CrowdStrike Outage Affects Businesses Globally

Software Update Causing Widespread Disruption

A global computer outage on Friday, May 12, 2023, has affected businesses worldwide, including airports, banks, and other organizations. The outage appears to stem at least partly from a software update released by CrowdStrike, a leading provider of cloud-based security solutions.

Statement from CrowdStrike CEO

In a statement released on Friday evening, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz acknowledged the outage and attributed it to a defect in a content update for the company's Falcon tool. Falcon is used by many businesses to identify and prevent cyber threats.

Kurtz apologized for the inconvenience caused by the outage and assured customers that CrowdStrike engineers were working diligently to resolve the issue. He also emphasized the importance of keeping software up to date to protect against potential security vulnerabilities.

Impact of the Outage

The outage has had a significant impact on businesses that rely on CrowdStrike's security tools. Many organizations have reported experiencing network connectivity issues, email disruptions, and other operational problems.

The global scale of the outage has also raised concerns about the potential economic consequences. Businesses that are unable to access their systems may face lost revenue and productivity.

Why This Outage Is Harder to Fix

Experts believe that this CrowdStrike outage is particularly difficult to fix due to the nature of the software update that caused it. The update was designed to enhance the security of CrowdStrike's Falcon tool, making it more challenging to identify and resolve the underlying issue.

In addition, the outage has affected a large number of businesses simultaneously, creating a complex and time-consuming remediation process.