Update blamed for global tech outage from bad data slip, says Crowdstrike

Massive Outage Linked to Crowdstrike's Software Bug

Last week's widespread disruptions that halted flights, interrupted television broadcasts, and disrupted banks, hospitals, and retailers have been traced back to an update bug from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. The company acknowledged that a flaw in its update system allowed problematic data to be distributed to millions of computers using its services.

Details of the Incident

Crowdstrike outlined the initial findings of its post-incident review, revealing that the issue stemmed from an undetected error in a content configuration update for its Falcon platform. This bug, which went unnoticed in the content validation system, led to the deployment of corrupted data to customer computers, ultimately causing a crash in the Windows operating system.

The crash affected approximately 8.5 million computers globally, resulting in significant disruptions across various sectors. However, Crowdstrike has reported that a "significant number" of these affected computers have since been restored to operation.

Preventive Measures

In response to the incident, Crowdstrike has promised to implement new measures to prevent similar issues in the future. These measures include staggering the rollout of updates, allowing customers more control over when and where updates occur, and providing more detailed information about upcoming updates.

Ongoing Investigations and Accountability

While many affected businesses are back online, customers and regulators are awaiting a comprehensive explanation from Crowdstrike. The company has committed to releasing a full analysis of the incident once its investigation is complete. This outage has emphasized the heavy reliance on a few key providers of computing services and has drawn scrutiny from regulators seeking more clarity on the causes of the disruption.