Windows TCO: Ransomware, Azure Downtime, Bricked Windows, People Dying in Hospitals

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 20, 2024,
updated Jul 21, 2024

• Two Lockbit affiliates from Russia plead guilty in US court

  Between 2020 and 2023, Astamirov deployed LockBit against at least 12 victims — including businesses in Virginia, Japan, France, Scotland, and Kenya — extorting $1.9 million, according to court documents. He operated under the online aliases “BETTERPAY,” “offtitan,” and “Eastfarmer.”

• Two LockBit Ransomware Affiliates Plead Guilty In U.S. Federal Court

  Between 2020 and 2024, the LockBit group had attacked over 2,500 victims in at least 120 countries, with 1,800 of those in the United States, extorting hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of ransom payments.

• UK Police Arrest Suspect in MGM Ransomware Attack

  On Friday U.K. police announced, in a joint operation with the country’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the U.S. FBI, they arrested a 17 year-old suspected of being connected to the ransomware attack against MGM Resorts last year.

• Microsoft's massive outage explained in 10 points: Blue Screen of Death, Azure, CrowdStrike and all we know so far

  A massive IT outage has thrown businesses and critical services into chaos globally, with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services experiencing widespread disruptions. The root cause? A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike, affecting countless Windows PCs and servers across various sectors.

• What We Know About the Global Microsoft Outage

  The problem affecting the majority of services was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity firm, whose systems are intended to protect users from hackers. Microsoft said on Friday that it was aware of an issue affecting machines running “CrowdStrike Falcon.”

  But Microsoft had also said there was an earlier outage affecting U.S. users of Azure, its cloud service system. Some users may have been affected by both. Even as a fix was sent out by CrowdStrike, some systems were still affected into the U.S. morning as businesses needed to make manual updates to their systems to resolve the issue.

• An angry admin shares the CrowdStrike outage experience

  Being hit by the outage is one thing. Recovering is quite another. The workarounds published so far are less than ideal for administrators used to remotely managing devices. Since the failure leaves an affected device stuck in a Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) boot loop, implementing a workaround tends to involves in-person intervention unless remote access that does not use the operating system is possible.

  Sadly, for our administrator, things are less than ideal.

• Blue Screen Of Death Is Not A Cybersecurity Incident, Says Australian Cybersecurity Minister

  CrowdStrike said it is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. “Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike said.

• Widespread Windows Crashes Due to Crowdstrike Updates

  Last night, endpoint security company Crowdstrike released an update that is causing widespread "blue screens of death" (BSOD) on Windows systems. Crowdstrike released an advisory, which is only available after logging into the Crowdstrike support platform. A brief public statement can be found here.

  Update: Some reports we have seen indicate that there may be phishing emails circulating claiming to come from "Crowdstrike Support" or "Crowdstrike Security". I do not have any samples at this point, but attackers are likely leveraging the heavy media attention. Please be careful with any "patches" that may be delivered this way.

• CrowdStrike and the Evil of Automatic Updates

  Last night CrowdStrike sent an automatic update that threw millions of Windows based computers into blue screen of death reboot loops. This took down airlines, banks, hospitals, government services, TV networks and many more. To fix the problem, IT staff have to boot each computer in safe mode, delete the CrowdStrike device driver and then reboot again. If the hard drive is encrypted then there is added complexity accessing the drive to delete the driver.

• CrowdStrike Falcon flaw sends Windows computers into chaos worldwide

  Thousands of Windows machines worldwide, including those at banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, and supermarkets, are experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The faulty CrowdStrike update has caused affected PCs and servers to enter a recovery boot loop, preventing them from starting properly. Early Friday, companies in Australia first reported the issue, which quickly spread globally to the U.K., India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S.

• Rising cybersecurity threats in the cloud: A call to action

  Ransomware: Ransomware attacks continue to be a major concern, with cybercriminals targeting cloud environments to maximise disruption and extort ransoms. The report emphasises the need for comprehensive backup and recovery strategies to counter ransomware threats.

