CrowdStrike Falcon vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR

Anyone who is looking for a leader in endpoint protection should consider CrowdStrike Falcon for sure, regardless of specific use cases. Anybody who is operating on a very lean security team that doesn't have the capability to provide 24x7x365 coverage should absolutely consider Falcon Complete. I've worked with various MSSP's in the past, but Falcon Complete is one I would definitely not lose any sleep at night knowing we're in good hands.

Malware that doesn’t leave files behind has become widely available. Anyone who can afford to reverse this trend should purchase technology. Application whitelisting isn’t for everyone, and Palo Alto Networks Traps can help. Enterprises looking for a low-affected, next-generation solution with high protection should consider it. PAN Traps is a great product at a reasonable price, and I highly recommend it.

• Endpoint Isolation - instead of hoping an adversary was blocked in time. CrowdStrike locks down the endpoint beyond using the Windows Firewall. Allowing a whitelist of IPs brings additional management of that endpoint to another level that most other tools don't have.
• Rich Data Recording - CrowdStrike is best described as a giant tape recorder in the sky. When it lands on the box, it truly provides insight into the those that other tools could only dream of.
• Extensive APIs - CrowdStrike understands that they are not your only security vendor, so they have API usage for everything in their platform to automate and integrate to your heart's desire.
• Cloud Visibility - CrowdStrike's cloud monitoring capabilities are agnostic of cloud platform. No longer does one need to worry about putting all their eggs in one basket because the endpoint tool prefers one platform over another.

• Direct Access to devices via Live Terminal which provides operations with scripting, triage, and preservation of artifacts.
• Behavioral Indicators of Compromise which provides alerts on events regarding groups of hosts and their signatures.
• Querying complex data sets involving a variety of devices for network connections, hashes, DNS, etc.

• The ability to do a system-level scan like a traditional AV is missing and isn't a feature CrowdStrike is planning on implementing. Old school IT guys are going to be curious about this.
• Host management and deletion are clunky and take 45 days for a machine to fall off your subscription license.

• Traps doesn't seem to function as a traditional A/V very well, so it's better as another layer to your endpoint protection
• Traps can cause issues with some legacy or custom programs, so exceptions may have to be made
• Traps falsely identifies things as malicious at times, this is not often though

When I receive support, it is always useful and informative. However, the support doesn't get back to me in the most timely manner. Often, by the time I hear back from support I have already resolved the issue. But for bigger issues, that need more in-depth help the support team has been incredibly valuable.

The support we receive from Palo Alto is one of the best aspects of Traps. It is very easy to recommend their support. It seems much easier to connect directly with someone with a deep understanding of the product rather than other companies where you basically have to make an airtight case that it is some kind of non-standard issue that can't be solved with existing documentation. Palo Alto digs deep and helps with advanced troubleshooting to get things working.

Crowdstrike Falcon Endpoint protection is based on AIML enhanced technology,l. It's cloud-based so users don't need to connect to their office network to get their policy synchronization done from Server to endpoints agents. Also, the Crowdstrike Falcon agent size is small and it consumes fewer resources of the machine.

Traps is the slickest interface, easy to use and intuitive rule making, and the rest just didn't quite stack up to the performance level of Traps. McAfee and Kaspersky just hog processor and RAM power. I didn't like the interface and functionality of SentinelOne as much as Traps. Palo Alto really put a lot of time into the development of this software, and had some of the founding fathers of IT Security heading the development process. Can't beat that.

• CrowdStrike has cut our security costs.
• Has given us more insight into our end points.
• It has helped with our older PC's CPU usage.
• Cut our cost and time from managing multiple platforms down to managing one platform with better insight than what we had with multiple security platforms.

• After putting Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR on a user's system, users came back with a positive response that there are no performance issues now.
• We are able to track and control granular suspicious and malicious activities.
• Web controls are missing, which if they would have been there would have been very helpful.