CrowdStrike built cybersecurity empire on stolen IP
CrowdStrike built cybersecurity empire on stolen IP
Publish Date: 2026-02-13 07:17:00
Source Domain: www.statesman.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. is being sued by California-based GoSecure, which says the Austin cybersecurity company was built on its intellectual property.Haven Daley/AP Photo/Haven Daley, FileCrowdStrike is one of the world’s foremost internet and cybersecurity companies. It has a market capitalization of $100 billion and more than 10,000 employees. It’s so big that, when it pushed a bad software update to its customers in 2024, it caused the largest internet outage in history, costing major U.S. companies $5.4 billion.But what if the whole company was built on stolen intellectual property? That’s what a lawsuit in Austin’s 3rd Business Court Division is arguing. Article continues below this adGoSecure, a California cybersecurity company, says CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. has “been improperly using GoSecure’s trade secrets and confidential information to develop its Falcon Platform for years.” That’s allowed CrowdStrike to leapfrog its competition while passing off GoSecure’s intellectual property as its own.ANOTHER SUIT: Federal judge tosses lawsuit against Austin-based CrowdStrike in 2024 global outageIn a statement Thursday, CrowdStrike denied the allegations.“GoSecure’s claims — that are being brought after over a decade passed — are meritless on their face,” a spokesman said. “We will vigorously defend the company.”Article continues below this adIt has denied the allegations in court filings, too, which also challenge GoSecure’s timelines and the Texas court’s jurisdiction.The suit was originally filed in 2024 in California. Because it was taking too long to get to trial there, GoSecure said, it chose to dismiss that suit. In August, it was refiled in Texas business courts, which have far fewer cases. Among the allegations is that CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch and a senior engineer he recruited collected highly sensitive engineering data from GoSecure, as well as knowledge of its source code and business plans. “Mr. Alperovitch vehemently denies the allegation,” said Thomas Croessmann, his attorney. “Those statements about Mr. Alperovitch’s intent and actions are false. This is corroborated by the fact that Mr. Alperovitch, individually, was dismissed from the lawsuit.” Article continues below this adHe left CrowdStrike in 2020. FROM 2024: CrowdStrike apologizes for estimated $5.4 billion in damages with $10 Uber Eats gift cardsThough not a defendant in the Texas version of the suit, the allegations about him providing the information to CrowdStrike remain. GoSecure says Alperovitch, who worked for computer security giant McAfee at the time, joined the board of GoSecure — then called NeuralIQ/CounterTack — in November 2011. He started his rival company in February 2012 and left the board in May of that year. At the time, GoSecure was developing an endpoint detection and response product that would perform in the subterranean level of computer operating systems, something no one had successfully done to that point. It ultimately succeeded. In the following years, GoSecure was recognized numerous times with cybersecurity industry accolades. Article continues below this adHaving been assured by Alperovitch and another person who left GoSecure for CrowdStrike that their trade secrets would not be misused, GoSecure says it did not suspect CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform — upon which the massive company has largely been built — was based on its code and knowledge. It says it discovered its intellectual property was being used by CrowdStrike in the aftermath of the July 2024 outage, when analysis and product details were released by independent auditors.“Upon reading it, (GoSecure) learned for the first time that CrowdStrike’s Falcon Platform had ripped off GoSecure,” the suit says.It said the company has stolen its trade secrets, used them for unfair competition and unjust enrichment using data it spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop. Article continues below this adCrowdStrike, in turn, argues that GoSecure’s timelines are out of whack, that it should have filed the lawsuit years ago and that the statute of limitations has long passed. It argued that no trade secrets existed at the time Alperovitch was on the board and that GoSecure hasn’t proven misappropriation.CrowdStrike also takes issue with being sued in Texas.READ NEXT: $500M in five days: Delta Air Lines CEO says Austin-based CrowdStrike outage was costly“California has the strongest interests in litigating a dispute between two of its citizens over events that occurred, if at all, in California,” it says.Article continues below this adThough CrowdStrike announced in 2021 it was moving its headquarters to Austin, it now argues it’s actually just a “satellite office” without senior leaders, only low-level salespeople. The products and executives are all run out of California, it says, which is where the case should be heard.GoSecure also says that since it filed its lawsuits, it has struggled to get records from CrowdStrike despite court orders.“The disparity between what CrowdStrike was ordered to produce and what its own declarations reveal exists but did not produce is damning,” GoSecure says.Article continues below this adIt has pushed the court to issue sanctions. A hearing to determine whether the case can continue in the 3rd Business Court is scheduled for Feb. 24.