• Dark web shows cybercriminals ready for Olympics. Are you?

  These events are also prime opportunities for cybercriminals. Over the past decade, the number of cyberattacks targeting major events has surged, increasing from 212 million documented attacks at the London 2012 Games to a staggering 4.4 billion at the Tokyo 2020 Games. These attacks often have direct financial motives, such as scams, digital fraud, or the acquisition of valuable data from attendees, viewers, and sponsors. In their excitement, eager fans often overlook potential risks when purchasing tickets, arranging accommodations, or buying memorabilia, making them easy targets for cybercriminals.

  Others, desperate to view specific events, are enticed by malicious websites offering free access, only to have their devices compromised or personal data stolen. With the world’s media focused on the event, criminals with a political agenda are looking for a large audience for their message by disrupting a significant site or knocking critical services offline.

• Global IT Outage Grounds Flights, Disrupts Health Care and Banking | Truthout

  “Shortly after,” the outlet continued, “reports of disruptions started flooding in from around the world, including from the U.K., India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S.: TV station Sky News went offline, and U.S. airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a ‘global ground stop‘ on all flights.”

• Global cyber [sic] outage grounds flights, hits banks, telecommunications, media

  A software update wreaked havoc on computer systems globally on Friday, grounding flights, forcing some broadcasters off air and hitting services from banking to healthcare.

• How One Bad CrowdStrike Update Crashed the World’s [Windows] Computers

  Only a handful of times in history has a single piece of code managed to instantly wreck computer systems worldwide. The Slammer worm of 2003. Russia’s Ukraine-targeted NotPetya cyberattack. North Korea’s self-spreading ransomware WannaCry. But the ongoing digital catastrophe that rocked the internet and IT infrastructure worldwide over the past 12 hours appears to have been triggered not by malicious code released by hackers, but by the software designed to stop them.

• CERT-In: CrowdStrike Update Caused Windows BSOD Outages

  Amidst the global outage affecting Microsoft Windows systems, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a critical advisory (CIAD-2024-0035) to address the issue.

  This outage seems to have stemmed from a recent update to the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor, a popular endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution. Dubbed the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), the outage has disrupted operations across airports, hospitals, software firms among other sectors globally and is generating widespread frustration among users.

• All Sciphol flights delayed or canceled over global Windows outage; Fix in the making

  Every single flight at Schiphol Airport was delayed or canceled on Friday due to a global Windows outage. The Amsterdam airport was filled to the brim with frustrated travelers trying to start their summer vacation. At 11:45 a.m., the CEO of Crowdstrike, the company whose cybersecurity software was behind the outage, said that they had identified the issue and were deploying a fix.

  The outage impacted multiple airlines at Schiphol Airport, making it impossible for them to access their check-in systems, among other things. KLM canceled a large part of its operations on Friday as a result.

• KLM: More cancellations likely this weekend but IT disruption nearly resolved

  At Schiphol, 185 flights were cancelled on Friday due to the global computer [sic] failure. The systems at Schiphol were being restarted by 3:30 p.m., but it has had a major impact on flights to and from the airport.

• Windows outage closed two terminals at Rotterdam port; Some regional buses affected

  Two terminals at the port of Rotterdam were closed on Friday due to the Crowdstrike bug that crashed Windows computers worldwide. The malfunction makes loading and unloading impossible at the ECT Euromax and ECT Delta. The outage also impacted buses in the province of Utrecht, Amersfoort, and Almere.

  Crowdstrike announced at around noon that it was implementing a fix, but it would take time for impacted companies to restart their processes and catch up.

• Windows, Microsoft, Blue Screen of Death: Flights, Markets, Banks, Stock Exchange: Microsoft Outage Crippling Sectors

  From flights to supermarkets to banking operations, the global Microsoft outage is disrupting multiple sectors and threatens to lead to massive issues if it is not resolved soon. In India, almost all air carriers -- Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air -- are facing technical issues that are affecting booking, check-in and flight updates. The airlines are now checking in passengers manually.

