Global IT Outages Linked to CrowdStrike Update Impacting Businesses Worldwide, Including Major Sectors

Global IT Outages Linked to CrowdStrike Update Impacting Businesses Worldwide, Including Major Sectors
Image credit: MSP Today 

Businesses around the world are experiencing IT outages, including the notorious Windows "blue screen of death" errors, due to a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. This disruption has affected various sectors, including airlines, banks, retailers, media companies, and railway networks, with the travel sector being particularly hard hit.

CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, confirmed that a "defect" in a content update for Windows hosts caused the outage, ruling out a cyberattack. Kurtz assured that a fix is being rolled out and that Mac and Linux hosts are unaffected. He emphasized that the issue has been identified and isolated, with continuous updates provided on their support portal.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) noted that although the outage wasn't linked to suspicious activity, threat actors are exploiting the incident for phishing and other malicious activities. Microsoft also acknowledged the issue, stating that a resolution is forthcoming and clarifying that the recent Microsoft 365 service disruption was unrelated to the CrowdStrike update.

The outage has led to widespread reports of crashes related to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor, a cloud-based security service. Various sectors have reported disruptions, including airlines and airports in multiple countries, the London Stock Exchange, the UK’s National Health Service, 911 call centers in the US, and several news broadcasters globally.

CrowdStrike's extensive client base includes nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies and a significant presence in the financial, tech, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Following the outage, CrowdStrike’s shares fell by around 11%, closing with a market cap of $74.2 billion.

This incident raises questions about the resilience of cloud services and the reliability of cybersecurity products. Analysts from Goldman Sachs highlighted the need for robust update, outage, and customer service protocols in the cybersecurity industry, suggesting that this incident could reinforce the importance of best-in-class practices and benefit larger companies with established protocols.

Overall, this widespread IT disruption underscores the critical nature of cybersecurity reliability and the extensive impact a single software update can have on global business operations.