CrowdStrike issues update on fix for global IT meltdown that wreaked havoc on 8.5million Microsoft Windows devices
THE company responsible for last week’s disastrous IT meltdown says it is still helping businesses recover from the Microsoft Windows crash.
CrowdStrike has revealed that it’s testing a faster new technique to get machines up and running again.
Organisations across the globe are still feeling the effects of a botched up security update which caused havoc for banks, hospitals and airlines.
Brits have been warned that they may still experience some delays at their local GP today as practices race to recover in the aftermath – although systems are now back online.
“Friday was one of the toughest single days in recent times for GPs across England,” said Dr David Wrigley, deputy chairman of GPC England, the representative body for GPs at the British Medical Association (BMA).
“Without a clinical IT system many were forced to return to pen and paper to be able to serve their patients.
“While GPs and their teams worked hard to look after as many as they could, without access to the information they needed much of the work has had to be shifted into the coming week.”
CrowdStrike said a “significant number” of the 8.5million Windows devices impacted are now back online and operational.
Experts have warned it could be weeks until all systems are fully back up and running.
“We understand the profound impact this has had on everyone,” the company wrote on LinkedIn.
“We know our customers, partners and their IT teams are working tirelessly and we’re profoundly grateful.
“We apologize for the disruption this has created. Our focus is clear: to restore every system as soon as possible.”
What is CrowdStrike?
THE global cyber outage affecting TV channels, banks, hospitals, airports and emergency services appears to relate to an issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
IT security firm CrowdStrike ran a recorded phone message on Friday – saying it was aware of reports of crashes on Microsoft’s Windows operating system relating to its Falcon sensor.
A prerecorded message said: “Thanks for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows… related to the Falcon sensor.”
The Falcon system monitors the computers it is installed on and detects hacks and bugs before responding to them.
CrowdStrike, headquartered in Austin, Texas, says it is a global security leader which provides an advanced platform to protect data.
A CrowdStrike update on Friday is said to have caused a critical error in Microsoft operating systems, affecting millions worldwide.
The company regularly updates systems with new anti-virus software
Toby Murray, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia said: “If Falcon is suffering a malfunction then it could be causing a widespread outage for two reasons .
“One: Falcon is widely deployed on many computers, and two: because of Falcon’s privileged nature.
“Falcon is a bit like anti-virus software: it is regularly updated with information about the latest online threats.
“It is possible that today’s outage may have been caused by a buggy update to Falcon.”.
Cyber expert Troy Hunt told Australian TV network Seven: “It looks like they’ve pushed a bad update, which is presently nuking every machine that takes it.”