Windows Outage Disrupts Global Services
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft Windows, the world’s leading PC platform for consumers and enterprises, is currently facing an unexpected outage. This outage has caused significant disruptions in critical operations across various industries, including banking, airlines, news broadcasting, supermarkets, and stock exchanges.
Users of Windows computers have reported encountering a blue screen of death (BSOD) error when trying to launch their PCs. This issue triggers a boot loop, preventing users from accessing the operating system for work. While the exact scale of the problem remains uncertain, the numerous complaints on social media platforms suggest that thousands of global PCs used for day-to-day work have been affected.
The source of the problem appears to be Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm known for enhancing the security of enterprise systems, including Windows machines. Although Microsoft has not yet commented on the matter, it is important to note that the company is already dealing with another issue related to its Microsoft 365 apps and services.
The disruption caused by the Windows outage has been felt across organizations worldwide. Numerous companies from different sectors have reported technical issues with their systems, attributing them to a third-party partner. However, what is particularly concerning is the widespread impact of this problem. Critical operations of global airlines, airports, and banks have been severely affected.
Airlines such as American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Ryanair, Indigo, Air Asia, and KLM Airlines, along with major airports like Los Angeles International Airport, Hong Kong Airport, Berlin Airport, Prague Airport, Amsterdam Airport, Sydney Airport, Edinburgh Airport, and Dusseldorf Airport have all reported being affected by this global computer outage. This situation has made it impossible to handle flights efficiently, causing major inconvenience for both customers and staff members.
In addition to airlines and airports, several banks have also experienced disruptions. Israel’s central bank, Ukraine’s Sense Bank, Capitec (South Africa’s largest bank), and National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, and Bendigo are among the affected financial institutions. Other critical sectors, including the London Stock Exchange, Australian energy company AGL, Sydney Metro, Govia Thameslink Railway, NHS in the UK, and broadcasters and publications like Sky News, have also been impacted. Even 911 services in some parts of the U.S. have been affected.
Investigations into the cause of this outage have revealed that Crowdstrike’s cloud-native Falcon sensor is to blame. This small software agent, installed on endpoints like computers, servers, and mobile devices, continuously monitors for suspicious activity and potential threats. However, in this case, an update to the sensor known as content deployment has caused breakdowns in the machines it was installed on.
Crowdstrike has acknowledged the issue and has since taken steps to address it. They have reverted the problematic change, but if users continue to experience issues, they can follow specific steps to resolve them. These include booting Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment, navigating to the C:WindowsSystem32driversCrowdStrike directory, locating and deleting the file matching “C-00000291*.sys,” and finally booting the host normally.
As organizations around the world work to implement the fix and resume their normal operations, it is evident that a problem of this scale is catastrophic. The outage has disrupted critical services and will take hours for all affected organizations to recover fully. Microsoft’s response to this incident remains awaited, and it is crucial for them to address the concerns of their users and provide timely updates on the situation.