A massive Microsoft Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) outage has severely impacted multiple companies worldwide, including airlines, broadcasters, and hospitals. The issue was traced back to a faulty update from security firm CrowdStrike, which caused PCs and servers to enter an unrecoverable boot loop.
Although the problematic update has been rolled back and recovery efforts are underway, many machines remain affected, causing significant disruptions.
CrowdStrike acknowledged the widespread reports of BSODs in a Reddit post, identifying the problematic update and reverting the changes. They provided a workaround involving booting into Safe Mode and deleting a specific driver. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz issued a public apology for the disruption caused by the update, expressing deep regret for the global impact.
The outage forced airlines like Delta and Frontier to ground flights and disrupted operations at the UK broadcaster Sky and the London Stock Exchange. Over 2,500 US flights were canceled, with gradual recovery reported throughout the day.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mandated that airlines handle the situation as if it were a self-inflicted failure, requiring them to cover expenses for delayed travelers. Initially, airlines resisted covering these costs but later complied after Buttigieg’s intervention.
IT professionals worldwide faced challenges in addressing the issue, with many expressing frustration on platforms like Reddit. They reported difficulties in restoring thousands of affected devices and guiding non-technical users through the recovery process.
The problem had a global reach, impacting organizations in countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Japan, India, and the Czech Republic. One IT manager likened the situation to “Thanos snapping his fingers,” highlighting the widespread disruptions.
The outage also affected US court systems, postponing scheduled cases, including a high-profile trial. Many hospitals had to delay surgeries requiring anesthesia due to the outage affecting appointment planning software.
While CrowdStrike stated that the issue stemmed from their Falcon product and not a security incident or cyberattack, Microsoft also experienced a separate outage with its Azure services and Microsoft 365 app suite, further compounding the situation. CrowdStrike confirmed that Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted and assured that a fix had been deployed.
