CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (2024)

CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (1)CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (2)EPA

A massive tech failure has caused travel chaos around the world, with banking and healthcare services also badly hit.

Flights have been grounded because of the IT outage - a flaw which left many computers displaying blue error screens.

There were long queues, delays and flight cancellations at airports around the world, as passengers had to be manually checked in.

Cyber-security firm CrowdStrike has admitted that the problem was caused by an update to its antivirus software, which is designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.

Microsoft has said it is taking "mitigation action" to deal with "the lingering impact" of the outage.

Here is a summary of what we know so far.

What caused the outage?

This is still a little unclear.

CrowdStrike is known for producing antivirus software, intended to prevent hackers from causing this very type of disruption.

According to CrowdStrike boss George Kurtz, the issues are only impacting Windows PCs and no other operating systems, and were caused by a defect in a recent update.

"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," he said.

"This is not a security incident or cyber-attack."

What exactly was wrong with the update is yet to be revealed, but as a potential fix involves deleting a single file, it is possible that just one rogue file could be at the root of all the mayhem.

When will it be fixed?

It could be some time.

CrowdStrike's Mr Kurtz, speaking to NBC News, said it was the firm's "mission" to make sure every one of its customers recovered completely from the outage.

"We're deeply sorry for the impact that we've caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies," he said.

He has since told CNBC that while some systems can be fixed quickly, for others it "could be hours, could be a bit longer".

CrowdStrike has issued its fix. But according to those in the know, it will have to be applied separately to each and every device affected.

Computers will require a manual reboot in safe mode - causing a massive headache for IT departments everywhere.

What's the solution?

Something important to note here, is that personal devices like your home computer or mobile phone are unlikely to have been affected - this outage is impacting businesses.

Microsoft is advising clients to try a classic method to get things working - turning it off and on again - in some cases up to 15 times.

The tech giant said this has worked for some users of virtual machines – computers which are accessed remotely.

“Several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage," it said.

It is also telling customers with more in-depth computing knowledge that they should delete a certain file - the same solution one CrowdStrike employee has been sharing on social media.

But this fix is intended for experts and IT professionals, not regular users.

Which airports have been affected?

The problems have emerged across the world, but were first noticed in Australia, and possibly felt most severely in the air travel industry, with more than 3,300 flights cancelled globally.

  • UK airports saw delays, with long queues at London's Stansted and Gatwick.
  • Ryanair said it had been "forced to cancel a small number of flights today (19 July)" and advised passengers to log-on to their Ryanair account, once it was back online, to see what their options are.
  • British Airways also cancelled several flights.
  • Several US airlines, notably United, Delta and American Airlines, grounded their flights around the globe for much of Friday. Australian carriers Virgin Australia and Jetstar also had to delay or cancel flights.
  • Airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam and Delhi were also impacted.

Meanwhile, the problems have also hit payment systems, banking and healthcare providers around the world.

Railway companies, including Britain’s biggest which runs Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, warned passengers to expect delays.

In Alaska, the 911 emergency service was affected, while Sky News was off air for several hours on Friday morning, unable to broadcast.

How could it affect me?

The outage might also impact people getting paid on time.

Melanie Pizzey, head of the Global Payroll Association, told PA news agency that she'd been contacted by "numerous clients" who couldn't access their payroll software.

She said the outage could mean firms are unable to process staff payments this week, but there may be a knock-on effect too.

"We could see a backlog with regard to processing payrolls for the coming month end, which may delay employees from receiving their monthly wage," she said.

If you're worried about your own, personal devices, we have some good news.

The software at the centre of this outage is generally used by businesses, which means that most people's personal computers won't be impacted.

That means if you're wondering whether you need to delete a certain file to avoid your computer restarting constantly, the simple answer is no, you don't.

What is CrowdStrike?

It's a reminder of the complexity of our modern digital infrastructure that CrowdStrike, a company that's not exactly a household name, can be at the heart of such worldwide disarray.

The US firm, based in Austin, Texas, is a listed company on the US stock exchange, featuring in both the S&P 500 and the high-tech Nasdaq indexes.

Like a lot of modern technology companies, it hasn't been around that long. It was founded a mere 13 years ago, but has grown to employ nearly 8,500 people.

As a provider of cyber-security services, it tends to get called in to deal with the aftermath of hack attacks.

It has been involved in investigations of several high-profile cyber-attacks, such as when Sony Pictures had its computer system hacked in 2014.

But this time, because of a flawed update to its software, a firm that is normally part of the solution to IT problems has instead caused one.

In its last earnings report, CrowdStrike declared a total of nearly 24,000 customers. That's an indication not just of the size of the issue, but also the difficulties that could be involved in fixing it.

Each of those customers is a huge organisation in itself, so the number of individual computers affected is hard to estimate.

Additional reporting by Imran Rahman-Jones, Liv McMahon and Tiffany Wertheimer.

Cyber-security

CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (2024)

FAQs

CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage? ›

The primary cause of the failure stemmed from an update that CrowdStrike pushed to its flagship Falcon platform, which functions as a cloud-based service intended to protect businesses from cyber-attacks and disruptions. The update contained a bug which caused 8.5m Windows machines to crash en masse.

