CrowdStrike confirms Windows outage update defect

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz announced on X that the recent outage was caused by a defect in a content update for Windows hosts, ruling out a cyberattack.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” Kurtz stated. He advised customers to check the support portal for the latest updates and to communicate through official channels for assistance.

Early Friday, CrowdStrike’s support forums, accessible only with a login, acknowledged reports of crashes linked to the Falcon Sensor, its cloud-based security service.

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A moderator on the CrowdStrike subreddit confirmed “widespread reports” of blue screen errors on Windows devices and noted that the company was investigating the cause.

Microsoft reported problems starting in the early hours of July 19. While Microsoft 365 for Consumers is back up, enterprise apps are still experiencing disruptions, according to its Service Health Status for business cloud services.

A Microsoft spokesperson mentioned the issue arose from an update by a third-party software platform and expected a resolution soon.

CrowdStrike did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Microsoft spokesperson clarified that the earlier Microsoft 365 service disruption overnight July 18 to 19 was unrelated to the CrowdStrike-triggered outage.

CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…

— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024