CrowdStrike Update Causes Microsoft Outage: CEO's Apology and Aftermath

CrowdStrike CEO is also linked to this software update that brought down many parts of the internet in 2010 - Times of India

Microsoft's CrowdSrtike outage brought the world to a standstill impacting nearly 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide. A faulty software update from CrowdStrike- the US-based cybersecurity company caused the disruption that crippled the day-to-day operations across sectors. CrowdStrike acknowledged the severity of the situation. The company's CEO George Kurtz has also issued an apology to its customers and partners. Analyst recalls McAfee's 2010 glitch when Kurtz was company's CTO Reportedly, this is not the first time Kurtz is at the centre of a global tech failure, as pointed out by tech industry analyst Anshel Sag. In April 2010, McAfee faced a similar tech disaster when the antivirus company inadvertently triggered a worldwide crash of Windows XP PCs. McAfee then released an update which deleted a key Windows file, causing millions of computers around the world to crash. "For those who don't remember, in 2010, McAfee had a colossal glitch with Windows XP that took down a good part of the internet. The man who was McAfee's CTO at that time is now the CEO of CrowdStrike. The McAfee incident cost the company so much they ended up selling to Intel", Kag wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Kurtz was then McAfee's chief technology officer. As mentioned above, Kurtz has apologised for the outage stating "I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for todayʼs outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority." Kurtz has denied the outage as an act of cyberattack. He said "The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack." The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Microsoft outage: Read the apology letter that CrowdStrike CEO sent to customers and partners - Times of India

A massive global IT outage brought the world to a standstill on Friday, July 19, as a faulty update from US-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike impacted millions of Windows PCs and servers. The disruption cascaded through industries, from healthcare to finance and aviation, causing widespread chaos. Hospitals were forced to postpone procedures, airlines grounded flights, and financial markets experienced significant slowdowns.Emergency services were overwhelmed as communication systems faltered. The scale of the crisis is unprecedented, highlighting the interconnectedness of modern infrastructure and the potential consequences of a single point of failure. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz acknowledged the severity of the situation, attributing the issue to a faulty update rather than a cyberattack. As the company is working to restore normal operations and has pledged full transparency into the root cause of the incident, CEO Kurtz apologised to customers and partners. Here's the apology email he sent. Valued Customers and Partners, I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for today's outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority. The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack. We are working closely with impacted customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored, so you can deliver the services your customers rely on. CrowdStrike is operating normally, and this issue does not affect our Falcon platform systems. There is no impact to any protection if the Falcon sensor is installed. Falcon Complete and Falcon OverWatch services are not disrupted. We will provide continuous updates through our Support Portal at https://supportportal.crowdstrike.com/s/login/ and via the CrowdStrike blog at https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/statement-on-windows-sensor-update/. Please continue to visit these sites for the latest updates. We have mobilized all of CrowdStrike to help you and your teams. If you have questions or need additional support, please reach out to your CrowdStrike representative or Technical Support. We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you're engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates. Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike. As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we're taking to prevent anything like this from happening again. George Kurtz CrowdStrike Founder and CEO The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's response to CrowdStrikes CEO's apology letter: ...And sadly, Satya .... - Times of India

A global IT outage crippled essential services worldwide on July 19, when a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike brought millions of Windows PCs and servers to a standstill. The disruption sent shockwaves through sectors including healthcare, finance, and aviation, causing widespread chaos. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz admitted the severity of the incident, clarifying that it was caused by a software glitch rather than a malicious cyberattack.In an apology to customers and partners, Kurtz expressed deep regret for the disruption. Vijay Shekhar Sharma's response Now, Paytm founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has shared his response to CrowdStrikes CEO's apology letter. Sharma posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) about how the outage may have screwed Microsoft's reputation. Sharma reposted the apology letter from CrowdStrike with a caption which reads, "Obviously no sorry to Microsoft for screwing their reputation. And sadly, Satya has to pay the cost of this.." In the apology letter shared, CrowdStrike revealed that the outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. CrowdStrike has since released a patch to address the problem. However, Microsoft has also provided a recovery tool for IT administrators to expedite the repair process. To use this tool, users must boot their computers into a specific recovery environment. As per security experts, CrowdStrike's routine update, designed to bolster defenses against cyber threats, was released without adequate testing. Faulty code within the Falcon sensor software, compatible with Microsoft Windows, is blamed for the disruptions. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Microsoft outage: Why you shouldn't believe every 'CrowdStrike support' email, phone call - Times of India

A faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike brought widespread chaos last week, rendering approximately 8.5 million Windows devices across critical sectors like healthcare, finance, and aviation, among others useless. While the US-based company later issued an apology and restored services, the prolonged, widespread outage created a prime opportunity for hackers to exploit the situation. CrowdStrike warned people affected by the outage to be wary of malicious activity in which hackers are luring customers by means of emails and phone calls. The company said that the problem was identified and a fix was deployed, hence, people should be wary of communication coming by the company name. What CrowdStrike said in its warning CrowdStrike said in a blog post that it has identified a list of domains that impersonate CrowdStrike's brand to attack customers. CrowdStrike Intelligence has monitored for malicious activity leveraging the event as a lure theme and received reports that threat actors are conducting the following activity: Sending phishing emails posing as CrowdStrike support to customersImpersonating CrowdStrike staff in phone callsPosing as independent researchers, claiming to have evidence the technical issue is linked to a cyberattack and offering remediation insightsSelling scripts purporting to automate recovery from the content update issue "CrowdStrike Intelligence recommends that organisations ensure they are communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels and they adhere to technical guidance the CrowdStrike support teams have provided," the company added. It noted that some domains may not be "serving malicious content or could be intended to amplify negative sentiment" but they may "support future social-engineering operations." Hackers distributing malicious software CrowdStrike said that hackers are distributing a malicious ZIP archive named crowdstrike-hotfix.zip that contains a HijackLoader payload that, when executed, loads RemCos. This may provide the hacker access to your system and personal data. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Microsoft offers fix for laptops affected by CrowdStrike update - Times of India

Microsoft has released an official recovery tool to help IT admins expedite the recovery process of Windows laptops and machines impacted by the latest Crowdstrike outage. While Crowdstike has released an update to fix its software that led to Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors, solving it manually can take a long time. Microsoft's latest tool creates a bootable USB drive that IT admins can use to quickly recover impacted machines. How it works Microsoft's latest tool requires one to start the Windows PC/laptop in the PE environment to boot the drive via USB. It will then access the disk of the affected machine, and automatically delete the problematic CrowdStrike file to allow the machine to boot properly. Since this method does not require admin rights on the machine, it makes the process less manual as the tool is simply accessing the disk without booting into the local copy of Windows. In case a disk is protected by BitLocker encryption, the tool will prompt for the BitLocker recovery key and then continue to fix the CrowdStrike update. Microsoft outage impacted 8.5million devices Microsoft Windows outage that crippled the day-to-day working of businesses and individuals affected nearly 8.5 million Microsoft devices. "We currently estimate that CrowdStrike's update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines," Microsoft said in the blog. A software update issued by CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity firm, triggered a significant IT outage that impacted numerous critical systems worldwide. As per security experts, CrowdStrike's routine update the update, designed to bolster defenses against cyber threats, was released without adequate testing. Faulty code within the Falcon sensor software, compatible with Microsoft Windows, is blamed for the disruptions. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage: how a single software update was able to cause IT chaos across the globe

