Global Outage: CrowdStrike Software Bug Crashes Systems Worldwide

A software bug in CrowdStrike's system led to a global computer crash, disrupting services from aviation to banking. The financial impact is estimated at $5.4 billion for U.S. Fortune 500 companies alone. The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has requested CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify.

A software bug in CrowdStrike's quality-control system caused a global computer crash last week, disrupting services from aviation to banking, according to the U.S. firm on Wednesday. The extent of the damage is still being assessed.

On Saturday, Microsoft reported that approximately 8.5 million Windows devices were affected. The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has issued a letter to CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, requesting him to testify about the incident.

The financial repercussions began to emerge on Wednesday. Insurer Parametrix estimated that Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., excluding Microsoft, will face $5.4 billion in losses. Malaysia's digital minister also called on CrowdStrike and Microsoft to consider compensating affected companies.

The outage resulted from a fault in CrowdStrike's Falcon software, causing computers running Windows to crash and display the "Blue Screen of Death." CrowdStrike noted the bug in its Content Validator allowed problematic data to bypass internal checks.

Despite its issues, there is no indication that Microsoft will limit CrowdStrike's access to its operating system. CrowdStrike has since enacted a new quality control check to prevent future occurrences. However, experts believe that many organizations lack adequate contingency plans for such failures.

(With inputs from agencies.)