CrowdStrike announced its pending acquisition of Flow Security, a company specializing in cloud data security with an approach emphasizing runtime analysis for real-time data discovery, classification, risk detection, and policy enforcement.

Who is Flow?

Flow is a data security platform emphasizing runtime analysis for real-time data discovery, classification, risk detection, and policy enforcement. It uniquely utilizes eBPF to analyze data before and after decryption, ensuring accurate classification of the data payload. This process allows for precise tracing of data lineage (origin, flow, and ownership) without data leaving the user’s environment.

Key features of Flow include:

• Instant Discovery and Classification: Through runtime analysis, at-rest data scanning, and cloud scanning, Flow achieves comprehensive data discovery, including active and shadow data. It catalogs all databases (DBs), whether managed or unmanaged, used or unused. It classifies sensitive data (like PII, PCI, and PHI) using LLM technology, all while keeping data within the user’s environment.

• Proactive Data Leakage Prevention and Runtime Enforcement: Flow monitors data flows continuously to protect against data loss, theft, misuse, and unauthorized access. It adapts to changing threats and detects anomalies to flag potential breaches by dynamically enforcing policies. Real-time alerts are sent to security teams for quick action.

• Continuous Data Security Posture and Risk Management: The platform persistently monitors data risks, adhering to security and regulatory frameworks. It offers contextual analysis for instant visibility into data access, usage, and security posture. Remediation is streamlined through CLI commands and integrations with collaboration and ticketing tools.

• Tightened Data Access Control and Real-Time Policy Enforcement: Flow provides a detailed visualization of sensitive data, showcasing identities, accounts, and access permissions. It enforces data access policies strictly, ensuring least privileged access and flagging risky or overly permissive access scenarios.

Analysis

The acquisition of Flow significantly enhances CrowdStrike’s native data protection module, already replacing legacy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) products in Fortune 500 accounts. The integration of Flow’s technology addresses the limitations of legacy DLP solutions, offering a next-gen alternative focused on cloud-centric data protection.

CrowdStrike’s acquisition of Flow Security represents a strategic move to strengthen its position as a leader in the cybersecurity landscape, particularly in the cloud security domain. This acquisition is poised to address a critical gap in the market: the comprehensive protection of data across its entire lifecycle and through various states, whether at rest or in motion.

The acquisition is particularly timely, given businesses’ increasing reliance on cloud-based services and the rise in sophisticated cyber threats targeting sensitive data. Flow Security’s focus on simplifying data protection as it flows across SaaS applications, cloud infrastructures, and third-party APIs complements CrowdStrike’s cloud-native approach. It enhances its ability to offer end-to-end security solutions.

CrowdStrike’s decision to acquire Flow Security underscores a strategic vision to redefine the future of data protection by securing data from code to application, device, and cloud. The acquisition broadens CrowdStrike’s cloud security capabilities and strengthens its competitive advantage by offering a differentiated value proposition that addresses a comprehensive range of enterprise risk areas.