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<\/p>\nTop CrowdStrike executives including CEO George Kurtz, Chief Business Officer Daniel Bernard and global alliances leader Amanda Adams spoke to partners in Las Vegas about massive AI-driven growth opportunities on CrowdStrike\u2019s Falcon cybersecurity platform.<\/p>\n
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Right Technology, Right Partners<\/p>\n
CrowdStrike sees solution and service provider partners as increasingly essential to putting the pieces together when it comes to securing the AI and agentic revolution, along with protecting against intensifying threats powered by the same LLM technologies, top CrowdStrike executives said during the cybersecurity giant\u2019s 2026 Partner Summit Monday.<\/p>\n
All of that translates to accelerating AI-driven growth opportunities on CrowdStrike\u2019s Falcon cybersecurity platform, executives said during the event, which was held during the company\u2019s Fal.Con 2026 conference in Las Vegas. The CrowdStrike Partner Summit drew hundreds of top partners and featured remarks from CrowdStrike executives including co-founder and CEO George Kurtz (pictured right), Chief Business Officer Daniel Bernard (pictured left) and global alliances leader Amanda Adams.<\/p>\n
[Related: CrowdStrike\u2019s Daniel Bernard: Frontier AI Requires Cybersecurity\u2019s \u2018Greatest Mobilization\u2019 Ever<\/a>]<\/p>\n When asked by Bernard if AI expands the role of CrowdStrike\u2019s partner ecosystem, Kurtz said this is \u201cabsolutely\u201d the case. \u201cI think if you look at every technology shift, the partner ecosystem\u2019s opportunity has expanded,\u201d Kurtz said, pointing to prior security transitions including endpoint detection and response (EDR) and cloud security.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know, as a platform player, we obviously have tremendous capabilities\u2014but we don\u2019t do everything across every dimension of security. Nobody actually does that,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, as a partner, you have to put the best pieces together. And customers really don\u2019t want to be the general contractor. They want to buy a finished product. They don\u2019t want to assemble this all themselves. They just want the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n That is only becoming more and more the case in the fast-moving agentic era, Kurtz said. \u201cTechnologies are coming and going,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what\u2019s very durable is the platform\u2014and the platform player like CrowdStrike\u2014and then all of the adjacent services that can be put around it.\u201d<\/p>\n And partners are pivotal to delivering these services, which can include AI readiness and governance\u2014as well as deployment and management of AI and agents across a customer\u2019s entire infrastructure, he said. Ultimately, when it comes to securing the AI and agentic boom, CrowdStrike sees itself in \u201cthe right position\u2014with the right technology and the right partners\u2014to be able to capture that value,\u201d Kurtz said.<\/p>\n Partner Perspective<\/p>\n For cybersecurity powerhouse GuidePoint Security, strong growth in its CrowdStrike business and related services spurred by AI is already manifesting across its customer base, according to Mark Thornberry, senior vice president for partnerships at Herndon, Va.-based GuidePoint, No. 32 on CRN\u2019s Solution Provider 500<\/a> for 2026.<\/p>\n In reality, \u201cwe\u2019re still not that far along in the AI journey in the grand scheme of things. And just how much things have grown in the last 12 to 18 months is insane,\u201d Thornberry said.<\/p>\n Ultimately, \u201cas much as CrowdStrike has been doing with us [in the past], it\u2019s now accelerating. We feel like the demand environment is there, and the numbers obviously prove that out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got customers of all shapes and sizes that are really leaning into the Falcon platform.\u201d<\/p>\n During the event, CrowdStrike executives also offered updates on how the company is aiming to enable partners to capitalize on the massive opportunities\u2014including through launching its first AI partner specialization and the new Falcon IQ assessment tool.<\/p>\n Frontier AI Partnerships<\/p>\n Meanwhile, CrowdStrike also featured executives from frontier AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic onstage Monday in rare back-to-back appearances\u2014highlighting the cybersecurity vendor\u2019s close collaboration with both companies, Bernard said during the event. Crucially, for CrowdStrike, \u201cwe were ready for frontier AI when it knocked on the door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bernard pointed to CrowdStrike\u2019s frontier AI security initiative, Project QuiltWorks, which was launched<\/a> in April, just weeks after Anthropic disclosed details about its Claude Mythos model. CrowdStrike has increasingly been expanding<\/a> the initiative to more partners since that point, he noted. In lockstep with the arrival of frontier AI models for cybersecurity, \u201cwe innovated,\u201d Bernard told partners Monday. \u201cYou helped us innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n What follows are five more big takeaways from CrowdStrike\u2019s 2026 Partner Summit.<\/p>\n AI Security Could Be Bigger Than EDR<\/p>\n During CrowdStrike\u2019s 2026 Partner Summit Monday, Kurtz predicted that securing AI agents could become a substantially larger opportunity than endpoint detection and response (EDR)\u2014given the fact that the number of agents deployed by businesses is potentially unlimited. \u201cI think it could be a much bigger opportunity than EDR [because] it\u2019s unbounded,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can have an unlimited number of agents that can be created.\u201d Ultimately, \u201cI think the amount of agents that we see today is just a small fraction of what we\u2019re going to see in the future,\u201d Kurtz said. \u201cBut you\u2019re going to have to have some level of visibility, control and trust around those agents.