TECHNOLOGY
What has caused the Microsoft outage? CrowdStrike update blamed
Companies worldwide are suffering major disruption due to an IT issue that may be related to a software update by a cybersecurity firm.
It is believed that a faulty software update issued by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike may be the cause of a major Microsoft outage affecting businesses around the world.
“Technical issue with CrowdStrike”
Companies including airlines, banks and media outlets have suffered severe disruptions to operations, amid technical issues affecting computers using Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
American Airlines has told the BBC that it has been hit by a “technical issue with CrowdStrike that is impacting multiple carriers”. The Swiss Federal Office for Cyber Security has also publicly blamed CrowdStrike, telling Reuters that a faulty update or misconfiguration by the American company is behind the disruption.
Antivirus software to blame?
The specialist technology-news outlet The Register has shared a post by an X user that apparently shows a CrowdStrike advisory warning of an issue with its Falcon Sensor software.
“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor,” reads the advisory. “Our engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue”.
What is CrowdStrike’s Falcon software?
According to CrowdStrike, a firm based in Austin, Texas, the Falcon platform is designed to protect organisations’ IT systems from cyber attacks. It “leverages real-time indicators of attack, threat intelligence, evolving adversary tradecraft, and enriched telemetry from across the enterprise to deliver hyper-accurate detections, automated protection, and remediation”, CrowdStrike says.
Jeffrey L. Foster, an associate professor in cyber security studies at Australia’s Macquarie University, told CNN: “An update to their software appears to have been rolled out globally without proper testing.”
What is the error that’s occurring?
Per Times Now News, a CrowdStrike representative said on the company’s message forum: “We’re aware of a widespread issue causing BSOD [blue screen of death] errors on Windows machines across various sensor versions.”
CrowdStrike works closely with Microsoft, providing support for many of the systems used in industries that have been most impacted. Users’ computers are becoming stuck in a reboot loop that prevents them from starting up the IT systems they need to conduct business.
Problems were first reported in Australia on Friday, but have since been flagged by companies across the globe.