# CrowdStrike CEO Describes Escalating Threat of Foreign Hackers

In an exclusive interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz shed light on the rapidly deteriorating cyber threat environment. According to Kurtz, the current geopolitical tensions are fueling more activity in the threat landscape, as adversaries become increasingly active.

"Whenever there's geopolitical tensions, and I would argue that there's a lot of them right now, this actually drives more activity in a threat environment," said Kurtz. "Adversaries get more active, nation-state adversaries get more active, and certainly, in the confusion of that, you have the e-crime professionals who come out."

Kurtz highlighted the alarming speed at which hackers are infiltrating systems, known as "breakout times." In recent months, CrowdStrike has observed breakout times of just 51 seconds – a record-breaking speed that surpasses previous records. This rapid escalation poses significant challenges for cybersecurity teams.

Furthermore, Kurtz warned about the growing threat posed by North Korean adversaries. In a chilling example, the hackers targeted remote job applications at prominent companies, luring employees into sending sensitive laptops to "laptop farms" controlled by operatives in Pyongyang. This sophisticated tactic demonstrates the increasing sophistication of North Korean hacking operations.

The rapid development and deployment of agentic AI are forcing the cybersecurity industry to innovate at an unprecedented pace. According to Kurtz, this technological revolution requires the creation of new security technologies. As AI becomes more prevalent, the need for robust cybersecurity measures will only intensify.

"There's going to be a whole wave of new security technologies coming out, some of which CrowdStrike are pioneering," said Kurtz. "And there's going to be a new wave of buying and securing everything from gathering the data, to training the data, to doing the inference, to actually building the agentic AI agents and delivering the workflows."

CrowdStrike recently posted its quarterly report, where it delivered a beat but failed to impress investors with earnings guidance. As a result, the company's stock price plummeted by more than 6% on Wednesday.

However, Kurtz took a positive tone during the conference call, likening CrowdStrike to a "comeback story" as the company recovers from a major global outage last year. This optimism suggests that CrowdStrike is poised for growth and success in the face of an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape.

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Disclaimer: The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of CrowdStrike.

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