The CrowdStrike outage continues to cause chaos worldwide as the company claims a “significant number” of the 8.5 million Windows devices affected by the outage are back online

By William On Jul 22, 2024

The CrowdStrike outage is still causing global disruptions, four days after the problem began.

Millions of shops, airports, railways and GP surgeries are still experiencing problems due to a ‘buggy’ security update for Falcon, CrowdStrike’s antivirus software that protects Microsoft Windows devices from cyberattacks.

CrowdStrike, whose faulty software update “bricked” Windows computers, says a “significant number” of the 8.5 million affected devices have been patched.

In a post on X (Twitter) added that it “remains focused on restoring all systems as quickly as possible.”

MailOnline has contacted the company to ask what exactly constitutes a ‘significant number’.

CrowdStrike posted the update on X (Twitter), saying it “remains focused on restoring all systems as quickly as possible.”

From ticket machines to self-service checkouts to IT systems used by GPs, anything running on Windows devices was potentially affected. The CrowdStrike update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines.

What is CrowdStrike?

The malicious app that has shut down computers around the world is, ironically, intended to protect PCs from hackers.

Crowdstrike is a security service designed to prevent internet breaches for the world’s largest companies. However, it is responsible for perhaps the largest IT outage we’ve ever seen.

Computer analysts believe that a poorly written piece of code in the update caused the catastrophe, devastating computer networks around the world.

Crowdstrike has confirmed that a faulty update is responsible for the chaos.

A statement said: “Crowdstrike is actively working with customers affected by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.

“Of the approximately 8.5 million Windows devices affected, a significant number are back online and operational,” CrowdStrike said in the X post.

‘Together with customers, we tested a new technique to accelerate the recovery of affected systems.

‘We are in the process of making an opt-in for this technology operational.

‘We are making progress by the minute. We understand the huge impact this has had on everyone.

“We know our customers, partners and their IT teams are working tirelessly and we are extremely grateful for that.

‘We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

“Our goal is clear: we want to restore every system as quickly as possible.”

The chaos began on Friday when computers around the world repeatedly crashed and displayed the dreaded “blue screen of death.”

From ticket machines to self-service checkouts and GP IT systems, anything running Windows devices could be affected.

Jamil Ahmed, a renowned engineer at IT company Solace, explains: “The reason the outage was so widespread is the ubiquity of the Windows operating system across industries.

Airlines use it for check-in counters, stores use it for vending machines and much more.

The outage is due to a “buggy” security update for Falcon, a type of antivirus software that protects Microsoft Windows devices from cyberattacks. CrowdStrike – the company behind Falcon – is “actively working with customers” who were affected, but insists it is “not a security incident or cyberattack” (file photo)

In this extraordinary photo, a Windows system in Petco Park, San Diego, California, shows the ‘blue screen of death’ on Friday

“Fortunately, incidents like this are rare. CrowdStrike responded quickly by rolling back the update responsible for the outage.”

In his own update on saturdayMicrosoft stressed that “this was not a Microsoft incident.”

It was also estimated that the CrowdStrike update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, which is “less than one percent of all Windows devices.”

“While the percentage was small, the broad economic and societal impact reflects the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that manage many critical services,” Microsoft said.

CrowdStrike has admitted that a defect in the “content update” for its Falcon antivirus software caused Microsoft Windows devices to crash.

The cybersecurity company is “actively working with customers” who have been affected, but stresses that this is “not a security incident or cyberattack.”

A ticket machine at King’s Cross Station in central London was found to be out of order due to the glitch that had blocked computers

Computers across Australia repeatedly crashed and displayed the ‘blue screen of death’. A blue error screen is seen on a cash register at a department store hit by a cyber outage in Brisbane, Australia, July 19, 2024

Passengers wait at Barajas airport as Spanish airport operator Aena reported an incident with airport computer systems on Friday that caused flight delays

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz appeared on US television to apologize and pledge to work with all customers to get their operations back online.

The serious error wiped $12.2 billion (£9.5 billion) off CrowdStrike’s value and $320 million (£247 million) off Kurtz’s personal fortune.

CrowdStrike makes antivirus products that are regularly updated with new virus definitions, explains cyber expert Troy Hunt.

“They operate in a very privileged space on the PC, which means they have a lot of control,” he told Sky News.

‘It appears they released a bad update, which is currently blocking all machines downloading the update.

‘It may take some time before the machines are back on time.’

Andras Cser, principal analyst at IT firm Forrester, says recovery options for affected Windows machines are manual.

“Administrators should connect a physical keyboard to each affected system, boot into safe mode, uninstall the compromised CrowdStrike update, and then reboot,” he said.

In Australia, broadcasters were among the first to notice the effects of the outage, being affected and having to shut down their broadcasts.

Out of service: British Railways warned passengers to expect delays due to the problem well into the weekend

This 7-11 store in Australia was forced to close due to a ‘global technical fault’ – disabling payment systems

With total global losses potentially exceeding $1 billion, CrowdStrike is expected to release more details about exactly how the issue occurred.

“Like Microsoft, CrowdStrike is too big to fail,” said cybersecurity expert and FBI counterintelligence officer Eric O’Neill.

The company is a cybersecurity icon trusted by the largest market share of cybersecurity customers.

‘I suspect CrowdStrike will release a detailed report explaining how this happened and what steps they will take to prevent this from happening in the future.

However, companies around the world are losing millions because IT professionals have to manually reboot their computers.

“I expect many calls for compensation from CrowdStrike.”

How the CrowdStrike outage that crippled businesses worldwide could deliver another cost-of-living blow to prices

There are fears that Friday’s global tech crisis will push up the prices of everyday goods, exacerbating Australia’s cost of living crisis.

Sanjoy Paul, associate professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at UTS, and Towfique Rahman, lecturer in Business Strategy and Innovation at Griffith University, warn of aftershocks across the supply chain as a result of the Microsoft systems outage.

“Transport systems in particular were hit hard,” the two academics wrote in The conversation.

The academics warned that the global computer outage could impact shipping networks, air freight services and transport logistics, potentially causing delays or disruptions.