CrowdStrike took the blame for yesterday’s widespread Windows outage that brought businesses worldwide to a sudden halt.
The third-party cybersecurity firm released a buggy update that triggered a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) for many Windows machines, effectively crashing them and preventing them from starting properly. This impacted banks, airlines, TV stations, supermarkets, and countless other businesses worldwide, including those in the Philippines.
CrowdStrike was able to identify the issue and deployed a fix. The company advised users to simply reboot their computers. Mac and Linux machines were not affected.
For those unlucky souls still stuck in the BSOD reboot loop, CrowdStrike offers a more technical fix. Here’s the instructions the company outlined on their website:
- Boot your Windows computer into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment.
- Navigate to the %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
- Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys” and delete it.
- Boot the host normally.
The fallout wasn’t limited to just IT departments. Investors reacted quickly, sending CrowdStrike’s share price tumbling over 11%. This sharp decline reflects concerns that the company’s reputation for reliability might be tarnished, potentially affecting its business in the future.
