If you’re based in the U.S., you may have woken up to some startling news: The world apparently shut down last night, as organizations from airports, banks, hotels, and TV stations all experienced major network outages.
The biggest headlines surrounded airlines, which grounded flights across the world: In the U.S., Allegiant Air, American, Delta, Spirit and United all halted flights, while airports in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, Sydney, and many others experienced massive delays. Customers were stranded at airports, especially if their airlines had IT outages.
It wasn’t just airlines: 911 systems in “multiple states” were affected, while TV stations across the globe were unable to go live on air. Whether you were directly impacted by the issue, or you’re simply reading the news, it makes you wonder: What the hell happened?
What caused the outage?
In our current climate, you may think a network outage of this magnitude would be the result of hackers, particularly ransomware. (Holding the world’s networks for ransom seems like every hacking group’s dream.) However, it turns out this IT disaster didn’t stem from anything malicious. In fact, it all sparked from a simple software update.
The companies affected all use Windows machines running software from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company. This software monitors the network looking for signs of hacking and other security breaches. Specifically, the affected software is CrowdStrike’s “Falcon Sensor,” which protects files customers save to the cloud. CrowdStrike pushed a software update for Falcon Sensor, which reportedly contained a bug that caused Windows to crash, resulting in the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” or BSOD.
What escalates the situation to this magnitude is the fact that so many companies across the world use CrowdStrike’s software as part of their cybersecurity strategies. As evidenced by the disruptions, organizations from airlines, hospitals, and TV stations across the globe rely on CrowdStrike on Windows to run: When something goes this catastrophically wrong with a software so many companies use, the world feels it.
A fix is on the way
CrowdStrike president and CEO, George Kurtz, posted on X Friday morning confirming the issue was caused by “a single content update for Windows hosts.” That means CrowdStrike customers using Mac or Linux shouldn’t experience any issues. Kurtz also confirmed a fix for the issue was on the way:
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In the meantime, it appears there is a workaround to save your system from the BSOD if you should encounter it.
For the most part, software updates are good, as they bring new features and stability to your programs and operating systems. However, CrowdStrike’s Friday disaster demonstrates what happens when critical errors are not rooted out in testing before pushing to clients—especially when your client happens to be the world.