George Kurtz, CEO and co-founder of CrowdStrike, delivered a keynote at RSA emphasizing the critical need for security operations to adapt rapidly in order to outpace adversaries. Kurtz’s primary mission is to stop breaches, but he highlighted the increasing challenge of adversaries becoming faster. He shared a startling statistic, with the fastest “breakout time” recorded by CrowdStrike last year being only two minutes and seven seconds, showcasing the urgent need for defenders to detect and mitigate threats swiftly.
Kurtz identified the core of modern security challenges as a data problem, stating that the sheer volume of data that security operations centers must sift through is overwhelming. Legacy Security Information and Event Management systems struggle with the “data paradox,” hindering organizations from responding to threats effectively. Kurtz emphasized the need for a radical transformation in the way security data is managed and utilized and introduced the concept of Next-Gen SIEM to address these challenges.
Next-Gen SIEM aims to resolve the data paradox by optimizing the way data is ingested, processed, and stored. Through the integration of AI automation, tasks traditionally performed manually by SOC analysts are automated, speeding up response times and enhancing the accuracy of threat detection and incident response. The Next-Gen SIEM allows security teams to focus on higher-level strategies and threat mitigation, rather than getting bogged down in data management.
Kurtz outlined his vision for an AI-native SOC that leverages machine learning and AI to fundamentally transform security operations. The AI-native SOC is designed to predict and respond to threats in real-time, automate response actions, and compress event response times significantly. By incorporating predictive analytics, organizations can adapt their security posture based on dynamic threat assessments and real-time data analysis, moving towards a more dynamic and adaptive security framework.
Kurtz’s keynote served as a call to action for the industry to evolve and embrace AI-driven technologies in security operations. Integrating AI into security infrastructure is crucial to dealing with the scale and sophistication of modern cyber threats. By seamlessly integrating advanced technologies into security operations, SOC teams can effectively thwart even the most sophisticated attacks, ensuring a more secure digital world and aligning with CrowdStrike’s mission to stop breaches.ültimes, this approach sets a new standard in the quest to outsmart and outpace cyber adversaries.
