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

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 was the reason for Microsoft's outage? ›

Why did we face the global outage? The global outage was primarily due to a Microsoft's CrowdStrike issue, that rendered important Microsoft applications and services inaccessible, in different parts of the world.

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 went wrong at CrowdStrike? ›

A defective software update sent by CrowdStrike to its customers disrupted airlines, banks, hospitals and other critical services Friday, affecting about 8.5 million machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

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.

Is CrowdStrike owned by Microsoft? ›

Microsoft has put blame on the European Union and its rules that prevent it from walling off kernel access to third-party security app developers. Microsoft and CrowdStrike are separately owned, but their software is closely integrated.

What is the CrowdStrike issue? ›

In short: The global IT outage experienced on Friday came down to a single software update. The update to the Falcon sensor program, run by US company CrowdStrike, caused a coding error that sent millions of Windows computers worldwide to a "Blue Screen of Death".

Why Microsoft went down? ›

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to thousands of companies around the world, says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows. The outage was not caused by a security incident or cyberattack, CrowdStrike said.

Did Microsoft outage affect personal computers? ›

The biggest reason behind the outage not affecting home PCs is that CrowdStrike is an enterprise security solutions provider. Most Personal Windows device users either rely on Microsoft's own Defender tool or some third-party antivirus program to keep their data safe.

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.

Why is CrowdStrike affecting flights? ›

Kurt 'CyberGuy' Knutsson analyzes the tech outage hitting airports, banks and hospitals on 'The Big Money Show.' CrowdStrike on Wednesday released a preliminary report blaming a bug in its test software for the global outage that derailed airline operations and knocked banks, hospitals and other businesses offline.

What is going on with CrowdStrike? ›

Bottom line: An issue with the software that checks CrowdStrike updates are working properly meant that the firm missed a problem with a content file. The update was pushed out to Windows systems, causing them to crash.

Why did CrowdStrike fall? ›

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. shares were extending their declines Monday as the effects of the company's faulty software update continued to disrupt global technology and as at least two analysts downgraded the cybersecurity stock.

What all did CrowdStrike affect? ›

"We currently estimate that CrowdStrike's update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines," it said in the blog.

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