• Windows Computers Lead To 'Blue Screen Of Death' Due To CrowdStrike Error

  Millions of Windows users across the globe today experienced the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error which caused the system to suddenly shut down or restart. The Microsoft error, caused due to a CrowdStrike 'Falcon Sensor' update, affected airlines banks, stock markets, and other businesses across the globe.

• Bad Software Update Causes Havoc In Businesses Across The World Including Banks and Airlines Using Microsoft Windows

  The problem seems to have impacted airlines and banks the most but this may just be because delay of service for them is quite visible and some frustrated customers would resort to complaining on social media.

  Other companies affected would be telecoms, insurance companies… really any company for whom security on employee computers is important enough they’d pay upwards of $50 a year for each computer.

• Huge Microsoft Outage Linked to CrowdStrike Takes Down Computers Around the World

  In the early hours of Friday, companies in Australia running Microsoft’s Windows operating system started reporting devices showing Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). Shortly after, reports of disruptions started flooding in from around the world, including from the UK, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US: TV station Sky News went offline, and US airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.

• CrowdStrike Bug Leads to Worldwide BSODs, Grounding Flights, Halting Banking, and More

  CrowdStrike’s products are extremely popular, and this problem is shockingly widespread I’ve got a bunch of friends in corporate IT, and none of them are having a good day. Here’s Warren again: [...]

• Microsoft resolves cloud outage that caused some US airlines to ground flights

  Low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines, a unit of Frontier Group Holdings, Allegiant and SunCountry had reported outages that affected operations. Frontier said late Thursday that it was in the process of resuming normal operations, and that the ground stop had been lifted.

  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said the department was monitoring the flight cancellation and delay issues at Frontier, adding that the agency will hold the company and all other airlines "to their responsibilities to meet the needs of passengers".

• Microsoft outage impacts Indigo, Akasa, Spicejet, Air India Operations, airport services

  A major disruption in Microsoft Corp.’s cloud services caused service disruptions to a number of businesses around the world, including in India, on Friday. A number of airlines, including Indigo, Akasa Air, Air India Express and Spicejet have said that they were all facing technical glitches.

• Windows users face outage after Crowd strike update, CERT-In issues fix

  Netizens took to social media to express their ire on the outage. An 'X' user posting a picture of the Blue Screen wrote, "Something super weird happening right now: just been called by several totally different media outlets in the last few minutes, all with Windows machines suddenly BSoD’ing (Blue Screen of Death). Anyone else seen this? Seems to be entering recovery mode:"

• Microsoft says cause of outage at 365 apps and services fixed

  Low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines, a unit of Frontier Group Holdings, Allegiant and SunCountry had reported outages that affected operations. Frontier said late Thursday that it was in the process of resuming normal operations, and that the ground stop had been lifted.

• Massive global IT outage is a perfect ad for buying a Mac

  If you couldn’t fly, buy tickets, withdraw money, watch the news, or buy groceries this morning, you’re not alone. A massive global IT outage affecting countless businesses and services grounded United, Delta, and American Airlines flights, delayed British soccer team Manchester United ticket sales, and knocked Sky News off the air. The reason? A Windows update.

• What is CrowdStrike, and what happened?

  The update in question appears to have installed faulty software onto the core Windows operating system, causing systems to get stuck in a boot loop. Systems are showing an error message that says, “It looks like Windows didn’t load correctly,” while giving users the option to try troubleshooting methods or restart the PC. Many companies, including this airline in India, have resorted to the good old-fashioned way of doing things by hand.

• Starbucks mobile ordering falls victim to the CrowdStrike BSOD outage

  The Starbucks app itself is working, but the ability to order ahead is currently unavailable at all locations. It looks as though some Starbucks shops have (temporarily) closed altogether to avoid dealing with this tech hassle until the situation improves.

