Fake CrowdStrike employee breaks internet by claiming credit for global IT outage
The AI-generated photo went viral within minutes and already has nearly 4 lakh likes and has been shared by over 36,000 users
When the world woke up to the biggest-ever IT outage on Friday (July 19), leading to a global tech meltdown, grounding flights and hitting businesses in different countries, an individual named Vincent Flibustier took to social media and claimed credit for the chaos, becoming an unlikely internet hero.
As the blame game began, Flibustier posed as a new employee at CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm at the centre of the outage, and tweeted a seemingly innocent message: “First day at Crowdstrike, pushed a little update and taking the afternoon off.” The AI-generated photo went viral within minutes and already has nearly 4 lakh likes and has been shared by over 36,000 users.
Faces heat on social media
A couple of hours later, Flibustier came out with another update, claiming that the company had sacked him. He also shared a short video where he took the ‘responsibility’ for causing the global outage. He also changed his X bio to accompany the parody. His bio said, “Former Crowdstrike employee, fired for an unfair reason, only changed 1 line of code to optimize. Looking for a job as Sysadmin.”
While he was trying to be sarcastic, thousands online bought his satire and thought he was the one responsible for the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on their system. People on social media literally went into overdrive after finding the “culprit”. Several users praised him for ensuring that they don't have to work on a Friday, though others posted abusive messages about him.
Vincent in fact is a satirical writer who runs Nordpresse, a Belgian parody news site. He appeared as a guest on France TV, where he remarked, “People are drawn to stories that confirm their preconceptions.”
‘Don’t take things at face value’
Elaborating as to why social media users were quick to latch on to his joke, he said, “No culprit named yet, I bring it on a platter, people like to have a culprit. The culprit seems completely stupid, he is proud of his stupidity, he takes his afternoon off on the first day of work. This falls right into a huge buzz in which people absolutely need to have new information, and a fake is by nature new, you won't read it anywhere else.”
He said that the post was shared by those who knew it was a joke, but the amplification sent it into a zone where people took every word of the tweet literally. He also cautioned against taking things at face value on the internet and spreading misinformation, especially with the prevalence of generative AI. His videos, too, were also translated by AI.
Millions of users across the globe are still facing issues, with both Microsoft and CrowdStrike trying to resolve the issue at the earliest.
The latest version of its Falcon Sensor software was meant to make CrowdStrike clients' systems more secure against hacking by updating the threats it defends against. However, faulty code in the update files resulted in one of the most widespread tech outages in recent years for companies using Microsoft's Windows operating system.
What’s CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is an American cybersecurity firm founded in 2011 and based in Austin, Texas. Since its inception, the company has grown rapidly as it began to offer a range of security services using cloud-based software.
It has raised millions in funding from Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Google’s venture capital arm. It employs thousands of workers and services businesses in countries across the globe, boasting on its website that it protects 538 out of the Fortune 1000 companies.
The firm has become immensely successful over the past decade, with a market value of around $83 billion at market close on Thursday, though its stock price was falling during Friday trading. CrowdStrike’s share value declined dramatically following the outage, dipping as much as 13% early on Friday.
