CrowdStrike CEO: 97 Percent Of Windows Sensors Back Online
One week after the world’s largest IT outage, the head of CrowdStrike says nearly all impacted machines are back online
Texas-based cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike continues to provide updates after a buggy update last week triggered the world’s largest IT outage.
The update came from CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, who on a post on his LinkedIn page on Thursday, once again apologised for the outage, and revealed that “over 97 percent of Windows sensors are back online as of 25 July.”
Kurtz had already apologised last week when it became clear that a faulty content configuration update for CrowdStrike’s Falcon sensor tool had plunged an estimated 8.5 million Windows computers into a ‘Bue Screen Of Death’ reboot loop.
Complete recovery?
Earlier this week on Monday Crowdstrike had stated that a “significant number” of affected devices were now back online, but the disruptions have impacted tens of thousands of flights, hospital appointments and business operations around the world.
CrowdStrike then provided a preliminary incident report (PIR) of what happened, and it confirmed that “the issue on Friday involved a Rapid Response Content update with an undetected error.”
Now CrowdStrike’s CEO has said that 97 percent of Windows sensors are back online after the major outage.
“I want to share that over 97 percent of Windows sensors are back online as of 25 July,” Kurtz wrote on LinkedIn. “This progress is thanks to the tireless efforts of our customers, partners, and the dedication of our team at CrowdStrike. However, we understand our work is not yet complete, and we remain committed to restoring every impacted system.”
“To our customers still affected, please know we will not rest until we achieve full recovery,” said Kurtz. “At CrowdStrike, our mission is to earn your trust by safeguarding your operations. I am deeply sorry for the disruption this outage has caused and personally apologise to everyone impacted. While I can’t promise perfection, I can promise a response that is focused, effective, and with a sense of urgency.”
Kurtz said the recovery efforts have been enhanced thanks to the development of automatic recovery techniques and by mobilising all CrowdStrike’s resources to support its customers. He pointed to the PIR that details what steps the firm is taking to prevent such incidents in the future.
“CrowdStrike is committed to building on our mission to stop breaches, with a renewed focus on customer controls and resilience, Kurtz wrote. “Customer obsession has always been our guiding principle, and this experience has only strengthened our resolve. Thank you for your patience, support, and trust.”
Gift card
CrowdStrike shares have dropped more than 20 percent since the meltdown, knocking off billions of dollars in market value.
CrowdStrike also faced a backlash from exhausted IT personnel, after it had provided a $10 UberEats voucher to “teammates and partners who have been helping customers through this situation.”
A CrowdStrike spokesperson was quoted by the Guardian newspaper as saying that Uber had blocked the cards after high usage rates triggered a fraud alert.
“CrowdStrike did not send gift cards to customers or clients,” the spokesperson reportedly said. “We did send these to our teammates and partners who have been helping customers through this situation. Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage rates.”
Earlier this week an estimate from insurer Parametrix revealed that the global IT outage sparked by CrowdStrike’s faulty update would cost US Fortune 500 companies approximately $5.4 billion.
And there are sure to be many legal implications for CrowdStrike in the months ahead.
