Zscaler, CrowdStrike Expand SecOps Partnership: 5 Things To Know

The two security giants are deepening their partnership following Zscaler’s recent acquisition of well-known MDR vendor Red Canary.

Zscaler and CrowdStrike announced an expansion of their partnership Wednesday centered around security operations (SecOps) and managed detection and response (MDR), in a move that brings the two cybersecurity giants closer together within a key industry segment.

The partnership expansion was prompted by Zscaler’s acquisition of well-known MDR vendor Red Canary, a $675 million deal that was announced in May and completed Aug. 1.

The announcement also comes as cybersecurity rivals such as Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft continue to expand their platforms, including in the area of security operations.

What follows are five things to know about the newly launched Zscaler-CrowdStrike SecOps partnership.

Expanded Partnership

While CrowdStrike and Zscaler are among the largest standalone cybersecurity vendors in the industry, the two companies have had a tight partnership for a number of years due to a complementary product set. CrowdStrike’s initial focus on securing the endpoint and Zscaler’s focus on offering a zero-trust access alternative to traditional network security have led the two vendors to prioritize integrations and work together closely from a sales perspective, executives have said previously.

Prior collaborations between the two companies have included the integration of the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange, Zscaler Data Fabric for Security and CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, announced in September 2024 and aimed at enabling improved threat detection and response for SecOps teams.

Ultimately, the announcement Wednesday of an expanded collaboration around the Zscaler acquisition of Red Canary represents just the latest advancement by the two companies to tie their offerings together for partners and customers.

Boosting Red Canary MDR

Following the acquisition earlier this month, Red Canary is continuing to operate under its current name as a division of Zscaler. The expanded partnership with CrowdStrike will bring major benefits for Red Canary’s MDR platform, Zscaler said in a news release, which has been ranked as a “leader” in the space for several years by research firm Forrester.

Specifically, the expanded partnership will enable Red Canary to utilize “deep endpoint context” from CrowdStrike’s broad security platform, Falcon, Zscaler said in the release.

CrowdStrike Enhances Threat Defense

For CrowdStrike, which is itself a pioneer in MDR and Forrester-ranked “leader” in the category, the expanded partnership means even stronger threat defense capabilities, according to the news release.

In particular, the announcement cited CrowdStrike’s access to Red Canary’s powerful agentic AI functionality, which Zscaler executives have pointed to as a key reason behind the acquisition of the company.

Through the expanded partnership and connection to Red Canary, CrowdStrike expects to be able to bolster its own “multi-layered” threat defense and accelerate response times, according to the release.

Zscaler’s SecOps Push

The expanded partnership with CrowdStrike also comes as Zscaler embarks on a bigger push into SecOps overall. Along with the acquisition of Red Canary, the company has also begun to offer capabilities in the space through its acquisition of security data fabric provider Avalor in March 2024, including risk management tool Risk360 and a recently launched asset exposure management product.

In an interview with CRN in June, Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry said the moves should only bring the company closer to its partners, which have already begun to see an elevated role around delivery of Zscaler-related services to commercial customers.

“We’re now reimagining security operations,” Chaudhry told CRN in June. “It’s ripe for disruption.”

Competitive Landscape

For partners of Zscaler and CrowdStrike, the deepening collaboration could be seen in part as a response to the massive demand for greater integration of security tools.

It could also be viewed in the context of the ongoing moves by major security rivals to continue filling gaps in their respective platforms.

Palo Alto Networks, a top competitor to both Zscaler and CrowdStrike, has made SecOps a key area of investment in recent years with its Cortex offering. The company has also continued to expand through M&A, most notably with its massive deal announced in late July to acquire identity security vendor CyberArk for $25 billion.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has remained aggressive on security as well, leveraging its ubiquitous position in the business world to drive growth of its broad array of security tools that many believe have improved considerably in recent years. While MDR has not been a top area of focus for Microsoft, the company has been heavily emphasizing SecOps including through its Sentinel platform and Security Copilot offering.