In A Nutshell:
A faulty update to Crowdstrike’s Falcon Sensor has caused thousands of Windows-based systems to crash, leading to significant disruptions in airports, trains, banks, and media services worldwide. Despite the rapid identification and isolation of the issue, and deployment of a fix, the incident highlights vulnerabilities in global IT infrastructure and has caused Crowdstrike’s stock price to drop nearly 20%.Businesses worldwide are experiencing significant IT disruptions after a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike caused thousands of Windows-based systems and endpoints to crash.
Affected systems encountered the “blue screen of death” (BSOD) and were unable to reboot properly. Social media images show airports with BSODs on arrival and departure boards.
The issue originated from an update to Crowdstrike’s Falcon Sensor security product. Crowdstrike is currently working on rolling back the faulty update. A workaround has been posted on the company's SubReddit by a moderator but requires manual implementation for each system.
The outages have grounded flights, disrupted trains, impacted banks and health services, and even prevented Sky News from broadcasting. Initially reported in Australia and New Zealand, the effects have spread to Asia and Europe, severely disrupting airports and causing delays for thousands of passengers. Delta, United, and American airlines have all grounded flights due to the disruption.
In the financial sector, the London Stock Exchange reported technical issues with its news service, though its exchange remains functional. Crowdstrike’s stock price has dropped nearly 20% in pre-market trading.
Crowdstrike President and CEO George Kurtz stated on X that the company is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.”
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website,” Kurtz added.
Polygon CISO Mudit Gupta stated on X that while Polygon uses Crowdstrike technology, they “weren't impacted because we don't roll out non-critical updates to our staff before testing them.”
“Polygon networks are decentralized. Even if Polygon Labs were affected in such an IT incident, nothing would be impacted on Polygon networks,” Gupta added.
The incident has led some experts to comment on the vulnerabilities in the highly interconnected and digitalized global economy, highlighting the fragilities in IT infrastructure.
