Recently, Microsoft experienced a significant global IT outage affecting numerous organizations such as airlines, banks, and stock exchanges. The matter was connected with a firm that provided cybersecurity services – CrowdStrike. Some users had issues logging into their network resources and online services because of an error in an update to their Falcon platform and Windows-based systems security solution.
This outage caused many flights to be grounded, delayed, and other operational issues across the world. The incident was stated by CrowdStrike’s CEO, and he apologized to everyone affected by the problem, and the company is in the process of fixing it.
Who is CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike is a cyber security company started in 2011 by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston, and its headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Falcon is CrowdStrike’s premier offering for security known for protecting endpoints, cloud workloads, identities, and data. The firm has worked on number of cyber cases such as the 2014 Sony Pictures hack and the 2016 email breach of the Democratic National Committee.
The Impact of the Microsoft’s IT outage
A recently observed outage involved Microsoft and CrowdStrike where the latter rolled out an update that shut down Microsoft’s operation for several hours and this halted the operation of various firms in different industries.
Some of the most affected include:
- Airlines: Some of the giant airlines like Delta, United, and Allegiant was heavily affected by this leading to a number of their flights being grounded and delayed.
- Banks: Some of the companies that were affected include… Visa,; The outages disrupted the operation of the financial institutions.
- Media Outlets: Many media houses had their networks down which greatly interfered with their deliveries as they could not broadcast or put out their news.
- Healthcare: Hospitals and other medial facilities in the U. S. , Canada and England had to postpone or even cancel any prior scheduled appointments as well as operations.
- Retail: Some of the effects include; disruptions in business operations as seen in companies such as Amazon.
- This clearly shows how reliant on cybersecurity companies are and the general vulnerability of a large-scale IT disruption.
What Really Happend?
The outage was caused by a faulty update from CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform. This update, intended for Windows-based systems, contained a defect that led to widespread disruptions. The issue caused affected Windows computers to crash, displaying the “blue screen of death” and preventing them from fully loading.
Currently, CrowdStrike together with Microsoft is fully working to containing the outage with certain achievements. CrowdStrike has managed to roll out a fix for the flawed update in their Falcon platform and They are helping clients to restore.
Related:
- A fatal program update: How CrowdStrike crash global computer system
- CrowdStrike Window’s Outage – What happened and what to do next
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Dexter is a seasoned system engineer with a passion for all things tech. His analytical mind thrives on solving complex problems, whether it’s optimizing code or configuring Linux servers. When he’s not immersed in work, you’ll find Dexter gaming, exploring anime and manga, and staying up-to-date with the latest tech trends. His life motto? “In code we trust.”
