CrowdStrike Falcon flaw sends Windows computers into chaos worldwide – mbracken
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A faulty driver in CrowdStrike’s Falcon security software has caused millions of Microsoft Windows systems to malfunction, creating major issues for business worldwide.
Thousands of Windows machines worldwide, including those at banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, and supermarkets, are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The faulty CrowdStrike update has caused affected PCs and servers to enter a recovery boot loop, preventing them from starting properly. Early Friday, companies in Australia first reported the issue, which quickly spread globally to the U.K., India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted a message to X Friday morning that a fix was being deployed and the incident was not the result of a cyberattack.
“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.”
Microsoft has issued service updates as it triages the impact. It has a lengthy statement on its Azure page on how organizations can remedy the issue. The company also posted on X that the issue impacted its Windows 365 Cloud PCs, which are virtual desktops hosted in the Microsoft Cloud.
On another Microsoft status page, the company says impacted services may include but are not limited to the following:
PowerBI: Users may notice that their service is in read-only mode while we address impact.
Microsoft Fabric: Users may notice that their service is in read-only mode while we address impact.
Microsoft Teams: Users may be unable to leverage Microsoft Teams functions including presence, group chats, and user registration.
Microsoft 365 admin center: Admins may be intermittently unable to access the Microsoft 365 admin center and any action may be delayed if accessible.
The following services have recovered from the outage, according to the company:
Microsoft Defender
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
Microsoft Defender Experts
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft OneNote
OneDrive for Business
SharePoint Online
Windows 365
Viva Engage
Microsoft Purview
Businesses around the world had their operations come to a standstill due to the outage.
The airline industry was particularly hit hard. Top U.S. airlines — United, Delta, and American Airlines — issued a “global ground stop” on all flights. The Irish airline Ryanair also stated that it was currently experiencing disruption across its network.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was “closely monitoring” the issue, working with airlines and airports on ground stops until the issue is resolved.
The issue has also impacted emergency services in several states, including Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
Various IT and cybersecurity experts have taken to social media to share workarounds for the issue. A CrowdStrike director posted that users can boot into Windows Safe Mode and follow these steps:
Various IT technicians have said that workaround may be complicated by machines that use Windows BitLocker.
This is a breaking news story and information will be updated as it becomes available.
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