• Global Microsoft Meltdown Tied to Bad Crowdstrike Update

  A faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online. Crowdstrike said a fix has been deployed, but experts say the recovery from this outage could take some time, as Crowdstrike’s solution needs to be applied manually on a per-machine basis.

• CloudStrike shares plunge 10% as global IT outage prompts mass chaos: 'A major black eye'

  CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz scrambled to apologize for the crisis, which affected millions of customers using Microsoft Windows — crippling airlines, banks, hospitals and various other clients.

• Global Microsoft outage affects local businesses, hospitals and UMich operations

  Microsoft Windows crashed globally Friday morning due to cybersecurity issues, causing problems in a variety of industries including health care, travel and business. The outage created flight disruptions for major airlines in India and Latin America, and has resulted in more than 3,300 flight cancellations worldwide. In Michigan, hospitals are facing software difficulties, including large hospital systems such as Corewell Health, a result of the merger between Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health, and Michigan Medicine, delaying procedures and appointments for patients.

• Microsoft Outage: What Caused the IT Meltdown

  There have been two issues affecting Microsoft systems in quick succession, adding to the confusion over a global outage.

• Reboots best fix for Azure VMs CrowdStrike borked, says Msft

  It's not believed that the CrowdStrike failure was related to the other Azure outage yesterday, so if you're recovering from one hopefully you didn't have to deal with the other. If your VMs were borked by Falcon, however, then read on.

• IT glitch causing delays in flights, business operations globally

  Many of those who use Microsoft Windows are likely experiencing a “blue screen of death” or an error page. The issue is due to a single bug in a software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which provides antivirus software for Microsoft users.

• IT glitch causing delays in flights, business operations globally

  The company pushed out an update to the software overnight, and at 1:30 a.m. EST, CrowdStrike said its “Falcon Sensor” software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, Reuters reported.

• Widespread technology outage disrupts flights, banks, companies around the world

  Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack — and that a fix was on the way. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

  But hours after the problem was first detected, the disarray continued — and escalated.

• Widespread technology [sic] outage disrupts flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world

  Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. News outlets in Australia — where telecommunications were severely affected — were pushed off air for hours. Hospitals and doctor's offices had problems with their appointment systems, while banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages to their payment system or websites and apps.

• Massive global IT outage grounds flights, disrupts banking, hits media

  A massive IT outage has struck industries around the world, grounding flights, halting stock trading, and interfering with broadcasting.

  The outage was attributed to a faulty update by CrowdStrike, a company that develops a widely-used cybersecurity software, and it is affecting machines using Microsoft Windows. Apple and Linux systems are not affected.

• Microsoft Outage, Windows, Vistara, Air India, IndiGo: Catching A Flight Amid Microsoft Outage? Here's How To Prepare

  All air carriers operating in India have been hit by the Microsoft outage. Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air are putting out updates to guide passengers and inform them about the situation. Air India said its "digital systems have been impacted temporarily due to the current Microsoft outage, resulting in delays". IndiGo warned that check-ins "may be slower and queues longer". The low-cost carrier also said the option to rebook a flight or claim a refund is temporarily unavailable. SpiceJet said it is working closely with authorities to minimise disruptions. Akasa Air said its online services have been affected. Vistara, too, said it is facing technical challenges and is working to fix it at the earliest.

• Passengers in disarray as Microsoft outage disrupts airline services

  Amid a massive global outage that hit operations of airlines, banks and businesses across the globe, Microsoft on Friday said it is aware of the issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform.

• Microsoft outage: Frontier and other airlines were at a standstill for hours

  A significant Microsoft outage brought low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and some competitors to a standstill for hours after a regulator halted departures. The ground stop was lifted late Thursday night.

  “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies,” Frontier said in a statement on its website. “We appreciate your patience.” The company was offering refunds to inconvenienced passengers.

