Incident Response Senior Consultant

Cullinan Holdings enhances cybersecurity and operational efficiency with CrowdStrike. With millions of travelers depending on its services, Cullinan Holdings has transformed its cybersecurity strategy by adopting CrowdStrike's Falcon platform, ensuring the security of customer interactions in an evolving threat landscape. Key facts. * Cullinan reduced security alerts by 65%, enhancing operational efficiency and response time. * Adoption of CrowdStrike revealed undetected risks, validating the need for security modernization. * A lean IT team now focuses on strategic initiatives, shifting from reactive to proactive security. * Interoperability of security tools increases visibility, crucial for managing diverse operational needs. * Compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act strengthens customer trust and market positioning. Summary. Cullinan Holdings, a leading tourism group in South Africa, faced challenges in securing customer information and ensuring platform availability amidst evolving cyber threats. By adopting the AI-native CrowdStrike Falcon(R) platform, they significantly improved their security operations, reducing security alerts by 65% and enabling their IT team to focus on genuine risks. Background. Cullinan Holdings operates in the tourism industry, managing over 20 businesses and employing around 1,000 staff. Before deploying CrowdStrike, the company struggled with multiple security tools that created blind spots and uncertainty in their security environment, impacting their ability to protect customer information effectively. Challenge. The primary challenge was the lack of confidence in the existing security measures, which resulted in significant blind spots and an overwhelming number of alerts that required extensive investigation. This inefficiency hindered the IT team's ability to respond to real threats promptly. Solution. In 2024, Cullinan implemented the CrowdStrike Falcon(R) platform, starting with Falcon(R) Insight XDR and Falcon(R) Adversary OverWatch. During the proof of concept, the platform identified critical security gaps, such as outdated operating systems and dormant malware. Within four weeks, the Falcon platform was deployed across all 1,000 endpoints, allowing Cullinan to refine detections and strengthen security policies. Results. The deployment of the Falcon platform led to a 65% reduction in security alerts, enabling the IT team to prioritize genuine threats. This shift allowed team members to focus on strategic initiatives rather than chasing false positives, enhancing overall operational efficiency. Key insights. Organizations should prioritize a unified security strategy that integrates various tools to improve visibility and reduce operational noise. A proactive approach to cybersecurity, akin to a comprehensive home security system, can significantly enhance resilience against threats. Customer testimonial. "CrowdStrike wasn't just the right choice for Cullinan. It was the only choice. We couldn't find anything that could compete. Once we started using the Falcon platform, we realized just how much we'd gained in securing our environment, reducing noise, and making sense of the alerts we were receiving." - Ryan Porter, CIO, Cullinan Holdings Entities mentioned. Cullinan Holdings CrowdStrike Falcon(R) CrowdStrike Falcon(R) Insight XDR CrowdStrike Falcon(R) Adversary OverWatch Ryan Porter Key concepts. cybersecurity customer trust security operations AI-native technology threat hunting interoperability data protection operational efficiency Definitions. * CrowdStrike Falcon(R)- An AI-native security platform designed to protect organizations from cyber threats through advanced detection and response capabilities. * Protection of Personal Information Act - A South African law that regulates how personal information is collected, stored, and protected. * XDR - Extended Detection and Response, a security solution that integrates multiple security products into a cohesive system for improved threat detection and response. * managed threat hunting - A proactive cybersecurity service that involves continuous monitoring and searching for threats within an organization's network. * false positives - Security alerts that indicate a threat where none exists, often leading to unnecessary investigations. Use cases. * | Reducing operational burden on IT teams * | Improving response times to genuine security threats * | Enhancing visibility across a complex IT environment * | Integrating multiple security tools for better risk management * | Securing customer information in the tourism industry * | Modernizing security strategies to adapt to evolving cyber threats Frequently asked questions. What challenges does Cullinan Holdings face in cybersecurity? Cullinan Holdings faces unique cybersecurity challenges due to its operations across South Africa, including defending against sophisticated attacks and complying with data protection laws. How did CrowdStrike help Cullinan Holdings improve its security? CrowdStrike provided the Falcon platform, which uncovered previously undetected risks and allowed Cullinan to modernize its security strategy, significantly reducing false positives and improving alert trustworthiness. What is the significance of threat hunting for Cullinan? Threat hunting is crucial for Cullinan as it allows their lean IT team to proactively identify and respond to threats, rather than reacting to alerts after incidents occur. How does Cullinan ensure its security tools work together? Cullinan prioritizes interoperability among its security technologies to create a unified view of risk, ensuring that different tools complement each other in detecting threats. Why is customer trust important for Cullinan Holdings? Customer trust is vital for Cullinan Holdings as it operates in the tourism industry, where secure handling of personal information and reliable service availability directly impact customer experiences and business revenue.

