Zoom Calls On CrowdStrike To Help Beef Up Security Posture

CrowdStrike’s mature product and proven track record in protecting large-scale Linux deployments for other cloud leaders made it a good fit to handle Zoom’s security needs, says CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz.

Zoom tapped CrowdStrike to help the videoconferencing giant protect its critical cloud and Linux workloads following the rapid transition to working and socializing from home.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based endpoint security vendor said Zoom’s Linux environments and AWS and Oracle cloud were growing very rapidly to accommodate the increased demand for the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s SaaS offering, said CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz. But Zoom’s surge in popularity during the COVID-19 crisis also made it a target for bad actors looking to exploit its success.

CrowdStrike’s mature product and proven track record in protecting large-scale Linux deployments for other cloud leaders made it a strategic cybersecurity partner of choice for Zoom, according to Kurtz.

[Related: CrowdStrike CEO: ‘AWS Has Been A Really Fantastic Partner’]

“Our technology superiority in protecting cloud workloads led to one of our marquee customer wins this quarter,” Kurtz told investors during the company’s earnings call Wednesday.

CrowdStrike’s announcement of a partnership with Zoom Video Communications comes three months after The Information reported that Zoom was in “advanced talks” with Google Cloud regarding the use of a Google security service that alerts users to the dangers of clicking on links associated with malicious websites.

Zoom was expected to use the Google service to flag links to websites that scammers send to users through Zoom’s chat function if the two companies reached a deal, the report said. A spokesperson for Zoom declined to comment on The Information report in June.

CrowdStrike’s revenue for the quarter ended July 31 skyrocketed to $199 million, up 84 percent form $108.1 million a year earlier. That beat Seeking Alpha’s estimate of $188.6 million.

The company’s net loss improved to $29.9 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, which is 42.4 percent better than the net loss of $51.9 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, last year. On a non-GAAP basis, the company recorded net income of $7.9 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, up from a net loss of $23.1 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, the year prior. That beat Seeking Alpha’s non-GAAP net loss estimate of $0.01 per share.

CrowdStrike’s stock fell $7.77 (5.47 percent) to $134.30 in after-hours trading. Earnings were announced after the market closed Wednesday.

Subscription revenue for the quarter jumped to $184.3 million, up 88.8 percent from $97.6 million a year earlier. And professional services revenue for the quarter soared to $14.7 million, up 39.7 percent from $10.5 million last year.

For the quarter ending Oct. 31, CrowdStrike is projecting non-GAAP results between net income of $0.9 million and net loss of $2.2 million, or a net loss of $0.01 to $0.00 per share, on revenue of between $210.6 million and $215 million. Analysts had been projecting a net loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $195.9 million.