Major Cybersecurity Outage Affects Businesses Globally

CrowdStrike Update Crash Blamed

A major cybersecurity outage affected businesses globally on Friday, disrupting operations at airports, banks, and other companies. The outage was caused by a software update issued by major U.S.-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

CrowdStrike Falcon is used by thousands of companies worldwide to protect data. A crash of their server on Friday is believed to have caused the widespread outages. The outage resulted in significant disruptions to business operations, causing delays and cancellations.

Shares Plunge

Shares in CrowdStrike and Microsoft, another company affected by the outage, declined significantly in premarket trading. CrowdStrike shares plunged as much as 14%, while Microsoft also declined. Travel and leisure stocks also fell as the disruptions threatened the holiday season.

CrowdStrike has issued advice about a temporary workaround. The company recommends booting Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to disable the problematic update.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.'s CEO confirmed the company identified the update that crashed Windows systems worldwide. They stated that a fix is in progress.

Initial reports suggested a faulty update from a different vendor caused the outages. However, it has now been linked to CrowdStrike's software update.

The widespread Windows outages have been a major inconvenience for businesses and individuals. They highlight the importance of cybersecurity and the potential impact of software updates.