NEW YORK — Much of the world was faced with online chaos on Friday when widespread technology failure affected businesses and services across sectors: flights were grounded, banks and hospital systems were forced offline, and media outlets were taken off the air.
The core of the massive disruption is CrowdStrikea cybersecurity company that provides software to dozens of companies worldwide. The company says the problem arose when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, and noted that the problem behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
CrowdStrike has said a fix is on the way. However, chaos deepens hours after the problem was first discovered.
Here’s what you need to know.
Friday’s disruptions began when a defective update was released by CrowdStrike for one of its tools, “Falcon.” In a statement about the ongoing situation, the company said the defect was found “in a single content update for Windows hosts” — noting that Mac and Linux systems were not affected.
But because many companies rely on CrowdStrike for their security and use Windows as their operating system, the implications of these types of technical issues are far-reaching.
Long rows formed at airports in the US, Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services during the summer peak, disrupting thousands of flights. Banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages that affected payments and online services. Some news channels, particularly in Australia, were unable to broadcast for hours. And hospitals had problems with their appointment systems, leading to delays and sometimes cancellations for intensive care, while officials in some US states warned of 9/11 problems in their areas.
Elsewhere, people experienced minor inconveniences, including issues with pre-ordering at Starbucks, which led to long lines at some of the coffee chain’s locations. Several billboards in New York City’s famous Times Square also became dark.
Experts say Friday’s disruptions highlight the vulnerability of the global reliance on software sourced from just a handful of providers.
“It’s an ‘all eggs in one basket’ situation,” Craig Shue, professor and chair of the computer science department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said in an email comment. “It allows us to make sure that our ‘basket’ is high quality: The software vendor is trying to identify threats and respond to them quickly. But if something goes wrong at the same time and the basket fails, we’re left with a lot of broken eggs.”
CrowdStrike is an American cybersecurity company that provides software to businesses worldwide and across all industries. It bills itself as the world’s most advanced cloud-based security technology provider.
“We stop breaches,” the cybersecurity company writes on its website.
According to the company’s website, CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and launched in early 2012. CrowdStrike went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange five years ago. Last month, the Austin, Texas-based company reported that revenue rose 33% in its most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year earlier — with net income of $42.8 million, up from $491,000 in the first quarter of last year.
CrowdStrike partners with Amazon Web Services and its “Falcon for Defender” security technology is designed to complement Microsoft Defender to help prevent attacks.
The disruptions on Friday continued for hours after CrowdStrike first identified the issue. But both the company and Microsoft say they working to get systems back online.
In an emailed statement, Crowdstrike said it was “actively working with customers affected by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts” – adding that a fix had been “deployed” for the identified issue.
Microsoft spokesman Frank X. Shaw said the company is “actively supporting customers in their recovery.” Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft also appear to be engaging IT staff through official online channels, such as Reddit.
While the problem is solvable, it does require some expertise. Some cybersecurity experts warn of malicious actors coming forward claiming they can help. Smaller companies or organizations with fewer IT resources are particularly at risk.
Gartner analyst Eric Grenier noted that those affected should make sure they talk to trusted organizations as they work to recover. “Attackers will definitely target organizations because of this,” he said.