Cybersecurity firm: Defect in content update caused global IT outage — we’ve deployed a fix

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, says its software update triggered worldwide Microsoft information technology (IT) outages.

George Kurtz, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CrowdStrike, spoke in a statement on Friday.

CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software is used by many industries, including airlines, hospitals and retailers, to prevent hacks and data breaches.

The firm’s statement comes amid a worldwide IT downtime experienced earlier today.

The incident affected airlines’ operations in many countries, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Australia.

Media, train, and banking services were also disrupted.

Speaking on the issue, Kurtz said the cause of the problem has been identified, adding that a solution has been “deployed”.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” Kurtz said.

“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.”

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…

— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024

CrowdStrike added that it is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of its customers.

Also speaking in a statement, Microsoft said a configuration change in a portion of “our Azure backend workloads, caused interruption between storage and compute resources” which resulted in connectivity failures that affected downstream Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections.

The IT firm also said some of its affected services were fully back as the underlying cause for the outage of its 365 apps and services has been fixed, “but the residual impact of cybersecurity outages are continuing to affect some customers”.