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

CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (1)Image source, EPA

Robert Plummer

BBC News

Tom Gerken

Technology reporter

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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, external 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, external 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, external 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.

Related Topics

  • Cyber-security
CrowdStrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage (2024)

FAQs

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

In an update on July 24, the firm revealed the incident was caused by a Rapid Response Content update containing an undetected error. This resulted in crashes of machines running Microsoft Windows operating system and caused worldwide chaos. The outages were not the result of a security incident or cyber-attack.

What did the CrowdStrike outage affect? ›

The Microsoft outage led to substantial disruptions across numerous sectors. It resulted in flight delays and cancelations, and affected critical services in hospitals, banks, supermarkets, and millions of other businesses.

What was the reason for Microsoft's outage? ›

The historic outage was the result of a faulty update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike that affected millions of computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system.

What caused CrowdStrike failure? ›

On July 24, CrowdStrike reported on the testing process lapses that led to the flawed update being pushed out to customer systems. In its post-mortem, the company blamed a hole in its testing software that caused its Content Validator tool to miss a flaw in the defective Channel File 291 content update.

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 caused the global outage? ›

What we know about the global Microsoft outage. A massive outage was caused by what was supposed to be a routine update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. A routine software update caused cascading chaos Friday that has engulfed global businesses from airports and banks to retail and law enforcement.

Why is CrowdStrike falling? ›

As of Monday's close, CrowdStrike shares had slid 25% since July 19, when a software bug crippled Microsoft PCs, grounded flights, and disrupted banks.

How much did the CrowdStrike outage cost? ›

The massive CrowdStrike outage that affected millions of Microsoft devices is predicted to cost U.S. Fortune 500 companies $5.4 billion in total direct financial loss, with an average loss of $44 million per Fortune 500 company, according to new data from cloud monitoring and insurance firm Parametrix.

How did CrowdStrike crash Windows? ›

When received by the sensor and loaded into the Content Interpreter, problematic content in Channel File 291 resulted in an out-of-bounds memory read triggering an exception,” CrowdStrike writes. “This unexpected exception could not be gracefully handled, resulting in a Windows operating system crash (BSOD).”

Who owns CrowdStrike? ›

The ownership structure of CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) stock is a mix of institutional, retail and individual investors. Approximately 45.00% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 2.19% is owned by Insiders and 52.80% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.

What day was the CrowdStrike outage? ›

During a widespread IT outage that started on July 19 because of an issue with CrowdStrike's cybersecurity software Falcon Sensor, the company acknowledged a "content update" lay at the heart of the fiasco. The following day, the company offered a few additional details and promised more information to come.

When was the CrowdStrike issue? ›

What Happened? On Friday, July 19, 2024 at 04:09 UTC, as part of regular operations, CrowdStrike released a content configuration update for the Windows sensor to gather telemetry on possible novel threat techniques.

What was impacted by CrowdStrike? ›

Businesses, banks, hospitals and airlines were among the worst-hit, with some still struggling to fully restore their systems. "We understand the profound impact this has had on everyone. We know our customers, partners and their IT teams are working tirelessly and we're profoundly grateful," CrowdStrike said.

How many computers were affected by CrowdStrike? ›

Microsoft appears to be pushing for security changes to Windows and greater cooperation with its cyber security partners, after a global outage saw around 8.5 million computers crash due to a bug in a software update released by security company CrowdStrike.

Why is CrowdStrike important? ›

CrowdStrike is engineered to thwart attempts at compromising computer systems by monitoring and analyzing activities. It diligently records program executions, file interactions, and network behaviors, all while ensuring the user's data remains confidential.

What are analysts saying about CrowdStrike? ›

Based on 36 Wall Street analysts offering 12 month price targets for CrowdStrike Holdings in the last 3 months. The average price target is $368.26 with a high forecast of $450.00 and a low forecast of $275.00. The average price target represents a 43.76% change from the last price of $256.16.

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