Overview of the outage
Microsoft, the US-based tech giant, reported that 8.5 million computers worldwide were affected due to an outage on July 19. The glitch occurred following a routine update by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity software company, which led to crashes in IT systems across various sectors, including airlines and news channels.
In a blog post, Microsoft stated, “We currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices. Deploying hundreds of Microsoft engineers and experts to work directly with customers to restore services.”
Why were home computers safe from the global IT outage?
CrowdStrike’s products are primarily used by large organizations that require robust cyber attack protection, and these products are rarely found on home PCs. This is why home computers remained unaffected by the outage.
IT manager Nicole Burres explained to KSHB Kansas City, “As far as I know, it’s not something that you would need to be concerned about at home.” She added, “Now, it could impact your banking, it could impact some emergency services, depending on your location.”
Ms. Burres elaborated on CrowdStrike’s operations and clientele, stating, “CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company that deploys cloud solutions to companies. They have about 1,000-user minimum licensing requirements, so your end user at home wouldn’t be using it.”
CrowdStrike’s response
Addressing the issue, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said, “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, and 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. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”