rapid file discovery, duplicate detection, and system analysis across thousands of endpoints with comprehensive file system indexing
  • Block or allow USB mass storage devices across Linux endpoints with a simple, system-wide control designed for headless execution at scale

This is Day One value for the SOC: simple, repeatable actions delivered instantly at enterprise scale.

With turnkey workflows for IT enforcement and a redefined approach to patching, Falcon for IT brings operational transformation to life. Together, these capabilities reflect the future of operational defense: outcomes that unify security and IT, simplify routine tasks, and accelerate how teams close risk. It’s not just faster patching. It’s a faster SOC.

Figure 1. The Content Library within Falcon for IT showcasing turnkey application resilience workflows Figure 1. The Content Library within Falcon for IT showcasing turnkey application resilience workflows

Accelerate Operations to Prevent Breaches

Falcon for IT is the operational engine of the modern SOC. It unifies visibility and response, automates routine enforcement, and turns prioritized risks into real-time breach prevention. From simple fixes to strategic, adversary-informed remediation, Falcon for IT accelerates the fixes that matter most — all within the unified Falcon platform.

To learn more about Falcon for IT and get updates on Risk-based Patching availability, contact your CrowdStrike representative.

Additional Resources

Forward Looking Statement Disclaimer

This blog includes descriptions of products, features, or functionality which may not be currently generally available.  Any such references are provided for information purposes only.  The development, release, and timing of all features or functionality remain at our sole discretion and may change without notice.  These statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied.  Customers should make purchasing decisions based only on services and features that are currently generally available.  For more information on our existing offerings please talk to your CrowdStrike representative.