A widespread IT outage has hit worldwide, stemming from a reported “issue” with Microsoft Windows hosts conflicting with a Falcon content update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
According to NBC News, the ongoing outage has so far affected airlines, banks, stores, broadcasts and even some local 9-1-1 services. In particular, the outlet is reporting that airlines such as United, American and Delta are at what Rep. Eric Swalwell, U.S. House subcommittee on cybersecurity, called on his X account a “global ground stop.”
“It could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover,” said CrowdStrike president and CEO, George Kurtz, per NBC News, on NBC’s TODAY show, noting that the company is “deeply sorry for the impact … to anyone affected by this. Many of the customers are rebooting the system, and it’s coming up, and it’ll be operational because we fixed it on our end. We’re just trying to sort out where the negative interaction was.”
Meanwhile, Crowdstrike posted an official statement concerning the outage and its role in it, stating:
CrowdStrike 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. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.
For its part, NBC noted that Microsoft claims to have resolved the issue, despite the persistence of blue “error screen of death” on systems worldwide.