• Microsoft Windows Outage, Crowdstrike, Spicejet, Indigo, Akasa Air: Blue Screen Of Death Error, Full List Of Services Hit In India

  Millions of Microsoft Windows users were experiencing the "Blue Screen of Death" error that caused their computers to shut down or restart.

  Microsoft said the preliminary root cause was a "configuration change" in a portion of its Azure backend workloads. It caused interruption between storage and compute resources which resulted in connectivity failures that affected downstream Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections, the company said.

• Frontier Airlines Briefly Grounds All Flights Amid Microsoft Outage

  Microsoft said on the status page for Azure, its flagship cloud computing platform, that the problem began at 5:56 p.m. and affected multiple systems for customers in the central United States.

  “Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted,” Frontier said in a post on X.

  The airline issued a ground stop for all its flights, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website. The ground stop was lifted about 35 minutes later.

• Frontier and other airlines were at a standstill for hours after a massive Microsoft outage - KTVZ

  The airline has cancelled 131 flights Thursday and delayed 223 others, making up nearly 30% of its overall flights, according to data tracker FlightAware.

• Grounding canceled for Frontier Airlines flights amid Microsoft outage

  Microsoft also tweeted users might have trouble accessing various Microsoft 365 apps and services.

• Grounding canceled for Frontier Airlines flights amid Microsoft outage - ABC7 New York

  According to FlightAware, initially 103 Frontier flights (13%) were canceled and 231 flights (30%) were delayed.

• CrowdStrike code update bricking PCs around the world

  An update to a product from infosec vendor CrowdStrike is bricking computers running Windows.

  The Register has found numerous accounts of Windows 10 PCs crashing, displaying the Blue Screen of Death, then being unable to reboot.

• Global IT outage live: Australian banks, flights and media outlets hit by CrowdStrike software issue

  Computer security company CrowdStrike is linked to a major IT outage affecting banks, airports, supermarkets and businesses across Australia and the world.

  The ABC is experiencing a major network outage, along with several other media outlets.

• Chaos As Global Tech [sic] (Microsoft) Outage Delays Flights, Disrupts Services

  A global tech outage that appeared to be related to issues at global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft was affecting operations in various sectors on July 19, including airports, airlines, media, and banks.

• Indian Airports Hit And Downed By Blue Screen Of Death Error

  The headline “Azure Configuration Change Triggers Major Airport Disruption” is clear but could be slightly more specific to capture the full scope of the issue. Here’s a refined version: [...]

• Microsoft global outage: London Stock Exchange back up and running following technical glitches

  The company's Regulatory News Service, which publishes company updates, and the prices and news for various assets on its Workspace platform, had also been affected but resumed functioning. A spokesperson for LSEG stated that the issue was due to a third-party global technical problem, but securities trading on the London Stock Exchange remained unaffected.

• Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death Error: Can it affect schools and colleges too?

  These costs can be especially challenging for institutes with limited budgets. While investing in high-quality hardware and dependable software can mitigate some risks, it does not completely eliminate the possibility of BSOD errors.

• Hong Kong airport, airlines affected by global Microsoft outage

  Cathay subsidiary, low-cost carrier HK Express was also affected. “Due to a global service outage of Microsoft, Navitaire, our global e-commerce system has been affected,” the airline said in a post on Facebook. It added that its website, mobile app, and WeChat mini-app had all been affected.

  “Self-service check-in facilities at Hong Kong International Airport and our departure control system have also been affected, we are currently performing manual check-in procedures for our passengers,” HK Express said, calling for travellers to allow at least three hours for check-in.

Long update

Some more coverage:

• Government in touch with Microsoft over outage: IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

  The Indian government is in touch with Microsoft and its associate companies regarding the global outage and is hopeful of a solution soon, union electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

• IT [sic] teams scramble to recover from CrowdStrike incident as officials warn of ‘risks of consolidation'

  At the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, Neuberger explained that an interagency task force was quickly put together to assess the impact on the U.S. government and critical services before going sector by sector to analyze potential downstream ramifications.

