Global IT Outages Linked to Microsoft, CrowdStrike Cause Widespread Disruption

A widespread IT outage linked to a software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike has caused significant disruptions to businesses and services worldwide using Microsoft software, affecting banks, airports, TV stations, hotels, and many other industries.

Wired reports that in the early hours of Friday, companies running Microsoft’s Windows operating system began experiencing widespread technical issues, with devices displaying Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). The problem quickly spread globally, impacting organizations in Australia, the UK, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.

The outage has had far-reaching consequences across various sectors. In the aviation industry, major U.S. airlines including United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights. Media outlets were also affected, with Sky News going offline. The healthcare sector saw disruptions as well, with NHS England confirming that GP appointment and patient record systems were impacted.

Cybersecurity officials have stated that the issues are not believed to be the result of a malicious cyberattack. Instead, the problems stem from a misconfigured or corrupted update pushed out by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike to its customers. The incident appears to only be affecting devices running the Windows operating system.

CrowdStrike engineers have acknowledged the problem on the company’s Reddit forum, confirming “widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts” across their software. They are actively working on resolving the issue and have advised customers on a workaround for affected systems. The company has also issued instructions to its customers in an advisory.

The scale of the outage is significant, with CrowdStrike serving more than 24,000 customers worldwide. The company provides endpoint detection and response (EDR) technology, which runs on thousands of “endpoints” such as computers, ATMs, and Internet of Things devices, scanning them to identify real-time threats from cybercriminals.

Lukasz Olejnik, an independent cybersecurity consultant, suggests that the financial impact of these outages could result in “millions” being lost by affected organizations that have had to halt operations or cease business activities. Olejnik noted that the CrowdStrike update appears to be linked to its Falcon Sensor product, which is part of the company’s security tools designed to block attacks on systems.

Cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont reported on social media that he had seen a copy of the CrowdStrike update, stating that the file was not properly formatted and “causes Windows to crash every time.” Beaumont also indicated that there doesn’t appear to be an automated way to fix the issues at present.

Brody Nisbet, the director of overwatch at CrowdStrike, shared a workaround fix on social media. The process involves booting Windows machines into safe mode, locating and deleting a specific file, and then rebooting the machine normally. Nisbet stated, “There is a fix of sorts so some devices in between BSODs should pick up the new channel file and remain stable.”

Olejnik points out, “When a system has several software systems maintained by various vendors, this is equivalent to placing trust on them. They may be a single point of failure—like here, when various firms feel the impact.”

This is a developing story.

Read more at Wired here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.