How to Handle Massive IT Outages

On July 19th, 2024, a faulty update to security software produced by CrowdStrike, a U.S. cybersecurity company, caused computers and virtual machines running Microsoft Windows to crash. This has affected a wide range of users across several verticals as well as the Fortune 1000. Industries, including airlines, airports, banks, hospitals, stock markets, and broadcasting services, have been affected. The error was discovered and diagnosed, but the global outage continues to delay airline flights, impact electronic payment processing, and disrupt some emergency services. The incident has been characterized as the “largest IT outage in history.”

What’s Happening?

CrowdStrike produces a suite of security software products designed to protect against cyberattacks. The Falcon Sensor product installs a network sensor at the operating system level on individual computers to detect and prevent threats. To address new threats, patches are routinely distributed through CrowdStrike to its customers and their computers.

On July 19th, at 04:09 AM (UTC), Windows virtual machines on Azure began rebooting and crashing. At 06:48 AM, Google Compute Engine also reported the issue. At 07:15 AM, Google identified that the CrowdStrike update was at fault. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz confirmed that the company’s faulty driver update caused the outage and confirmed that it was not a cyberattack.

Windows servers are not the only systems affected by this. Details about the incident are still emerging, but we do know that systems are being recovered and that some require major work to get back up and running.
Veracity is committed to being available to help businesses recover from this incident. Please reach out to start the conversation about engaging us in your recovery effort.

For more specific information related to the recovery of the Falcon Content Incident, please refer to Crowdstrike’s response here.

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