A major Internet outage today (Friday) disabled computers running the Windows operating system around the world. As a result, websites, airports, trains, banks, and others were damaged, while engineers scrambled to restart their systems.
The problem began early this morning when employees and workers found that their computers were down.
As businesses around the world struggle to get back online, here’s what we know so far about the issue.
What happened?
Hundreds of thousands of computers around the world suddenly stopped working; This affected businesses, transportation lines, and television broadcasting in many countries.
A software issue at a cybersecurity company, called Crowdstrike, appears to be the culprit. The specific technology, Crowdstrike Falcon Sensor, is used to protect against hacking threats, but engineers were quick to blame a glitch in the system that caused massive internet outages.
The issue seems to mostly affect computers running Microsoft Windows 10.
Cybersecurity experts said the outage was “unprecedented” in its scope; Which affected many of the largest companies in the world.
What’s causing the problem?
The cause of the problems was a mystery at first: Windows computers showed a so-called “blue screen of death,” as if they had stopped working automatically.
But as the outage spread on Friday, the cause of the problems became clearer.
The flaw appears to be linked to a faulty update in cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. This seemed to have been installed overnight; Which resulted in computers being unable to work properly after that.
What is the solution?
.The company has since backed away from the update. But this does not solve the problem on computers that are already affected by the problems.
The technicians offered a solution that involved booting the computer into a special mode and then deleting the problem file. But this requires administrators to have access to a computer – which can be difficult when used remotely.
CrowdStrike said it was “aware of reports of crashes occurring on the Windows operating system related to the Phaclone sensor.” “Falcon” is a program that monitors the computers of anyone who tries to hack them.
Callers to the company’s technical support phone line were met with a recorded phone message stating that they were aware of the problems this morning. CrowdStrike advised affected customers to log in to their customer service portal for assistance.
Who was affected?
The Internet shutdown affected a huge number of people and companies. While we still do not know the full impact of the glitch, so far this morning we have seen TV stations, transport lines and banks complaining about the problems.
For example, Sky News had to replace the morning program with pre-recorded footage. Ryanair warned on its website that major delays are expected at airports around the world.
Images posted on social media revealed computers in airports and transportation centers showing the “blue screen of death.” Users and travelers also reported being stuck on planes and runways.
What is Crowdstrike and who owns it?
Crowdstrike is one of the world’s largest cybersecurity technology companies — valued at more than $80 billion — and whose tools are used by companies all over the planet, according to The Telegraph.
Its typical technology is known as endpoint detection and response — a type of antivirus software — used to deal with hacking threats.
These products are regularly updated to deal with potential new cyber threats and new tools are often automatically added to your computer.
Troy Hunt, a cybersecurity expert, explained in a post on “X” that Crowdstrike tools often have “privileged” access to computers; Which means it has broad control over devices to try to remove threats.
However, he added, “This also means that if something goes wrong with the update, it could catastrophically destroy your device.”
Crowdstrike is publicly listed in New York and owned by technology investors and major funds such as Blackrock
