Microsoft Windows Data Blackout Disrupts Major Financial Firms, Causes Travel Chaos

A widespread outage of Microsoft Windows systems has disrupted critical services globally, including emergency services, banks, and airports, following a CrowdStrike update.

Points

• Microsoft systems worldwide face massive disruptions due to a CrowdStrike update.
• The outage has affected emergency services, banks, airports, and broadcasters.
• Grounded flights and disrupted online banking services highlight the impact.
• CrowdStrike’s stock price declined significantly in pre-market trading.
• The incident underscores the interconnected nature and potential fragility of global IT infrastructure.

The global tech giant Microsoft is facing a widespread outage of its Windows systems, which has disrupted various critical services across the globe. The failure, which began on July 18 and continued into July 19, is linked to a faulty cybersecurity software update from CrowdStrike.

The outage has caused significant disruptions to emergency services, banks, airports, and broadcasters. In the United States, reports emerged of 911 systems being down in Oregon, while in the United Kingdom, Southern Railway experienced widespread IT issues across its network. Airports around the world reported grounded flights, leading to significant travel disruptions.

Financial firms have been hit particularly hard by the Windows failure. Online banking services were notably affected, with customers worldwide reporting issues with logging in and performing transactions. Downdetector, a website that tracks service outages, showed a substantial increase in reports of disrupted banking services. In the UK, attempts to log into major banks were unsuccessful during the morning of July 19, causing widespread frustration and anxiety.

The cause of these disruptions was a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor security product, which caused Windows-based systems to display the “blue screen of death” （BSoD） and become inoperable. Images on social media showed airports displaying the BSoD on arrival and departure boards. CrowdStrike is currently working on rolling back the update, but affected systems require manual intervention to be restored.

CrowdStrike’s stock price has declined nearly 20% in pre-market trading, reflecting investor concerns over the incident. In a statement on X, CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz assured customers that the issue was identified, isolated, and a fix was deployed. He emphasized that this is not a security incident or cyberattack.

Polygon CISO Mudit Gupta commented that Polygon uses CrowdStrike technology but was not impacted due to their practice of testing non-critical updates before rollout. This incident has prompted experts to reflect on the fragility of interconnected IT infrastructure in the global economy.

解説

• The faulty update from CrowdStrike caused significant global disruptions, affecting various critical services.
• Systems experienced the “blue screen of death,” requiring manual intervention for restoration.
• CrowdStrike’s stock price dropped significantly, reflecting investor concerns.
• CrowdStrike assured customers that the issue was not a security incident.
• The incident highlights the interconnected nature and potential fragility of global IT infrastructure.