CrowdStrike outage is responsible for your bricked Windows PC

The CrowdStrike outage that struck on Friday has sent shockwaves through the business world, affecting companies across the globe.

The unexpected event has brought many operations to a standstill, highlighting the critical role that cybersecurity infrastructure plays in our interconnected digital lives.

As organizations scramble to address the fallout, let’s delve into the details of this far-reaching incident.

Can a $10 CrowdStrike gift card apology really fix the damage?

How did the CrowdStrike outage happen?

The CrowdStrike outage stems from a problematic update to the company’s Falcon Sensor, a key component of their cybersecurity suite. This faulty update has caused widespread system crashes, particularly on Windows-based machines.

The issue manifests as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), preventing affected computers from booting up properly and trapping them in a recovery loop.

Users affected by the CrowdStrike outage are having BSOD problems (Image credit)

CrowdStrike, a leader in endpoint protection and threat intelligence, quickly acknowledged the problem. They reported receiving numerous alerts about Windows host crashes related to their Falcon Sensor across multiple versions.

The company has since identified the root cause and begun the process of rolling back the troublesome update on a global scale.

Impact spans industries

The reach of the CrowdStrike outage extends far beyond a single sector, touching businesses in various industries around the world. Banks, airlines, television broadcasters, and supermarkets are among the many organizations grappling with the consequences of this technical hiccup.

In Australia, telecom giant Telstra reported disruptions to some of its systems due to the global issues affecting both CrowdStrike and Microsoft.

If you’re having holdups when trying to reach us this afternoon, it’s because of a global issue affecting both Microsoft and CrowdStrike.

There’s no impact to calls to our Triple Zero call centres or our fixed and mobile network.

— Telstra (@Telstra) July 19, 2024

Across the ocean in Europe, as businesses began their workday, the problems started to surface there as well. UK broadcaster Sky News found itself unable to air its morning news bulletins, forced to display an apology for the broadcast interruption.

BREAKING: Businesses including banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets have been taken offline following a mass global outage.