Did CrowdStrike cause Microsoft outage? ›

Was the Microsoft outage caused by CrowdStrike? Yes, the global outage experienced by Microsoft on Thursday was triggered by an issue with CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor software. This problem led to widespread disruptions and caused the 'Blue Screen of Death' to appear on Windows PCs.

What is the CrowdStrike outage affecting? ›

What has been affected? The outage appeared to affect almost every major business sector in one way or another. Airports and flights across the world were severely delayed or canceled altogether, as the computers on which these services rely were disrupted by the issue.

What is the CrowdStrike issue? ›

On Friday, CrowdStrike issued a content configuration update for its software that was supposed to “gather telemetry on possible novel threat techniques.” These updates are delivered regularly, but this particular configuration update caused Windows to crash.

What happened with the global outage? ›

How did the global IT outage happen? CrowdStrike has blamed the IT outage on a bug that released a botched update and melted down the world's computer systems. Experts urge users to brace for lingering problems with computer systems for the next few days.

What caused Global IT outage? ›

What caused the outage. The disruption was caused by a flawed update to a cloud-based security software of CrowdStrike, one of the global top cybersecurity companies. The update to the Falcon software triggered a malfunction that disabled parts of the computer systems and software like Microsoft Windows.

What was the reason for the Microsoft outage? ›

Triggered by a single faulty software update provided by the cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, this had a disastrous impact on airlines, media outlets, banks, and retailers worldwide, particularly businesses that use Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Why is CrowdStrike dropping? ›

Key Takeaways

Shares in CrowdStrike (CRWD), the cybersecurity firm at the epicenter of Friday's global tech outage, plunged more than 13% on Monday, as investors continue to assess the fallout from the software update that caused widespread disruption at banks, airlines, broadcasters, and many other businesses.

What caused the CrowdStrike crash? ›

The cybersecurity company blamed a bug in a program that's meant to catch issues before software updates are uploaded to customers. That glitch blocked "problematic content data" from being flagged before it was sent to clients, CrowdStrike said in an update on its website.

What is the worldwide IT outage? ›

An estimated 8.5 million Microsoft Windows PCs devices were affected worldwide by the update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, causing delays for airports, broadcasters, hospitals and businesses. Problems came to light quickly after the latest version of CrowdStrikes Falcon sensor software was rolled out on Friday.

Is IT CrowdStrike or Microsoft fault? ›

The recent Microsoft outage caused by a faulty CrowdStrike update notably impacted individuals and businesses worldwide. The issue stemmed from a logic error triggered by an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor configuration file.

Does the US government use CrowdStrike? ›

Crowdstrike is in wide use across federal agencies and it is a key vendor on the governmentwide Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation cybersecurity support services contract. The company has also secured contracts with the Justice Department, State Department and DHS.

What devices were affected by CrowdStrike? ›

In a blog post, Microsoft revealed just how widespread the issue has been: “We currently estimate that CrowdStrike's update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one per cent of all Windows machines.” The impact has been felt far and wide despite the figure being a fraction of the total number of Windows ...

How did CrowdStrike cause outage? ›

There was a logic flaw in Falcon sensor version 7.11 and above, causing it to crash. Due to CrowdStrike Falcon's tight integration into the Microsoft Windows kernel, it resulted in a Windows system crash and BSOD. The flaw in CrowdStrike Falcon was inside of a sensor configuration update.

How much did the CrowdStrike outage cost? ›

The global technology outage sparked by CrowdStrike's faulty update will cost US Fortune 500 companies $5.4bn, insurers estimated, as the cybersecurity firm vowed to make changes to prevent it from happening again.

Which airports are affected by CrowdStrike? ›

Many US carriers grounded their planes, while airports worldwide were impacted in Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany and elsewhere; Train services were also affected - including operators such as Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, Southern and Thameslink.

Why did Microsoft go down? ›

The trigger point was the CrowdStrike's update. If you are unaware, CrowdStrike is a global IT security solution provider that offers a host of security solutions including endpoint security, threat intelligence and cyber attack response. The issue was in the Falcon sensor configuration update to Windows systems.

Why did CrowdStrike drop? ›

Following the CrowdStrike-caused Microsoft Windows outage Friday, a pair of downgrades from Wall Street analysts and ongoing flight disruptions sank the cybersecurity vendor's stock price lower Monday. As of this writing Monday morning, CrowdStrike's stock price was down 10.6 percent to $272.46 a share.

Is CrowdStrike owned by Microsoft? ›

People often wonder if CrowdStrike is owned by Microsoft. In reality CrowdStrike is not owned by Microsoft. CrowdStrike and Microsoft are two different entities. Microsoft, a tech giant with a diverse portfolio, including software, hardware, and cloud services, has also made significant strides in cybersecurity.

How many computers were affected by CrowdStrike? ›

Microsoft Says 8.5 Million PCs Were Hit by the CrowdStrike Bug--and Fallout Still Ripples.

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