A faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike has crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers worldwide today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online. Crowdstrike stated that a fix has been deployed, but experts believe that recovery from this outage may take some time because Crowdstrike’s solution must be applied manually on a per-machine basis.
Earlier today, Crowdstrike’s errant update began causing Windows machines running the software to display the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death,” rendering those systems temporarily unusable. Crowdstrike, like most security software, relies on deep hooks into the Windows operating system to fend off digital intruders, and even minor coding errors can have disastrous consequences.
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz announced on Twitter/X that an update to correct the coding error has been released, and that Mac and Linux systems are unaffected.
“This is not a security incident or a cyberattack,” Kurtz tweeted, echoing a written statement from Crowdstrike.”The problem has been identified, isolated and a solution deployed.”
The director of Crowdstrike’s threat hunting operations stated on Twitter/X that the fix entails booting Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), deleting the file “C-00000291*.sys”, and restarting the machine.
The software snafu may have been exacerbated by a recent series of outages involving Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, according to The New York Times, though it is unclear whether those Azure issues are related to the bad CrowdStrike update. Update at 4:03 p.m. ET: Microsoft reports that today’s Azure issues were unrelated to the bad Crowdstrike update.
According to Wired’s Matt Burgess, various medical providers around the world have reported issues with their Windows-linked systems, sharing the news on social media or their own websites.
The U.S. Emergency Alert System, which issues hurricane warnings, said there were various 911 outages in several states, Burgess informed me by email. Germany’s University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein announced the cancellation of some non-urgent surgeries at two locations. More than a dozen hospitals and pharmacies in Israel have been impacted, with ambulances being rerouted to non-affected medical organizations, according to reports.
NHS England in the United Kingdom confirmed that the outages had an impact on appointment and patient record systems.
A hospital has declared a ‘critical’ incident after a third-party IT system was compromised, Wired reports. Also in the country, train operators have said there are delays across the network, affecting several companies.
Social media reacted quickly and harshly to today’s outage, with images of people at airports surrounded by computer screens displaying the Microsoft blue screen error. Many Twitter/X users chastised Crowdstrike’s CEO for failing to apologize for the massively disruptive event, while others warned that doing so could subject the company to lawsuits.
Meanwhile, the international Windows outage quickly became the most talked-about topic on Twitter/X, where artificial intelligence bots compiled a series of parody posts from cybersecurity professionals posing as Crowdstrike employees for their first week. Surprisingly, Twitter/X’s AI turned these sarcastic posts into a positive, can-do story about Crowdstrike, which was promoted as the top discussion on Twitter this morning.
According to AI Analysis, “Many individuals have recently started working at cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and have expressed their excitement and pride in their new roles.” “They have shared their experiences pushing the code into production on their first day and are looking forward to positive results in their work.”
