CrowdStrike Apologizes for Outage with $10 Gift Card

- On Friday morning, a massive outage affected airlines, TV broadcasters, banks, and other essential services worldwide, linked to CrowdStrike software. - The issue caused Windows machines to display the Blue Screen of Death, with systems falling offline due to a faulty content update. - CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz stated the problem isn't a cyberattack and doesn't affect Mac or Linux machines, but fixing it could take days to weeks. - The outage is tied to CrowdStrike's Falcon platform, which combines multiple security solutions into a single hub. - Independent cybersecurity researcher Lukasz Olejnik noted the interconnected nature of software can lead to single points of failure, complicating recovery efforts. Source: The Verge

- Around 8.5 million Windows devices were impacted by a recent CrowdStrike outage, according to Microsoft VP David Weston. - This is the first official number released, revealing the global scale of the issue caused by a software update. - The outage affected critical sectors like banks, airlines, and rail networks, despite the relatively low percentage of affected devices. - Weston emphasized the broad economic and societal impacts, noting the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises running critical services. - Microsoft and CrowdStrike are collaborating on a scalable solution to accelerate recovery, involving AWS and Google Cloud. Source: Techcrunch

- CrowdStrike president Michael Sentonas accepted the 'Most Epic Fail' award at Def Con 2024, following a global IT meltdown caused by a software update. - The award ceremony took place right after the Black Hat conference, where CrowdStrike had a significant presence, distributing free T-shirts and action figures. - Sentonas' acceptance speech, shared online, was met with enthusiasm and appreciation from the audience for acknowledging the company's mistakes. - The award was a last-minute addition, with organizers noting that CrowdStrike was an obvious choice for the 'Most Epic Fail' category. - Sentonas emphasized the importance of owning up to mistakes and stated that the trophy would be displayed at CrowdStrike HQ as a reminder to prevent future errors. Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/11/crowdstrike-accepts-award-for-most-epic-fail-after-global-it-outage/)

- Major banks, media, airports and airlines affected by major IT outage - Payment systems impacted in different parts of the world, including Australia and the UK. - Australia's government calls for emergency meeting - Significant disruption to some Microsoft services - 911 services disrupted in several US states including Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Ohio. - Services at London Stock Exchange disrupted - Sky News is off air - Reports the issue relates to problem at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike

Also How is Crowdstrike linked to this?

Asking for a friend

All laptops in my team are down. Apparently it's a global issue with Microsoft laptops - others also facing the same?