In a recent announcement, CrowdStrike has addressed the widespread outages affecting businesses globally, clarifying that the disruptions were not the result of a cyberattack.
Instead, the company identified a defect in a specific content update for Windows hosts as the culprit.
The company emphasized that Mac and Linux hosts were unaffected by this issue.“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike stated.
“The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.”CrowdStrike has assured its customers that they are actively working to resolve the issue and have directed them to the support portal for ongoing updates.
They have also encouraged organizations to communicate with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels to ensure accurate and timely information.
“Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” the statement added.
In the UK, Sky News experienced a blackout, and the country’s largest rail network issued alerts due to disruptions.
Major institutions, including banks and supermarkets, faced operational challenges, while airlines reported delays, and several airports had to suspend flights.
Amid the chaos, Microsoft announced it was investigating issues with its 365 programs and operating systems, which also contributed to the widespread IT problems.
Although Microsoft managed to restore some services, they warned that users might still experience degraded performance.
Cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt highlighted that much of the downtime was linked to an IT problem at CrowdStrike, specifically related to Windows issues associated with the Falcon sensor.
A recorded message on CrowdStrike’s technical support line confirmed the company was dealing with the problem and directed affected customers to their support website for assistance.
Dan Card of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, urged consumers to remain calm in response to the outage.
He pointed out that the disruptions stemmed from a bug in a routine security update rather than a major cyberattack.
Card emphasized that resolving these issues would likely require manual interventions, a challenging task for IT teams working over the weekend.“People who are rushing around correcting things are frequently forgotten by others,” Card remarked, highlighting the often-overlooked efforts of IT staff in managing such crises.
As businesses worldwide continue to recover from the disruption, CrowdStrike remains committed to restoring full functionality and maintaining the trust of its customers through transparent communication and dedicated support efforts.