Industries ranging from healthcare to banking, air travel, and others are struggling with a global IT outage that hit Microsoft Windows systems PCs and servers connected to the CrowdStrike security platform early Friday morning — and that could take a while to fully resolve.
CrowdStrike, which is a cybersecurity firm based in the US, said on Friday that a faulty update was the culprit, not a “security incident or cyberattack,” according to a post on X by CEO George Kurtz. Banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, and supermarkets had systems suddenly reboot to display a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error that might require a reboot into safe mode to fix.
Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled, and some businesses are now slowly beginning to come back online. Kurtz told NBC News that it “could be some time” before systems recover.
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IT admins around the world are scrambling to fix a major issue with Windows computers today, after a faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike knocked thousands of PCs and servers offline with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error. While CrowdStrike has fixed the update that originally caused the problems, many systems are still offline, with banks, airlines, supermarkets, and TV broadcasters struggling to cope without their machines.
The fix, for many, won’t be easy. IT admins are still trying to use an initial workaround provided by CrowdStrike, which involves booting Windows systems into Safe Mode and deleting a system file:
Thousands of flights were temporarily grounded Friday after a major global IT outage caused airline computers to become inoperable. Some flights were resuming Friday morning, but airlines were warning customers of delays and disruptions throughout the day.
The outage apparently stemmed from a software update issued by major US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which is widely used by businesses for managing security on Windows PCs — including by most major airlines.
Not now, Intel.I love a scheduled social media post right in the middle of a major PC outage. IT admins certainly aren’t enjoying the CrowdStrike 2024 PC era.
Thousands of Windows machines are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue at boot today, impacting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, supermarkets, and many more businesses worldwide. A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can’t start properly. The issue is not being caused by Microsoft, but from third-party CrowdStrike software that’s widely used by many businesses worldwide for managing the security of Windows PCs and servers.
Australian banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters first raised the alarm as thousands of machines started to go offline. The issues spread fast as businesses based in Europe started their workday. UK broadcaster Sky News was unable to broadcast its morning news bulletins for hours this morning and was showing a message apologizing for “the interruption to this broadcast.” Ryanair, one of the biggest airlines in Europe, also says it’s experiencing a “third-party” IT issue, which is impacting flight departures.
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