CrowdStrike and Blue Screen of Death Makes Windows Outage Globally

According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, Business Today and other sources, Microsoft computers are experiencing Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) due to a faulty update issued by CrowdStrike, forcing computers to shut down or restart. This unexpected error affects users and businesses around the world.

Relative words, including Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), CrowdStrike, and outage, Microsoft outage, are trending search terms on social media.

On July 18, the major technology media Windows Latest published a blog post that they have summarised the feedback from netizens. It also reports that Microsoft Windows 11 cumulative updates in July KB5040442 have problems such as installation failure and slowing down system performance.

According to Microsoft's official news, the failure started in the Azure regional data center in the central United States. Microsoft's current strategy is to route traffic to other unaffected areas to try to recover. The company also said that as the problem continues to be alleviated, it has observed a positive trend in service availability.

Microsoft 365

On Friday morning, Microsoft 365 Status said on X "We're investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services."

Microsoft Azure

In addition, Microsoft Azure said: "We have been made aware of an issue impacting Virtual Machines running Windows Client and Windows Server, running the CrowdStrike Falcon agent, which may encounter a bug check (BSOD) and get stuck in a restarting state." Microsoft Azure also suggested that customers could attempt to repair the operating system disk offline by following the instructions:

• Attach an unmanaged disk to a VM for offline repair (disks that are encrypted may need these additional instructions: Unlock an encrypted disk for offline repair).

• Once the disk is attached, customers can attempt to delete the following file. `Windows/System/System32/Drivers/CrowdStrike/C00000291*.sysThe disk can then be attached and re-attached to the original VM.

On Reddit, community users of the CrowdStrike subreddit (r/CrowdStrike) have shared what is reported to be an advisory from the company issued to customers only that suggests the cause is its Falcon Sensor.

Microsoft Support Center

When a media reporter consulted as a user, the customer service staff of the Microsoft Support Center said that for the batch blue screen of the computer, it is currently understood that most of the blue screens appeared after the company's computers installed third-party antivirus software. It is currently confirmed that the blue screen was caused by the update of related antivirus software. In this case, if modifying the driver file name is invalid, it can only be recommended to contact the company's IT for further processing.

Airlines and Other Businesses are Affected

Many airlines said that they were affected by the relevant impact. Due to computer system failures, online services, including ticket booking and check-in, were affected. ‍‍‍‍But many airlines are also seeking proper solutions, such as handwritten boarding passes. As a result, some users got their first handwritten boarding pass in their lives and posted it to X.

Few days past, the cybersecurity software CrowdStrike revealed more information about this global Windows blue screen of death which is caused by its faulty update. It’s the undetected error in the Binary File that leads to a massive Windows crash.

It said that the faulty update is intended to prevent devastating cyberattacks made by “possible novel threat techniques”.

No one predicted that it would have such a huge bad effect on businesses around the world. Even though an article about Preliminary Post Incident Review has been posted on its official website on July 24, 2024, including the statement from its SEO, the company now faces big financial losses from the outage. Meanwhile, the CEO Mr. Kurtz has been called to testify in front of Congress about the outage.

What is CrowdStrike?

CrowdStrike is one of the leading cybersecurity software in the industry based in Texas, America. It stops breaches, ransomware, and cyber attacks by employing advanced technology combined with world-class security expertise, deep industry experience, and artificial intelligence.

CrowdStrike Alternatives: More Cybersecurity Software

To protect your computer and prevent cyberattacks, you have more options to install on your PC rather than CrowdStrike.

360 Total Security: leading antivirus software based in China

Heimdal: all-in-one cybersecurity software based in Denmark

Bitdefender: cybersecurity technology company based in Romania

ESET: software company specializing in cybersecurity based in Slovakia

Huntress: managed cybersecurity platform backed by human threat hunters

Wiz: unified cloud security platform with prevention and response capabilities in the US

Palo Alto Networks: cybersecurity company including advanced firewalls and cloud-based offerings

SentinelOne: cloud-based cybersecurity company specializing in endpoint protection based in the US