\u201d Notably, the surging adoption of AI has dramatically changed the way executives view cybersecurity, according to Kurtz. Instead of mainly being treated as a hindrance to leveraging new technology, \u201csecurity\u2014I think for the first time\u2014has become the accelerator pedal rather than the brake pedal,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of just saying \u2018no, no, no,\u2019 we can talk about how do we say \u2018yes\u2019 to actually accelerate what the business is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Falcon IQ Brings Partner Services Opportunities<\/p>\n CrowdStrike unveiled its new Falcon IQ offering Monday, which takes the assessment and sales methodology developed via Project QuiltWorks and turns it into a standardized tool for partners and customers, according to CrowdStrike executives. \u201cWhat it does is, it takes the QuiltWorks methodology and it productizes it,\u201d Bernard said during a briefing with media prior to the announcement Monday. Falcon IQ is initially available to members of the QuiltWorks coalition, with primary users expected to include global solution providers, systems integrators and distributors.<\/p>\n The agentic tool has been designed to analyze a customer\u2019s Falcon environment and then automatically build a partner-branded remediation and services plan, according to executives. Using an API key, Falcon IQ evaluates the environment and produces an organizational risk score, along with pinpointing probable attack paths and a prioritized list of necessary fixes, CrowdStrike executives said.<\/p>\n CrowdStrike Launches First AI Partner Specialization<\/p>\n In conjunction with Partner Summit Monday, CrowdStrike launched its first-ever AI Partner Specialization in a bid to better enable partners around incorporating AI security into their advisory and services offerings. The AI Partner Specialization is \u201cfocused on delivering not only expertise but the incentives [and] certifications,\u201d said Amanda Adams (pictured), senior vice president of global alliances at CrowdStrike.<\/p>\n Crucially, the specialization spans all of CrowdStrike\u2019s existing routes to market with partners\u2014sell, build, deliver and manage, Adams said. \u201cHowever you engage with us, [CrowdStrike has] a track that is built for you,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re all on the same mission, and that\u2019s securing the agentic AI future together.\u201d<\/p>\n Close Ties With Frontier AI Labs<\/p>\n During the Partner Summit Monday, CrowdStrike highlighted its close relationships with the two leading frontier AI labs by bringing executives from OpenAI and Anthropic on stage, in a rare back-to-back appearance from the two intensely competitive AI platforms. The companies were represented by Farooq Sheikh (pictured right), who leads cyber and Codex go-to-market at OpenAI, and Ash Alhashim, who is cyber go-to-market lead at Anthropic. Referring to OpenAI and Anthropic, \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s ever been done before in the history of cybersecurity\u2014for them to both be in the same room, at the same time, and be on the same stage,\u201d Bernard (pictured left) said.<\/p>\n Without a doubt, the frontier AI labs need to work closely with cybersecurity vendors and their partner ecosystems to ensure increasingly powerful models benefit defenders, OpenAI\u2019s Sheikh said. \u201cWe want to be the best partner to the cybersecurity ecosystem. We want to be the best partner to CrowdStrike. We want to be the best partner to defenders,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s come together. Let\u2019s make sure that every company has the tools, the access, the solutions that they need to defend themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthropic\u2019s Alhashim said the dual-use nature of advanced AI models makes partnerships essential for the frontier AI labs. When it comes to \u201chow we usher in transformational AI to humanity, we\u2019ve got to get it right,\u201d he said. \u201cTo do that, we\u2019ve got to partner with like-minded companies, trusted partners\u2014who not only share our values and our principles, but also complement our strengths in different ways.\u201d Notably, Anthropic itself is a \u201cbig CrowdStrike customer,\u201d he said. \u201cWe use CrowdStrike for a lot of things that we can\u2019t do ourselves in-house. These models are great, but they don\u2019t do everything at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n Making Partnerships \u2018Agentic\u2019<\/p>\n CrowdStrike is looking to bring agentic transformation to the way it collaborates with partners, as well, Bernard said during the Partner Summit Monday. \u201cProducts are becoming agentic. And what I believe\u2014and what we\u2019re here to talk about today\u2014is that we want our partnerships, and how we work together, to become agentic as well,\u201d Bernard said. The goal is to apply agentic capabilities across CrowdStrike\u2019s partner efforts to make processes more efficient and accelerate growth, he said.<\/p>\n CrowdStrike has already been seeing surging growth in the channel, Bernard said. As just two examples, partner-sourced business is up 40 percent, year over year, while Falcon Flex subscription deals are up 127 percent from a year ago, he said. Ultimately, \u201cthese aren\u2019t our stats\u2014these are your stats,\u201d Bernard told summit attendees. \u201cThank you for all the hard work you\u2019ve put into that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top CrowdStrike executives including CEO George Kurtz, Chief Business Officer Daniel Bernard and global alliances leader Amanda Adams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[179,7493,24,405,408,25,14492,8916,12722,313,9954,415,400,401,6493,414,318],"class_list":["post-158731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agentic-ai","tag-agentic-ai","tag-agentic-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-ai-agents","tag-ai-applications","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-channel-programs","tag-cloud-security","tag-cyberattacks","tag-cybersecurity","tag-endpoint-security","tag-llm","tag-managed-security","tag-managed-service-providers","tag-partnerships","tag-security-operations","tag-vulnerabilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\".\/media_11d08b4caeadcb5581b4f26e3e20dbe0a88e045d8.png?width=750&format=png&optimize=medium\")
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