CrowdStrike Update Causes Global Outage Impacting Businesses

A recent update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike resulted in a significant outage on Friday, impacting businesses globally, according to a statement given to CNBC. CrowdStrike is currently rolling back the problematic update that led to these issues.

The confirmation came after numerous reports of technical difficulties worldwide. Earlier on Friday, Microsoft announced that its cloud services were mostly restored after an outage in the U.S. It remains unclear if Microsoft’s issues were linked to CrowdStrike’s update.

The CrowdStrike update appears to have directly affected Windows systems globally, causing laptops to display the “blue screen of death.” In a recorded message, CrowdStrike acknowledged the issue: “CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor.”

Various sectors, including airlines, broadcasters, telecom firms, and banks, reported issues. The London Stock Exchange experienced technical difficulties with its RNS news service, and Sky News, owned by CNBC parent company Comcast, was temporarily off the air on Friday morning.

Airports worldwide reported delays due to technical faults, with some planes grounded. Spain’s airport authority AENA warned travelers of delays due to a computer system incident, and U.K. airline Ryanair faced disruptions due to a third-party IT outage, advising passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure.

Australian telecom firm Telstra indicated that global issues affecting CrowdStrike and Microsoft were disrupting its systems. A company spokesman mentioned, “The issue is causing some holdups for some of our customers and we thank them for their patience.”