CrowdStrike: Limited Visibility Outside Endpoints

CrowdStrike is a renowned cybersecurity platform that provides comprehensive endpoint protection, delivering advanced threat detection and response capabilities. While the platform excels in protecting endpoints, like workstations and servers, its visibility is primarily focused on these areas. Limited visibility outside endpoints can pose challenges, potentially leaving aspects of your infrastructure less protected. In this article, we'll explore this issue, investigate its causes, and suggest ways to address it effectively.

The Challenge: Limited Visibility Outside Endpoints in CrowdStrike

By design, CrowdStrike is an endpoint protection platform, which means it focuses on securing the points of access to your network—computers, servers, mobile devices, etc. However, cybersecurity threats don't exclusively target endpoints. Threat actors often attempt to exploit network-level vulnerabilities or attack non-endpoint devices, like routers, switches, and IoT devices. These areas are outside of CrowdStrike’s primary purview.

The lack of visibility outside endpoints could potentially leave blind spots in your network, providing threat actors with avenues to infiltrate your systems unnoticed. This could result in delayed threat detection and response, and in worst-case scenarios, a security breach.

How Limited Visibility Outside Endpoints Occurs

The limited visibility outside endpoints in CrowdStrike is not so much a mistake as it is a design focus of the platform. As a cloud-based endpoint protection platform, CrowdStrike is primarily designed to provide visibility into endpoint activities. The emphasis on endpoints means it might not have extensive features to monitor non-endpoint devices or network-level activities.

Solutions: Expanding Visibility Beyond Endpoints

So, how can you ensure visibility beyond endpoints when using CrowdStrike? Here are some strategies:

1. Supplement with Network Security Solutions: Consider deploying additional network security tools, such as Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) or Network Intrusion Prevention Systems (NIPS), to gain visibility at the network level. This can help to detect anomalies, suspicious activities, or signs of compromise that aren't apparent at the endpoint level.
2. Integrate with SIEM Solutions: Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions can provide centralized visibility by aggregating data from multiple sources, including both CrowdStrike and your network security tools. This can give a holistic view of your security posture, helping to identify threats that might otherwise go unnoticed.
3. Secure Non-Endpoint Devices: Implement a robust security strategy for non-endpoint devices. This might involve using specialized security solutions for devices like routers and IoT devices, as well as adopting secure configurations and regular patching.
4. Enhanced Training: Ensure your security team is trained to understand the limits of endpoint visibility and the need for a broader security perspective. This can help them better interpret CrowdStrike's alerts in the context of the wider network.

In summary, while CrowdStrike provides robust endpoint protection, security engineers should be aware of its limited visibility outside endpoints. Complementing CrowdStrike with additional network security solutions, integrating with SIEM systems, securing non-endpoint devices, and enhancing training can provide a comprehensive, holistic security strategy that covers all aspects of your infrastructure. As always, the goal is not to rely on a single tool but to build a multi-layered defense that can adapt to evolving threats.