What is CrowdStrike? Key Information About the Company Tied to the Global IT Outage

A global tech outage caused widespread disruptions across major airlines, media companies, banks, and telecommunications firms on Friday morning.

Australian authorities indicated that the issue might be linked to a problem with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which serves over half of Fortune 500 companies, as highlighted in a recent promotional video by the U.S.-based company.

CrowdStrike’s “Falcon Sensor” software was reported to be causing Microsoft Windows systems to crash and display the infamous “Blue Screen of Death.” An alert sent by CrowdStrike at 1:30 a.m. ET on Friday detailed the problem and provided a manual workaround. However, a CrowdStrike spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz addressed the situation in a post on X, stating that the company is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” Kurtz assured that the incident is “not a security breach or cyberattack” and that a fix has been deployed. He promised ongoing updates on the company’s website and emphasized that CrowdStrike is fully mobilized to ensure customer security and stability.

Founded in 2012, CrowdStrike claims to offer the “world’s most advanced cloud-native platform” designed to protect and empower modern enterprises.

Flight Disruptions and Delays

The tech outage led to significant disruptions in air travel, including delays, cancellations, and check-in issues. Major U.S. airlines such as American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines implemented ground stops early Friday due to communication breakdowns, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

By 1 p.m. ET, over 2,000 flights had been canceled, and more than 6,100 had been delayed, according to FlightAware. While many airlines managed to resume operations as the day progressed, they anticipated continued disruptions. Airports and airlines worldwide advised passengers to arrive earlier than usual. Analysts suggested that the outage was likely related to a Microsoft software glitch.

Microsoft acknowledged that users might face issues accessing various Office 365 apps and services due to a “configuration change in a segment of our Azure-backed workloads.” The company stated that “the underlying cause has been fixed,” but some Microsoft 365 apps and services were still experiencing residual impacts. Additional mitigations are being conducted to alleviate the issues.

Impact Across Other Industries

The tech outage had a broad impact globally, affecting various sectors. In the UK, British broadcaster Sky News went off-air, and train services reported significant delays. Departure boards at several UK airports froze, and London’s Stock Exchange experienced disruptions. Some hospitals faced challenges with appointment processing, and retail stores struggled with payment systems. Manchester United had to delay a ticket release due to the outage.

In Australia, media, banking, and telecom sectors were also affected. Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, Michelle McGuinness, stated there was no evidence suggesting the outage was a cybersecurity incident.

In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported some systems being offline due to the global technical issue, though train and bus services remained unaffected.