Not cyberattack, issue identified, fix deployed: CrowdStrike CEO Kurtz

After one of the biggest-ever IT outages the world over on Friday (July 19) caused by an update of a product from cyber security firm CrowdStrike to Microsoft Windows, CrowdStrike issued a statement clarifying that it was not due to a cyberattack.

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike said that the problem was caused due to an issue with a Falcon content update for Windows Hosts. He said that the issue had been identified and isolated, and that a fix had been deployed.

He said his company understood the gravity of the situation and was deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. He assured his customers that they remained fully protected, and that his company was working with all impacted customers to ensure that their systems were back up and they could deliver the services their customers were counting on.

Continuous updates available

Kurtz said continuous updates were available on the CrowdStrike website, his posts on LinkedIn and on X. He said he would continue to provide updates to the community and industry as they became available.

In its statement, CrowdStrike said Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted. The company also recommended that organisations ensured they were communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. The company assured its customers that its team was fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.

Chaotic scenes

On Friday (July 19), there were chaotic scenes at airports in India and elsewhere as flights were cancelled or delayed. Apart from the aviation sector, the computer outage affected various other sectors like banking, brokerages, hospitals, media, and others. The Reserve Bank of India said that about 10 banks and NBFCs faced minor disruptions, but they were being fixed.