CrowdStrike’s Faulty Update Exposes Interconnectivity Risks

A software update by global cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike triggered a massive technology outage across the world on Friday. The Microsoft outage mostly affected computers running on the Windows operating system.

Following the IT outage, flights, television broadcasts, banking, and telecommunication systems were massively disrupted. According to ABC News, over 2000 flights were canceled across the U.S. while 5000 more delayed.

Not a Cyberattack

CrowdStrike ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack or security incident. According to the company, the outage was triggered by a faulty update on one of its products, causing the Microsoft Windows crash.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted,” CrowdStrike CEO, George Kurtz said earlier Friday. However, the global computer outage persisted hours after the problem was detected and escalated.

In an X post published early Friday, CrowdStrike CEO, George Kurtz said, “We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”

Varying Restoration Times

Speaking on CNBC during an on-air interview, Kurtz said that restoration of some systems was going to be immediate, while it could take hours or longer to get back. Some customers would have to reboot their systems to fix the problem.

“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” Kurtz said.

Widespread Impact

DownDetector, a company that monitors user-reported internet disruptions, reported that the Microsoft Windows outage affected payment platforms, airlines, and e-commerce platforms.

Long queues were witnessed in airports across Europe, the U.S., and Asia due to inaccessible booking and check-in systems.

“We’re aware of a technical issue with CrowdStrike that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with CrowdStrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines said in a statement.

U.S. largest mass transit system in New York City said train and bus operations were not affected. However, some of its information systems were temporarily affected. This wasn’t the case for the Washington D.C. metro system whose internal IT systems went down.

Media outlets in Australia went off the air for hours as the tech outage affected telecommunication in the country. In New Zealand and South Africa, the outage affected payment systems, banking apps, and websites. Athletes and spectators heading to Paris for the Olympics experienced delays. Appointment systems in hospitals and doctor officers were also disrupted.

In a post published on X, Microsoft 365 said it was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact” and was “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

CrowdStrike’s Apology

Speaking to NBC News, Kurtz apologized for the disruptions resulting from CrowdsStrike’s faulty update that led to the Microsoft global outage.

“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our company. Many of the customers are rebooting the system and it’s coming up and it’ll be operational. It could be some time for some systems that won’t automatically recover, but the company will make sure every customer is fully recovered,” Kurtz said.

Friday’s global tech failure highlights the risk posed by an interconnected world.