Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike: A Head-to-Head Comparison

In our cloud-centric world, organizations have extensive off-premise network infrastructure and a wide variety of endpoints connecting to it. This makes network security an increasing concern. A single exploit, breach, or outage can have catastrophic consequences. 

Two of the most popular products for protecting modern enterprise networks are from Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike. Both can identify and neutralize threats before they harm your organization or customers.

But the two products have very similar features, so how do you choose which one will work best for your organization? This article provides an in-depth comparison of the two, including their features as well as their strengths and weaknesses. We’ll strive to go beyond a simplistic Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike checklist and give you the information required to decide which meets the needs of your organization.

How to Choose Between Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike

When choosing between products from Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, you need to compare not just the features, but their strengths and weaknesses. The following sections break this down.

Palo Alto Networks: Core Technologies and Features

The core features of Palo Alto Networks include:  

• Network Security Platform: An integrated platform of cloud-delivered security services, next-generation firewalls, and a secure access service edge (SASE) that unifies security for your disconnected network infrastructure. The platform allows you to simplify your operations and enforce security policies that protect you from threats. 

• Code to Cloud Platform: Centered around its Prisma Cloud product, the platform secures the lifecycle of the application development from conception to deployment in the cloud. Its tools provide vulnerability management and remediation through the entire process.

• AI-Driven Security Operations Platform: The platform makes use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics and automation to secure your operations. Its goal is to prevent incidents before they happen.

• Threat Intel and Incident Response Services: A set of real-time services that guides your organization before, during, and after security incidents. The services assess security controls, transform security strategies, and respond to incidents quickly. 

Palo Alto Networks stands out due to its breadth of features and configurability. It’s also known for its performance, reliability, high-quality support, and ability to integrate with other products. 

There is a high demand for technicians with expertise in products from Palo Alto Networks, and the company offers two certifications: Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Administrator (PCNSA) and Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE). While the PCNSA establishes that you have a basic understanding of the products, the PCNSE certifies the type of advanced skills that can lead to a high-paying job.

CrowdStrike: Core Technologies and Features

The core features of CrowdStrike are similar to those offered by Palo Alto Networks and include:

• Falcon Cloud Security: A unified agent and agentless platform that provides security from code to cloud. It prioritizes cloud and application risks, discovers assets in the cloud, secures sensitive data in the cloud, detects threats, and stops breaches in real-time.

• Falcon Identity Protection: A cloud-native framework that protects your organization against identity and endpoint threats through a single agent and console. It uses artificial intelligence to find anomalies that can result in threats as they flow across your endpoints and identities.

• Falcon Next-Gen SIEM: An AI-native platform that can stop breaches by unifying your data, threat intelligence, and workflow automation. It does this by ingesting data and intelligence, detecting threats, investigating the scope of the threats, and responding to breaches.

• Falcon Counter Adversary Operations: The company’s unified threat intelligence and hunting team provides 24/7 services that predict threats and prepare responses to them. Coverage includes endpoints, identity, and the cloud.

The strength of CrowdStrike is its simplicity. It is easy to set up and use because of its cloud-native unified interface, making it a great choice for organizations with small security teams that may not need all the bells and whistles other solutions provide. It is also known for its excellent performance in handling threats.

Despite the simplicity of CrowdStrike, those who use it still need proper security training, such as what is provided to those who want to pass the GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) exam.

Key Differences Between Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike

Products from Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike have strengths and weaknesses. You need to weigh both against your organization’s needs.

The strengths of Palo Alto Networks products include: 

1. Comprehensiveness: No matter what your security needs are, products from Palo Alto Networks will likely be able to handle them through the plethora of features they offer. It also integrates well with other products.

2. Reliability: Palo Alto Networks products have proven to be reliable, without major outages. While this doesn’t guarantee future reliability, it does provide a certain degree of confidence going forward.

Palo Alto's weaknesses include the following:  

• Complexity: Products from Palo Alto Networks are complex to set up and use, with multiple agents and consoles. If your security team is small, this could be an issue. The products may also be overkill if your needs don’t go beyond identity and endpoint protection.

• Vulnerabilities: While Palo Alto Networks products have been resistant to outages, they have been associated with vulnerabilities, including zero-days. While these have never turned into serious exploits, the potential is there, and you would need to make contingencies for them. 

The strengths of CrowdStrike products include:

• Simplicity and Performance: CrowdStrike products are simple to set up and use, with unified agents and consoles. They also work well, securing your organization against common threats.

• Cloud-Centricity: With CrowdStrike, there’s nothing to install or maintain on your premises. Everything is on the cloud, which can reduce costs significantly.

CrowdStrike weaknesses are: 

• Reliability: Even before the global outage that shut down organizations worldwide, the company experienced outages. While their reliability is likely to improve, it is a serious concern, especially if human lives depend on your systems.

• Comprehensiveness: CrowdStrike products are primarily focused on identity and endpoint threats. If your security needs go beyond this, their solutions may not be comprehensive enough.

Making the Choice: Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike

If you need a comprehensive network solution that goes beyond identity and endpoint protection, or if reliability is a major concern, products from Palo Alto Networks may be the best option. But if simplicity and performance are your overriding goals, CrowdStrike products may be better, especially if your primary focus is identity and endpoint protection.

Before selecting either solution, perform a thorough evaluation that includes real-world testing of your network infrastructure. You can even evaluate both solutions and see which provides the most effective one for your organization’s needs, in terms of performance, reliability, and cost.

Regardless of which solution you choose, you should establish contingency plans in case of an outage or exploit and test the implementation of these plans. This is especially true if lives depend on your systems being up, such as in the case of hospitals and emergency dispatch services.

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