The CrowdStrike IT outage has to do with the US cybersecurity company’s latest update to its computer software causing it to show a “Blue Screen” error. Called the “largest IT crash” in recent history, the disruption affected aviation, payment, health, etc. services. Let’s find out what this is all about find a and possible solution.
Let’s start with the first thing that everyone’s curious about.
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What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is a US-based software company that provides cloud-based security services. You may not have probably of it much often but it’s highly relevant in the global IT industry. It says on its website that it provides security services to 538 out of the Fortune 1000 companies.
How did it cause the CrowdStrike global IT outage happen?
The global IT disruption started after CrowdStrike issued an update to its cloud-based product Falcon Sensor on Friday, July 19. After the update was rolled out, it didn’t work as was intended and disabled computer systems all over the world.
The Falcon software update which aimed at protecting Windows computers from crashes and disruptions interacted with various parts of the computer but it rather malfunctioned causing computers to show a Blue Screen of Death error on the screen.
CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz has apologized for the large-scale IT mishap and shared that it all had to do with a code.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” Kurtz wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.”
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What devices and businesses are affected and what are not?
As mentioned above, the Flacon update that CrowdStrike rolled out was intended to protect Windows computers from malicious attacks. So, although that worked contradictorily, the Mac and iOS devices aren’t affected. Microsoft’s Windows OS-powered computers that received the faulty antivirus update are impacted.
In terms of businesses, several airports in the UK including the Heathrow Airport have witnessed massive flight cancellations. Similarly, hotels, the digital payment industry, and else are suffering from this wide-ranging IT disaster.
Will I be affected?
Likely not. From what’s being reported, only the businesses that have Falcon software on their Microsoft computers will be affected after receiving the faulty software.
If you are using a personal computer for your own personal endeavors, you are unlikely to be affected by the Falcon Update-caused disruption.
CrowdStrike Blue Screen Fix
According to Mr. Kurtz, an update has already been issued for the fix. But it’s said that the solution must be applied separately for each device that’s affected.
Therefore, it doesn’t seem to be a real and permanent solution but rather a temporary make-do. Anyway, the solution is to manually reboot the Windows computers in safe mode.
Microsoft has suggested that its clients try to restart their Windows PCs again and again- up to 15 times in case. The US firm says that the trick did the job for virtual PCs for many users.
“Several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage,” Microsoft said in a statement.
Additionally, the company has advised that its businesses can delete a certain file “C-000000291” from the directory to revert their affected computers to work again. However, this solution could be useful for those who are pretty well knowledgeable about computers and technology.
In the meantime, CrowdStrike has requested its clients to communicate with it through official channels so that rightful solutions can be conveyed. In its blog, the firm said, “We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”
20 countries including most European countries, the US, South Korea, India, China, Thailand, etc. have been reported to witness issues following the Falcon Sensor update causing flight delays, payment, health checkup delays, etc.
Currently, Microsoft and CrowdStrike are working together on its solution, but the complete recovery is said to take days to weeks there will be potentially more flight delays as well as more blue screen computer issues.