It’s 2:17am. A workstation in your finance team starts executing PowerShell commands it was never meant to run.
No user input. No alerts from your “next-gen antivirus”.
In a traditional setup, that’s the moment an attacker begins encrypting your network. By the time someone spots it, the damage is already done.
With CrowdStrike Falcon, that process doesn’t get past the first keystroke. The Falcon sensor running on the device recognises the behaviour in milliseconds, isolates the endpoint from the network, and flags the incident for review. You wake up to an incident report, not a ransom note.
This is the difference between hoping your security tools can keep up and knowing your AI-powered endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution is already acting on your behalf.
Want to start from the top? We’ve got you: What is CrowdStrike Falcon? The Ultimate Guide
Why Traditional AV and Response Fall Short
A lot of IT teams still rely on the same reactive tools they were using five or ten years ago. For mid-sized businesses, that’s a risk you can’t afford. Here’s why.
Signature Updates are Too Slow
- Traditional antivirus waits for a threat to be identified somewhere in the world, then pushes out a definition update.
- By the time it reaches your network, the variant could have changed or the attacker may already be inside.
Fileless and Behaviour-Based Attacks Go Unnoticed
- Many attacks no longer rely on malicious files at all.
- Credential dumping, code injection, and abuse of legitimate admin tools like PowerShell often sail past legacy antivirus.
Human Bottlenecks Delay Response
- Even if a threat is detected, most setups rely on a security team member to confirm, isolate, and remediate.
- That’s fine if you’ve got a 24/7 SOC watching every alert in real time. Most businesses don’t.
Attackers Exploit the Gaps
- Threat actors know how these systems work. They test their malware against popular antivirus tools before deploying it.
- They rely on the gap between detection and action. Every minute counts, and in many cases, the defender is already behind.
How CrowdStrike Works: The High-Level Flow
CrowdStrike Falcon is more than an antivirus. It’s a cloud-native endpoint security solution built to detect threats in real time, across every supported operating system in your environment: Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The platform combines the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor, advanced machine learning (ML), and AI-driven behavioural analytics to identify and neutralise malicious activities before they cause damage.
Here’s how the core workflow comes together:
Falcon Sensor: Always On, Always Watching
- A lightweight CrowdStrike Falcon sensor is installed on each endpoint.
- It continuously monitors process executions, file changes, network connections, and suspicious activity without slowing the device.
- Unlike legacy agents, it doesn’t rely on massive signature databases.
Cloud-Native Threat Graph
- Every event is sent to CrowdStrike’s global Falcon platform in the cloud, where it’s correlated against trillions of data points.
- The Threat Graph maps patterns to known attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) defined in the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
AI and Machine Learning Analysis
- AI models and ML algorithms flag behaviours associated with cyber threats, even if the specific attack has never been seen before.
- This includes detection of ransomware execution, credential dumping, code injection, and other advanced threat detection scenarios.
Automated Containment and Device Control
- If a severe threat is confirmed, endpoint detection and response (EDR) policies can instantly isolate the device from the network.
- Additional controls like USB blocking or process termination can be triggered automatically to stop further spread.
SOC Oversight
- For managed deployments, security teams review high-priority incidents and initiate any required manual remediation.
- All activity is logged for compliance reporting and to strengthen the organisation’s overall security posture.
Still not convinced? Let us persuade you: What Does CrowdStrike Falcon Do for Your Business (Beyond Antivirus Protection?)
Step-by-Step: AI-Powered Threat Neutralisation
When people ask, how does CrowdStrike work? the answer is best explained in sequence. The CrowdStrike Falcon platform is designed to identify, contain, and remediate malicious activities in seconds.
Here’s the flow from first detection to complete resolution.
1. Continuous Monitoring via Falcon Sensor
- The CrowdStrike Falcon sensor tracks every process, file action, registry change, and network request on the endpoint.
- It operates on Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring full coverage across all operating systems in your fleet.
2. Real-Time Behavioural Detection
- The Falcon sensor streams telemetry to the cloud where AI models and ML engines analyse it against billions of known and unknown patterns.
- This detects ransomware encryption attempts, credential dumping, and code injection before the process completes.
3. Mapping to MITRE ATT&CK
- Detected events are aligned with attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) from the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- This not only confirms the nature of the threat but also enables faster incident triage by security teams.
4. Automated Containment
We mentioned this in the previous section, but it’s worth repeating: if the detection severity meets a set threshold, the EDR solution automatically isolates the endpoint from the network.
Other automated actions may include:
- USB device control to block potential data exfiltration
- Process termination for suspicious activity
- User account lockouts to prevent lateral movement
5. Human Validation and Remediation
- For managed instances, a 24/7 SOC or internal security team reviews the event, applies additional remediation steps, and confirms threat neutralisation.
- The system records a full forensic log for compliance and future prevention.
With this process, there’s no “gap window” where an attacker can escalate privileges or move laterally. CrowdStrike acts before human intervention is even possible.
How Osmicro Customises CrowdStrike
Plenty of providers can “install” CrowdStrike.
That’s not enough.
Out of the box, the CrowdStrike Falcon platform is powerful, but it’s the configuration, policy tuning, and workflow integration that separate a basic deployment from a truly business-aligned endpoint security solution.
Osmicro’s certified Falcon threat hunters build each deployment around the client’s specific risk profile, industry requirements, and operational workflows.