  “What's the impact to power in the country? To hospitals in the country? To 911 systems, the national suicide hotline. We continue to do those calls until we have a good picture now of where we are,” she said, adding that she called CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz and was reassured that it was not a malicious attack. She spoke to several of her counterparts around the world to offer U.S. assistance as well.

  The outages affected dozens of federal, state and city entities alongside airlines, hospitals, public transportation and TV broadcasters.

• The day the CrowdStrike died

  Windows is already a rough enough environment to administer, but this is only slightly above a worst-case scenario. Errors in the boot process require manual intervention, and either out-of-band or physical access to fix. I learned yesterday that a shocking number of servers and providers simply don’t have the former; hence the unfolding disaster as this patch rolled out and crashed machines across the planet. NTFS isn’t the most robust of file systems either, so I’m expecting a lot of secondary data loss issues to come out in the coming weeks.

• CrowdStrike broke Debian and Rocky Linux months ago, but no one noticed [Ed: Microsoft site desperate to change the focus to "Linux"]

• Microsoft 365 remains 'degraded' as Azure outage resolved

  Microsoft 365 (the artist formerly known as Office 365) is also down, and its status page warns that customers may not be able to access SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Teams, Intune, PowerBI, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Defender, and Viva Engage.

• Factbox-Major Tech Outages in Recent Years

  Here are some of the biggest tech outages in recent years, in chronological order: [...]

• Windows users attacked via disabled Internet Explorer

  Despite Internet Explorer (IE) being officially retired and disabled in modern Windows systems [...]

• ‘A little frightening’: CrowdStrike outage puts Microsoft’s role in global IT back in the spotlight [Ed: Microsoft-bribed media such as this one tries to shift the blame]

  Microsoft didn’t create the defective CrowdStrike update that crippled Windows machines around the world Friday morning, but its reputation took a hit along with its flagship operating system as the situation unfolded.

• What we know about CrowdStrike’s update fail that’s causing global outages and travel chaos [Ed: No, it is Microsoft]

  A faulty software update issued by security giant CrowdStrike has resulted in a massive overnight outage that’s affected Windows computers around the world, disrupting businesses, airports, train stations, banks, broadcasters and the healthcare sector.

• Microsoft outage affects Azure services impacting multiple users

  A host of services including flights, hotels, and offices globally were all affected early on Friday for most Microsoft Windows devices. A number of Indian airlines including Indigo, Akasa Air, Air India Express and Spicejet were all said to be facing technical glitches around booking tickets and web check-in.

• Microsoft Faces Global Outage; Indian Users Too Reporting Problems

  Microsoft users globally, several in India, have reported massive outages in services, with outage tracking website Downdetector showing users flagging disruptions across various services. Globally, the Microsoft cloud outage led to US airlines cancelling flights, but the tech giant later reportedly said its cloud services outage in the Central US region has been resolved.

Update

Many more:

• Meduza ☛ Russian tech ministry credits import-substituted software with sparing country from Friday’s CrowdStrike meltdown — Meduza

• Silicon Angle ☛ Faulty CrowdStrike update causes one of the largest-ever IT outages

  A faulty software update from CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., a major cybersecurity provider, has disrupted the operations of hospitals, financial institutions and numerous other organizations around the world. The incident has been described as one of the largest-ever information technology outages.

• Silicon Angle ☛ World reboots as CrowdStrike update cripples global systems running Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Windows

  In an incident that underscores the vulnerabilities of our technology-reliant world, a massive information technology software update failure rippled across key sectors today, affecting everything from airlines to medical facilities, news outlets and public safety systems.

• Latvia ☛ Friday's global IT issues not felt much in Latvia

  On Friday, July 19, IT services are experiencing disturbances across the globe, impeding the work of airports, shops, healthcare services, railways, banks and other public institutions.