City, University of London provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK. The world as we know it increasingly relies on digital connectivity that, for the most part, works quietly and invisibly in the background. So how did a single software update bring down half the internet? The global IT outage on 19 July serves as a stark reminder of our vulnerability to technological failures. Triggered by a single faulty software update provided by the cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, this had a disastrous impact on airlines, media outlets, banks, and retailers worldwide, particularly businesses that use Microsoft Windows operating systems. This incident, described as the "largest IT outage in history", reminds us of the extensive web of IT interconnections that sustain our digital infrastructure - and of the potential for far-reaching consequences when something goes wrong. What started with delays at airports turned into widespread flight cancellations. The disruption in airline systems doesn't just disrupt flight schedules, it also affected global supply chains reliant on air cargo, demonstrating the multifaceted nature of modern IT ecosystems. Meanwhile, broadcasts were interrupted at numerous TV and radio stations and operations at supermarkets and banks were brought to a standstill. Preliminary analyses suggests the chaos stemmed from a software update from CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor security software that was applied to Microsoft Windows operating systems. Workers in companies using CrowdStrike were met with the "blue screen of death" (a screen with an error message indicating a systems crash) when they tried to log in. In addition to exposing the hidden web of dependencies that sustain our digital society and economy, the outage also highlighted the geopolitical dimensions of these dependencies. Countries with strong ties to Microsoft and CrowdStrike felt the brunt of the impact, but businesses in countries like China, with their relatively insulated and controlled IT infrastructures, appear to have been less affected. With growing geopolitical tensions in recent years, China and a growing number of other countries have actively developed their own cybersecurity measures and digital infrastructures, which may have mitigated the effects of this incident. China's focus on using indigenous technology and reducing their dependency on foreign technology may have also contributed to the lesser impact on their systems. The incident serves as a stark reminder that technological dependencies can translate into geopolitical vulnerabilities, with state authorities increasingly needing to consider not just the economic but also the strategic and geopolitical implications of their IT alliances. Read more: Major IT outage brings businesses around the world to a standstill - expert explains what happened and why Recovery and implications How the affected sectors have managed this crisis reflects both the strength and vulnerabilities of their own security and disaster recovery strategies. The primary issue has been identified and reportedly rectified. The slow recovery process ahead will show the significant challenges to come in restoring service continuity within our complex, deeply interconnected digital ecosystems. It's particularly surprising that despite numerous past lessons, like the TSB IT migration disaster in 2018 that affected millions of customers of the UK bank, a staggered software rollout was not employed. The absence of this step, a fundamental yet critical strategy in IT management, exposed the fragility of systems that many presumed robust. It has also raised serious questions about the resilience of both the Windows operating systems and the cybersecurity measures by CrowdStrike that are supposed to protect them. In addition, the episode highlighted the strategic risks of relying on a single source of technology. This global outage showed how important it is to have diverse technological alliances to enhance national security and economic stability, while raising concerns about the potential for hostile states to exploit such vulnerabilities. This incident will add a new layer of urgency to international cybersecurity collaborations and policy interventions. As services begin to stabilise and resume, this outage should serve as a wake-up call for IT professionals, business leaders, and policymakers alike. The pressing need to reassess and even overhaul existing cybersecurity strategies and IT management practices is clear. Improving system resilience to withstand large scale disruptions must be a priority. The global IT outage marks a timely reminder and a critical juncture for discussions on digital resilience and the future of technology governance at the business, infrastructure and policy levels. What about AI? Something else we don't know the answer to yet is this: if a single software bug can take down airlines, banks, retailers, media outlets and more around the world, are our systems ready for AI? Perhaps we need to invest more in improving software reliability and methodology, rather than rushing out chatbots. An unregulated AI industry is going to be a recipe for disaster, particularly in a world with growing geopolitical tensions. While it's essential to embrace emerging technologies like AI or blockchain, we must also get the basics right. Cybersecurity operators need to ensure that fundamental IT management and maintenance practices are strong and reliable, and able to handle anything from a cybersecurity attack to a simple software update. The lessons learned from this incident will undoubtedly influence future strategies in IT infrastructure development and crisis management.