Advanced Policy Examples
We regularly implement and manage:
- Backup deletion prevention: Stops ransomware from wiping recovery points.
- File system access control: Protects file servers from ransomware attacks launched from compromised desktops.
- BIOS firmware visibility: Detects and blocks attempts to tamper with system firmware.
- Vulnerable driver protection: Quarantines newly written kernel drivers that could open the door for privilege escalation.
- Credential dumping prevention: Blocks processes that attempt to extract logins or password hashes.
- Code injection prevention: Detects and halts attempts to run malicious code inside legitimate processes.
Integrated with MDR Workflows
For managed clients, these protections aren’t just “set and forget.” Our managed detection and response (MDR) workflows trigger both automated containment and human-led validation. This means a high-severity event might be fully neutralised within seconds, but still receives a security expert’s review within minutes.
Where This Fits In Your Security Stack
CrowdStrike Falcon is not a silver bullet. It’s one critical layer in a security architecture that also includes:
- Next-generation antivirus (NGAV) and EDR for endpoint protection
- Network firewalls and segmentation
- DNS and email filtering to stop phishing before it hits the inbox
- Vulnerability management to patch exploitable weaknesses before attackers find them
- Secure backup and disaster recovery to ensure business continuity
At Osmicro, we integrate CrowdStrike into your broader cyber security stack so the Falcon sensor works in concert with your other defences. This layered approach means that if a threat bypasses one control, it runs into another immediately, and CrowdStrike’s AI-powered containment often ends the attack before any other layer needs to engage.
For mid-sized businesses, especially those with distributed teams or BYOD policies, this combination is what protects against both external breaches and insider risks without grinding productivity to a halt.
Why Wait for a Breach to Prove Your AV Can’t Keep Up?
Attackers have moved on from the malware your old antivirus is built to catch. They exploit legitimate tools, hijack credentials, and blend into normal network traffic. The CrowdStrike Falcon platform is designed to see and stop those threats in real time, whether they’re malware-based or not.
When deployed and managed by certified CrowdStrike threat hunters, Falcon becomes more than a tool. It becomes an always-on, AI-powered extension of your security team.
With Osmicro, you get:
- Certified configuration and policy tuning based on your specific risks
- Integration with MDR and Essential 8 compliance workflows
- 24/7 monitoring with both automated and human-led response
- A security posture equal to the most regulated industries, adapted for your size and budget
The breach you prevent is the one you never have to explain to your board, your customers, or the media.
Want to see what that would look like in your environment? We’ll show you. No sales scripts, just engineers walking you through the setup.
CrowdStrike AI Capabilities: Frequently Asked Questions
What is CrowdStrike Falcon and how does it work?
CrowdStrike Falcon is a cloud-native endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution that protects against malware-based and fileless attacks. It works by deploying the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor on each endpoint to monitor processes, file changes, network connections, and suspicious activity.
This telemetry is sent to the Falcon platform in the cloud, where advanced machine learning (ML) and behavioural analytics detect threats in real time. If a high-severity threat is confirmed, the system can automatically isolate the device, terminate malicious processes, and log the event for compliance and forensic review.
How does the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor work on endpoints?
The CrowdStrike Falcon sensor is a lightweight agent that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints without impacting performance. It continuously collects data on process executions, file operations, and system behaviour.
Unlike traditional antivirus, it does not rely on local signature databases. Instead, it streams this telemetry to the CrowdStrike Falcon platform for analysis, mapping activity to known attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in the MITRE ATT&CK framework. This enables real-time visibility and immediate threat detection across all protected devices.
What makes CrowdStrike’s AI-driven approach effective?
CrowdStrike’s AI-powered approach is effective because it analyses endpoint activity in the cloud using global threat intelligence and ML models. This allows it to detect malicious activities that signature-based tools miss, such as credential dumping, code injection, or exploitation of vulnerable drivers.
The EDR solution can take automated actions like device control or network isolation within seconds, reducing the attacker’s window of opportunity to zero. Its cloud-native architecture ensures instant updates and scalability across any number of endpoints, improving the overall security posture of the business.
How does CrowdStrike EDR work?
CrowdStrike EDR, delivered through the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, provides continuous monitoring and advanced threat detection across all protected endpoints. The process starts with the Falcon sensor, a lightweight agent installed on each device, which collects real-time telemetry on processes, file changes, and network activity.
This data is sent to CrowdStrike’s cloud-native Threat Graph, where machine learning (ML) and AI-driven behavioural analysis identify suspicious or malicious activities, including tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) from the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
When a threat is detected, the EDR solution can automatically respond (isolating the endpoint, blocking USB access, or terminating malicious processes) while logging all activity for compliance and forensic purposes. Because analysis happens in the cloud, the platform delivers real-time visibility and instant updates without impacting endpoint performance, strengthening the organisation’s overall security posture.
How does Osmicro support CrowdStrike users?
Osmicro is a certified CrowdStrike Threat Hunter partner, providing expert deployment, configuration, and ongoing management of the CrowdStrike Falcon platform. We customise EDR policies to match each client’s risk profile, implementing advanced protections such as backup deletion prevention, BIOS firmware monitoring, and credential dumping prevention.
Osmicro integrates Falcon into a broader endpoint security solution with MDR workflows, Essential 8 compliance, and 24/7 monitoring. This ensures that threats are detected, contained, and remediated quickly, while clients maintain a strong and resilient cyber defence without additional overhead.