New York – September 17, 2026 -- Zip Security has joined Project QuiltWorks, the CrowdStrike-led coalition defending organizations against frontier AI-driven cyber risk, extending enterprise-grade protection to small and mid-sized businesses that lack dedicated security teams.
Frontier AI models have cut attack costs while defense costs stay flat for SMBs
Frontier AI has changed the economics of cyber risk, giving attackers tools to discover software vulnerabilities that earlier reviews missed. Small and mid-sized businesses now face sophisticated threats without the resources enterprises use to counter them, according to the companies.
CrowdStrike expanded the coalition to SMBs worldwide in August 2026
Project QuiltWorks combines CrowdStrike's AI-driven vulnerability discovery and adversary-informed prioritization with remediation services from systems integrators, hardened cloud infrastructure from Amazon Web Services, financial protection from cyber insurers, and a network of MSPs and MSSPs. Frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic power the initiative's discovery capabilities. CrowdStrike named Zip Security among the partners bringing the coalition down market to SMBs.
Zip targets businesses with no CISO and no security budget
Zip's managed platform defines the security framework each business needs, deploys tools, policies and controls, manages protection 24/7 with experts on call, and produces compliance evidence on demand. The platform is designed to be operable by any team with no security background required. Zip has also built a network of virtual CISOs who use the platform to deploy prescribed security programs, enforce controls, and prove compliance across client bases.
Executives frame the move as closing a defense-cost gap
"The cost of attacking a business collapsed. The cost of defending one didn't,