By: Kevin Wang
On July 19th, 2024, one critical error in a third-party cybersecurity software called Crowdstrike caused IT issues globally. This error only affected computers that use the Windows operating system, and it caused the computers to crash and display the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The crashes delayed flights and deliveries worldwide, caused TV channels like Sky News to be unable to air, and many banks’ cards weren’t working, and their customers’ balances couldn’t be checked. The Range Medical Centre in Manchester explained to BBC Newsround that its systems were “completely down” so personnel couldn’t get their patients’ health records.
The bug occurred in a software update for Crowdstrike where the C++ code for Crowdstrike attempted to “read from address 000000000000009c (0x9c),” which is an invalid memory region. A sensor configuration update caused the issue, creating a logic error that led to systems crashing and BSODs. It is still unclear how the buggy code entered the update and how it wasn’t checked and corrected before the release of the update. According to TechTarget, Crowdstrike fixed the error about one hour after the sensor configuration update was released. The CEO of Crowdstrike, George Kurtz, explained that they “identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed” for this issue, but it will take a while before systems are back to normal. George Kurtz said that he was “deeply sorry” for this situation.
Following the incident, Crowdstrike’s stocks dropped by about twenty percent, from three hundred ninety-three dollars to three hundred dollars, and Scotiabank also downgraded. A day after the update, Microsoft estimated that the update impacted around eight million five hundred thousand Windows computers. However, despite that figure, it was still only “less than one percent of all Windows machines.”
One critical bug in Crowdstrike’s sensor configuration update caused a logic error that led to millions of Windows computers crashing worldwide. These crashes caused major complications in flights, deliveries, TV channels, banks, and hospitals. Crowdstrike identified a fix for this error, but it will still take time before all systems are fixed.
Image Credit by Andrea Piacquadio