In recent developments within the cybersecurity sector, CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, has taken a firm stance against concerns that Anthropic’s new AI tool could undermine his company’s position. As the landscape changes rapidly with advancements in artificial intelligence, Kurtz emphasizes the unique capabilities of CrowdStrike’s offerings, illustrating his point with a revealing interaction with Anthropic’s AI, Claude.
CrowdStrike’s CEO George Kurtz countered fears of AI disruption after Anthropic’s new tool impacted cybersecurity stocks. He revealed that Anthropic’s own AI, Claude, stated it couldn’t replace CrowdStrike’s complex platform. Analysts suggest the market overreacted, as the AI tool lacks real-time threat detection capabilities, a core function of companies like CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike’s Kurtz responded to the unease surrounding Anthropic’s AI tool, Claude, which had a significant impact on CrowdStrike’s market valuation — causing a decline of nearly 20% in just two trading sessions. In an attempt to emphasize the strengths of CrowdStrike, he shared an interaction where he asked Claude whether it could take over the functions of CrowdStrike. To this, Claude replied, “building a replacement for CrowdStrike isn’t something I can do here.” According to a screenshot posted on LinkedIn, Claude referred to CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform as an extensive system created over many years by a large team, incorporating features like real-time monitoring and proprietary threat analysis that cannot be duplicated easily.
Kurtz quipped, “If you want to create AI, you need GPUs. If you want to deploy AI, you need security. That’s not a hallucination—it’s a fact.”
Anthropic’s Claude Code Security tool triggered a sharp sell-off across the cybersecurity sector
The turmoil began following the announcement of Claude Code Security on February 20, which prompted a steep decline in cybersecurity stocks. The tool, currently in limited preview, scans code for security flaws and proposes fixes for human evaluation. Anthropic claims that its Claude Opus 4.6 model has uncovered over 500 vulnerabilities in production-level open-source code that have gone unnoticed for many years.
As a direct consequence, CrowdStrike’s shares tumbled approximately 8% on Friday and fell another 10% on the following Monday. Among other companies in the sector, Okta declined by over 9%, SailPoint dropped approximately 9%, Cloudflare slumped over 8%, and Zscaler fell around 5.5%. The Global X Cybersecurity ETF also hit its lowest point since November 2023.
Analysts say the sell-off is overblown since the AI tool doesn’t handle real-time threat detection
Despite the panic, several analysts have voiced their views that the market’s reaction may be exaggerated. Bank of America indicated that Anthropic’s tool mainly poses a threat to code scanning services like GitLab and JFrog, rather than companies focused on endpoint protection or identity management. Analyst Shrenik Kothari from Robert W. Baird described the sell-off as “panic-driven, narrative-led,” emphasizing that Claude Code Security lacks features for live intrusion detection and active threat response.
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora echoed this sentiment during a recent earnings call, expressing confusion over why the market perceives AI as a threat to cybersecurity when it could serve as a significant advantage.
CrowdStrike has lost roughly a fifth of its market cap in just two trading sessions
Despite the downturn, the software sector at large continues to face challenges. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has dropped over 23% this year, heading towards its worst quarterly decline since 2008. Analyst Joseph Gallo from Jefferies anticipates that “headline headwinds will intensify” before the cybersecurity sector stabilizes, although he remains optimistic about the long-term benefits of AI adoption in the industry.
For the moment, Kurtz is relying on the insights from Claude itself to bolster confidence in CrowdStrike’s resilience amidst these challenging times.