• CrowdStrike backdoored Windows Meltdown

  How CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity technology company, made thousands of backdoored Windows PCs secure by effectively turning them off. What has been done can not be undone for those blue screen machines.

• MIT Technology Review ☛ How to fix a backdoored Windows PC affected by the global outage [Ed: Delete Windows and it won't happen again]

  MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more here. backdoored Windows PCs have crashed in a major IT outage around the world, bringing airlines, major banks, TV broadcasters, health-care providers, and other businesses to a standstill.

• WhichUK ☛ Global IT outage: the UK banks affected and your rights

  A faulty software update by tech firm Crowdstrike is causing chaos to services around the world

• Xe's Blog ☛ "No way to prevent this" say users of only language where this regularly happens

  In the hours following the release of OVE-20240719-0001 for the project CrowdStrike Falcon, site reliability workers and systems administrators scrambled to desperately rebuild and patch all their systems to fix a bootloop where systems will get hit with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. This has taken out hospitals, major banks, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Azure, Sky News, Berlin-Brandenburg airport, and basically every major enterprise deployment of Windows.

• Global Tech Outage Grounds Flights and Hits Businesses

  A CrowdStrike glitch brought down machines running Windows.

• New York Times ☛ What We Know About the Global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Outage

  Airlines to banks to retailers were affected in many countries. Businesses are struggling to recover.

• New York Times ☛ Is Your Flight Delayed by the Tech Outage? Here’s What You Need to Know.

  While service is slowly recovering, flights are still being canceled and delays can stretch for hours. Here’s the latest on airlines, airports and cruises, as well as your rights and how to reach customer service.

• Medevel ☛ Recent Internet Outages and Microsoft's Role in July 2024

  In recent months, the internet has experienced several significant outages, impacting millions of users worldwide. One notable event occurred in July 2024, affecting Abusive Monopolist Microsoft services extensively.

  What Happened?

• Tom's Hardware ☛ CrowdStrike's market cap plunges $12.5 billion in wake of global outage

  CrowdStrike shares open 15% down after a 24-hour nightmare slowly comes to a close.

• Zimbabwe ☛ Bad Software Update Causes Havoc In Businesses Across The World Including Banks and Airlines Using Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Windows

  A bad software update is causing ICT outages across the world today in business that use Abusive Monopolist Microsoft backdoored Windows on their computers.

• Scoop News Group ☛ Many state, city government services disrupted by faulty CrowdStrike update

  States and cities are among the organizations worldwide reporting service disruptions caused by a faulty CrowdStrike software update.

• Scoop News Group ☛ Federal government agencies affected by worldwide IT outage

  Social Security Administration, Energy Department are among the agencies impacted by the CrowdStrike flaw.

• SANS ☛ Widespread backdoored Windows Crashes Due to Crowdstrike Updates, (Fri, Jul 19th)

  Last night, endpoint security company Crowdstrike released an update that is causing widespread "blue screens of death" (BSOD) on backdoored Windows systems. Crowdstrike released an advisory, which is only available after logging into the Crowdstrike support platform.

• Silicon Angle ☛ CrowdStrike breaks the internet and generative Hey Hi (AI) gets the side eye [Ed: They try to make everything about buzzwords]

  CrowdStrike Holdings ended the week with a bang, or more like a whimper from system administrators around the world, as it sort of broke the internet by issuing an update to its software with a defect that took down backdoored Windows computers everywhere.

• France24 ☛ Crowdstrike's massive global IT crash: Here's what you need to know

  US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike on Friday said it ‘had deployed’ a fix for a faulty software update that caused technology outages in much of the world, disrupting banks, airports, health care and media. Experts say the disruptions to companies and services reflect a worldwide dependence on software made by just a few providers.

• France24 ☛ Global computer outage linked to security firm CrowdStrike grounds flights, hits banks, media

  A software update from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike appeared to be the trigger for Friday's massive computer systems outage, with computers running Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Windows most affected, grounding flights in the United States, derailing television broadcasts in the UK and impacting telecommunications in Australia.

