Massive Microsoft Outage Associated with CrowdStrike Brings Down Computers Worldwide
Crowdstrike's cybersecurity software update appears to have mistakenly affected worldwide IT networks.

Banks, airlines, television stations, hotels, and numerous other enterprises are all experiencing massive IT outages, causing aircraft to be grounded and causing enormous inconvenience, after Windows system faults around the world.

Companies in Australia using Microsoft's Windows operating system began reporting computers displaying Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) early Friday morning. Shortly after, reports of disruptions began pouring in from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States: TV station Sky News went offline, and US airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines declared a "global ground stop" on all flights.

The massive Windows failures have been connected to a software upgrade from cybersecurity outfit CrowdStrike. It is not thought that the problems are related to a hostile cyberattack. Engineers from the company commented on the company's Reddit forum that they have received "widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts" across their products, are working on the problem, and have offered a fix for impacted computers.
 

So far, the event appears to be affecting just Windows-based devices, not those running other operating systems. It is unclear how widespread the problems are and how long they will take to fix. Microsoft and Crowdstrike did not immediately react to WIRED's inquiries about the disruption.

However, the incident might cost "millions" of dollars to firms who have had to halt operations or quit doing business, according to Lukasz Olejnik, an independent cybersecurity consultant, who claims the Crowdstrike upgrade is tied to its Falcon Sensor product. According to Crowdstrike, the Falcon system is one of their security solutions that may prevent system threats.

"It reminds us about our dependence on IT and software," says Olejnik. "When a system has many software systems maintained by different vendors, it is akin to placing trust in them. They may be a single point of failure—as in this case, where multiple firms are affected."

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.

Source: WIRED

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