Companies across the world are suffering an IT outage that affects Windows operating systems.
Flights have been canceled, banking halted, and commerce, healthcare, and travel delayed amid one of the most significant global IT outages ever. TV studios were even forced to pause broadcasting,
The outage has to do with a “defect” in Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike’s software, which has had the knock-on effect of causing the dreaded 'Blue Screen of Death' to appear on monitors across the globe.
Something super weird happening right now: just been called by several totally different media outlets in the last few minutes, all with Windows machines suddenly BSoD’ing (Blue Screen of Death). Anyone else seen this? Seems to be entering recovery mode: pic.twitter.com/DxdLyA9BLA
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) July 19, 2024
"This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Crowdstrike said. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
However, it will take some time before the outage is resolved, causing chaos today, July 19, 2024.
Someone, somewhere, is the person who pressed go on that software update. And right now they know exactly what they did and what it has done. And as someone who knows that sinking feeling when you realise you’ve screwed up at work, I cannot imagine the state of them right now.
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) July 19, 2024
Crowdstrike blamed the issue on one of its updates for Windows. Shares in the company were down by more than 20% in unofficial trading in the U.S., amounting to an incredible $16 billion loss in value. Microsoft also suffered a drop in value in premarket trading, although by a more modest 2%.
Meanwhile, the internet is of course having its fun with the outage, and the memes are already flooding in.
Microsoft right now. pic.twitter.com/5AA5YuseR5
— Matthew Highton (@MattHighton) July 19, 2024
IT teams waking up this morning pic.twitter.com/MS76Lo80zV
— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) July 19, 2024
happy international bluescreen day? pic.twitter.com/caAvytQyS9
— sxchopea (@sxchopea) July 19, 2024
Live scenes in every IT department after the Microsoft outage pic.twitter.com/k01HN5Z2eK
— LADbible (@ladbible) July 19, 2024
Cause of global IT outage: pic.twitter.com/8rPP2LmAZM
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) July 19, 2024
George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, issued a statement, below:
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 refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
