An outage of CrowdStrike has caused a global disruption for users of Microsoft Windows computers.
Crowdstrike acknowledged the error and said: “Our Engineers are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.” Further, they also mentioned that they will inform when the issue is resolved.
The outage has been caused by an error in the cybersecurity platform Falcon, which secures Windows systems. Businesses and individuals across Australia, Japan , India and other countries are facing disruption due to the outage.
Reacting to the outage, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “MIEITY is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage. The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve this issue.” Vaishnaw added that CERT-In or the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team will also being issuing an advisory on the same.
CERT-In in an advisory graded the severity of the outage as “critical” and issued some tips for Microsoft Windows users who might be facing the “blue screen of death” on their systems.
Microsoft put out this post shortly after the widespread outage. “We have been made aware of an issue impacting Virtual Machines running Windows, running the CrowdStrike Falcon agent, which may encounter a bug check (BSOD) and get stuck in a restarting state. We are aware of this issue and are currently investigating potential options Azure customers can take for mitigation.”
In India several stock market players, flight operators and news organisations were affected due to the outage. Several users on social media shared images of their screen stuck with the Blue Screen of Death error
Akasa Air said that some of its online services, including booking, check-in and manage booking services will be temporarily unavailable.
“Currently we are following manual check-in and boarding processes at the airports and hence request passengers with immediate travel plans to reach the airport early to check-in at our counters. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and want to assure you that our teams are working with our service provider to resolve the same at the earliest,” Akasa said in a post on X.
Indigo also flagged similar disruption in its online services. Passengers at airports reported that flight boarding process were came to a halt at several airports across the country.
Sanjiv Sanyal, a a member of the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council, said this calls for a less interconnected systems globally.
“This is why genetic diversity is important. A unified, interconnected global system is a bad idea. A less interconnected system may appear inefficient but will be more resilient. This is an important conclusion of the CAS (Complex Adaptive System) based approach to AI regulation,” he said.
Sanyal is the co-author of a paper on regulating AI. “Implement clear boundary conditions to limit undesirable AI behaviour. This includes creating partition walls between distinct systems and within deep learning AI models to prevent systemic failures, similar to firebreaks in forests,” the paper noted.
Cyberattack ruled out
George Kurtz, President & CEO CrowdStrike ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. “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, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” Kurtz said
“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,” he added
Global impact
Meanwhile, in Australia a government spokesperson said the National Emergency Mechanism group was meeting to figure out the impact of the global outage. “The Australian Government is working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator on this unfolding outage,” they said.
In the US, all flights from several major US airlines – including Delta, United and American Airlines – were grounded Friday morning due to a communication issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
British railway companies announced that they were suspending operations due to cyber outages. Gatwick – the second busiest airport in the UK – said it was affected.