CrowdStrike Elevates Identity Security with Falcon Identity Protection for Microsoft Entra ID
In today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, protecting digital identities has become a top priority for organizations. CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), a leader in cloud-delivered security, has announced the general availability of CrowdStrike Falcon® Identity Protection for Microsoft Entra ID, setting a new benchmark in identity security. This innovative solution unifies prevention, detection, and response to identity-based attacks across hybrid environments, addressing the growing need for comprehensive protection in modern IT infrastructures.
With this release, CrowdStrike extends its industry-leading inline prevention capabilities to cloud-based Microsoft Entra ID, reinforcing its commitment to safeguarding leading cloud-based identity providers, on-premises Active Directory (AD), and SaaS applications. By integrating real-time prevention with advanced identity threat detection and response (ITDR), the CrowdStrike Falcon platform stands as the only cybersecurity solution capable of securing the entire identity attack lifecycle—from initial access to lateral movement—across hybrid environments.
The Growing Threat Landscape
Identity-based attacks are now at the forefront of cybercriminal strategies. According to recent data, 75% of attacks aimed at gaining initial access are malware-free, relying instead on exploiting trusted identities to infiltrate organizations undetected. Adversary groups like SCATTERED SPIDER and COZY BEAR leverage compromised identities and cloud access points to move laterally across hybrid environments, while groups like FAMOUS CHOLLIMA embed malicious insiders within organizations to operate from within.
These evolving threats demand a proactive approach to security—one that stops external adversaries from gaining access while swiftly detecting and eliminating threats that may already be inside. CrowdStrike’s Falcon Identity Protection for Entra ID addresses these challenges by combining inline prevention with advanced ITDR, ensuring robust protection across every part of modern hybrid environments—from prevention to detection to response.
Unified Real-Time Protection Across Hybrid Environments
“Identity is at the center of modern cyberattacks, yet organizations are forced to secure it with fragmented solutions that leave dangerous gaps,” said Elia Zaitsev, Chief Technology Officer at CrowdStrike. “CrowdStrike delivers unified, real-time protection across every area of hybrid environments—stopping adversaries at every stage of the attack. By extending protection to Entra ID, we’re once again raising the bar for identity security.”
As a core component of the CrowdStrike Falcon® cybersecurity platform, Falcon Identity Protection stops sophisticated cross-domain and insider threats spanning identity, cloud, and endpoint. Leveraging advanced AI trained on trillions of security events, native device (endpoint) trust data, and industry-leading threat intelligence, the platform analyzes user behavior and privilege status to determine whether to grant, block, or challenge access requests. Combined with advanced ITDR capabilities, it ensures continuous threat detection and rapid mitigation.
With Falcon Identity Protection for Entra ID, CrowdStrike enables risk-based access decisions inline with Entra ID authentication flows, extending protection throughout the identity attack lifecycle. This seamless integration ensures that organizations can maintain robust security without sacrificing usability or performance.
Key Features of Falcon Identity Protection for Entra ID
- Real-Time Protection for Entra ID:
Customers benefit from AI-powered protection against adversaries leveraging techniques like password spraying, phishing, and other identity-based attacks targeting Entra ID environments. This capability helps prevent lateral movement and minimizes the risk of breaches. - Unified Identity and Endpoint Security:
By integrating with Microsoft’s External Authentication Method (EAM), Falcon Identity Protection leverages real-time CrowdStrike and Microsoft trust signals to secure access at login. With native endpoint visibility provided by the Falcon sensor, it enforces security based on both device and identity risk, ensuring comprehensive protection. - Hybrid Risk-Based Conditional Access:
Falcon Identity Protection enforces access controls via a single interface, blocking or dynamically injecting multi-factor authentication (MFA) based on real-time threats across on-premises AD, cloud-based identity providers like Entra ID, Okta, and Ping, and SaaS applications. This unified approach simplifies security management and enhances protection across hybrid environments.
Customer Insights: Strengthening Security in Hybrid Environments
“As organizations like ours adopt hybrid environments to optimize cost and performance, security must evolve just as fast,” said Paul Colon, Security Engineer at Addition Financial. “A user’s identity is becoming much more involved, making it easier for adversaries to exploit and harder for security teams to protect. CrowdStrike continues to innovate Falcon Identity Protection, providing seamless, real-time security across both on-premises and cloud-based systems. By unifying identity protection into a single platform, CrowdStrike helps us stay ahead of emerging threats without introducing complexity.”
Why CrowdStrike Stands Out
In an era where identity-based attacks are increasingly sophisticated, CrowdStrike’s Falcon Identity Protection for Microsoft Entra ID offers unparalleled advantages. Its ability to unify prevention, detection, and response across hybrid environments ensures that organizations can defend against both external adversaries and insider threats. By leveraging advanced AI, real-time analytics, and deep integrations with leading identity providers, CrowdStrike delivers a holistic solution that addresses the full spectrum of identity security challenges.
