How One Software Update Made the World Stand Still

Audio version available here (1 min. 40 sec.)

On July 19th, 2024, a worldwide IT outage occurred and caused major repercussions. From flights to surgeries to business transactions, the effects of an hours-long blackout will be felt for weeks. You might think a disaster of this scale was inflicted by attackers, but in reality, this situation was caused by a single software update performed by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company based in Austin, Texas and currently serves many top businesses, including Microsoft, to “detect and block hacks”. The night of the disastrous blackout, CrowdStrike sent out an update—a commonplace procedure done to combat against new cybersecurity threats—for their Falcon product. Falcon was developed by CrowdStrike to “stop cyber breaches using cloud technology”. However, this particular update contained a bug in its code that crashed all Windows systems. As a result, the “blue screen of death” interrupted operations across the entire world for several hours.

This outage resulted in thousands of flights being delayed or outright canceled, businesses being unable to operate or perform transactions, hospitals canceling medical procedures, and government agencies being unavailable. A single bug in CrowdStrike’s software update caused major disruptions all across the world in almost every aspect of life. While a fix has been sent out, the damage has been dealt. People and businesses around the world suffered.

If one software update is enough to take out your business’s operations, it’s time to reevaluate. Now more than ever, protecting your business and preparing for unexpected incidents is essential. Read our previous blog post on business disaster plans for more details. As the fallout from CrowdStrike’s colossal error continues to affect the world, we will bring you updates to the XQ CPA blog, so make sure you stay tuned.

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Sources:

https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/crowdstrike-worldwide-tech-outage/285-84470246-e100-4ce1-8fb2-141bd9bd37e5