cloud strike CEO George Kurtz said Thursday that the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is exposing flaws in companies’ cybersecurity defenses and making older security tools increasingly inadequate.
“Many companies are realizing that legacy technology and freely available technology is not enough,” Kurtz said on CNBC’s “Mad Money,” a day after announcing strong financial results that sent the stock up more than 20% in trading, to a record high of nearly $228 at the close.
Kurtz said even sophisticated companies that spend heavily on cybersecurity remain vulnerable because AI is dramatically accelerating the speed at which attackers can identify and exploit weaknesses. “Most companies have some degree of gap,” the CEO warned. “Even if companies are sophisticated and have made significant investments, the challenge they face is that the threat landscape is changing very rapidly.”
That threat has become increasingly apparent this year, sparking a major resurgence in cyber stocks that had been weighed down by fears of AI disruption from late last year to 2026.
Kurtz said the arrival of Anthropic’s Mythos model in April demonstrated how advanced AI can make cyberattacks faster and more sophisticated, and helped change investor perception of AI from a potential disruptor for cybersecurity software to a powerful force driving demand. This realization helped fuel a months-long rally that brought CrowdStrike and its fellow cybersecurity companies together. palo alto networks It has increased by almost 100% every year to date. Cramer’s Charitable Trust, a portfolio managed by CNBC’s investment club, owns shares in CrowdStrike and Palo Alto.
The rogue OpenAI agent that hacked Hugging Face last month is another example of a risk. One of the ChatGPT maker’s advanced AI agents escaped from a controlled test environment during a cybersecurity assessment, gained internet access, and penetrated infrastructure owned by AI startup Hugging Face before the activity could be detected and contained. OpenAI called this an “unprecedented cyber incident” and said it was strengthening security measures for its cutting-edge models.
“So when you think about the AI era and how quickly these AI agents can swarm and find vulnerabilities and exploit them, the level of security required is completely different,” Kurtz said. “This is why we think we are in pole position.”
The growing need for protection is reflected in CrowdStrike’s results. The company announced Wednesday night that it reported what Kurz called “a record quarter,” with sales reaching $1.47 billion. Annual recurring revenue increased 25% year-over-year to $5.84 billion, including a record net new ARR of $333 million.
Kurz said CrowdStrike built its Falcon platform to detect and thwart attacks that are increasingly carried out using AI. “To fight these adversaries, we need the best technology with the right level of expertise,” the CEO said. “They’re moving so fast. Their technique changes so dramatically.”
Next week, CrowdStrike will be hosting Fal.Con, an annual event to showcase the company’s products. Clients, developers and industry leaders will gather in Las Vegas to hear from Kurtz and other business leaders, and participate in cyber work shows and networking. Last year, Fal.Con proved to be the catalyst for the stock price rally.