CrowdStrike Expands AI Security for SMBs. 5h ago · 0:00 listen · Source: Cyber Daily Summary. CrowdStrike is expanding its Project QuiltWorks initiative to include small and medium-sized businesses. This move aims to provide enterprise-grade AI protection to organizations of all sizes. The expansion will happen through distributors, cloud marketplaces, and CrowdStrike's channel partners. Companies like Arrow Electronics, Ignition Technology, and Nord Security are joining this effort. This means managed service providers and managed security service providers can offer AI-driven vulnerability discovery, expert remediation, and financial protection to SMBs. The need for this protection comes from advanced AI models, which can now identify and exploit vulnerabilities quickly. This puts organizations without large security teams at greater risk. Project QuiltWorks uses AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic to identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. CrowdStrike believes SMBs need the same security standards as large enterprises. This initiative also gives distributors and their partners a framework for scalable AI security services. This is important because it helps protect businesses that are often targets for cyber threats. This is an AI-generated audio summary. Always check the original source for complete reporting.

July 2026 cybersecurity M&A: 21 deals announced. Twenty-one cybersecurity M&A deals were announced in July 2026, led by Bank of America's planned purchase of UK consultant MDSec and CrowdStrike's acquisition of XM Cyber IP. Twenty-one cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions were announced in July 2026. Major transactions involved traditional financial services, endpoint and cloud security firms, data protection vendors and network observability providers. Bank of America announced plans to acquire MDSec Consulting Limited, a UK information security consultancy that employs about 65 cybersecurity professionals. The bank said the deal will expand its presence in northern England. CrowdStrike purchased the patents and source code of Israeli firm XM Cyber from Schwarz Group for an undisclosed amount. CrowdStrike plans to incorporate exposure management and attack-path analysis into its platform. Schwarz Group paid $700 million to acquire XM Cyber in 2021. Barracuda Networks bought Texas-based Evo Security for an undisclosed sum, adding multi-tenant identity, identity and access management and privileged access management features to its BarracudaONE platform for managed service provider partners. Cribl acquired Israeli automated detection engineering startup CardinalOps and announced a new office in Tel Aviv; CardinalOps' technology is intended to extend Cribl's AI platform to improve threat coverage and reduce log management costs for enterprise security operations centers. Cyera agreed to acquire Israeli startup Oasis Security in a deal valued at about $1 billion, combining Cyera's data security capabilities with Oasis's non-human identity governance for enterprise AI agents and service accounts. Okta signed an agreement to buy Palo Alto-based Permiso Security for roughly $200 million to add continuous identity threat detection for human, machine and autonomous AI identities across cloud environments. Palo Alto Networks plans to acquire Embrace to add mobile and web observability and real-time user telemetry. Qualcomm acquired Israeli IoT security vendor SAM Seamless Network for a reported amount above $100 million and said it will integrate SAM's network security software into its wireless chipsets and gateways; SAM's customers include AT&T and Verizon. Infoblox entered a definitive agreement to acquire network intelligence and observability platform Kentik, combining Infoblox's DNS and network context with Kentik's real-time traffic visibility to support hybrid cloud resilience. Other deals announced in July included CompassMSP's acquisition of The Logic Group, CyberNut's purchase of Neptune Navigate, Databarracks acquiring Acumen, DataExpert Group acquiring ADO Security, Katalyst acquiring Layer27, Keyfactor agreeing to acquire Cofide, NINJIO purchasing SafeStack, TAC InfoSec acquiring Safehouse Technologies, The 20 acquiring Sundance Networks, Veridas buying Fourthline, Viatel Technology Group acquiring FullProxy and Webacy acquiring Trugard Labs. The transactions covered identity and access management, non-human identity governance for AI and service accounts, automated detection engineering, data security, network observability and IoT or edge protection integrated at the chipset level. Some deal values were disclosed - Cyera/Oasis at about $1 billion, Okta/Permiso at roughly $200 million and Qualcomm/SAM above $100 million - while many amounts remained undisclosed. Following 2025, when more than 420 cybersecurity acquisitions were announced across the year, July 2026 recorded 21 announced deals across these technology areas.