• Off Guardian ☛ Let’s talk about….the Global Computer Crisis

  A massive outage of Windows-based computers has impacted systems all over the world. Doctors’ surgeries, airlines, train stations, television stations, payment platforms – virtually all sectors of human society have been impacted. Traffic is backing up, flights are grounded. So far Abusive Monopolist Microsoft is blaming a “third party”, and ruled out a cyber attack.

• Reuters ☛ Microsoft resolves cloud outage that caused some US airlines to ground flights

  Microsoft said early on Friday that its cloud services outage in the Central U.S. region was resolved after it led to the grounding and cancellation of several flights. 

• NYPost ☛ Take Friday’s IT nightmare as a warning of what a cyberattack could do

  The global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft computer outage initiated by a faulty CrowdStrike security update gave us a taste of what actual cyberwarfare could do.

• Security Week ☛ Bad CrowdStrike Update Linked to Major IT Outages Worldwide

  Organizations worldwide are reporting major outages due to backdoored Windows system crashes caused by a bad CrowdStrike update.

• Federal News Network ☛ Crowdstrike outage: SSA shutters offices, other agency impacts

  Here's what we know about how a global IT outage, sparked by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, is impacting federal agencies.

• New York Times ☛ Outage for Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Users Knocks Out Systems for Airlines and Hospitals in Chaotic Day

  Companies across the world reported disruptions, citing technical issues from a cybersecurity software update.

• BIA Net ☛ Turkish Airlines cancels 84 flights due to global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft outage

  Both Turkish Airlines and its subsidiary AJet have been affected by the outage as operations are gradually returning to normal, according to the flag carrier.

• Mexico News Daily ☛ Airport chaos and border bedlam: How the Abusive Monopolist Microsoft IT meltdown is affecting Mexico

  The IT outage that swamped Abusive Monopolist Microsoft backdoored Windows computers around the world hit just as hard in Mexico, frustrating travelers of all stripes.

• University of Michigan ☛ Global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft outage affects local businesses, hospitals and UMich operations

  This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. Abusive Monopolist Microsoft backdoored Windows crashed globally Friday morning due to cybersecurity issues, causing problems in a variety of industries including health care, travel and business.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong airport affected by global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft outage as airlines move to manual check-in

  Hong Kong’s airport has been impacted by a major global Abusive Monopolist Microsoft outage, with affected airlines forced to check passengers in manually.

• Hackaday ☛ This Week In Security: Snowflake, The CVD Tension, And Kaspersky’s Exit — And Breaking BSOD

  In the past week, AT&T has announced an absolutely massive data breach. This is sort of a multi-layered story, but it gives me an opportunity to use my favorite piece of snarky IT commentary: The cloud is a fancy way to talk about someone else’s servers. And when that provider has a security problem, chances are, so do you.

More keeps coming:

• CISA ☛ 2024-07-19 [Older] Widespread IT Outage Due to CrowdStrike Update [Ed: Windows outage, not "IT Outage"]

• LRT ☛ Flight check-ins, pharmacy chain among services in Lithuania affected by global IT outage

  With a major IT outage recorded across the world, Lithuania’s National Cyber Security Centre (NKSC) says it has no information about any disruptions to critical services in the country.

• Internet Society ☛ Global Tech Outage Demonstrates Need for Resiliency in Software Systems

  Today's global outage of many systems was not an Internet outage, but it demonstrates the need for greater resilience in all our technical systems.

• The Verge ☛ 2024-07-19 [Older] Bug With Widely-Deployed Security Tool CrowdStrike Is Crashing Windows, Causing Widespred Outages Across Many Industries

• University of Toronto ☛ 2024-07-20 [Older] Part of (computer) security is convincing people that it works

• Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-07-19 [Older] Cybersecurity at Major Global Events: Satellite Security Insights for the 2024 Olympics

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-19 [Older] Global cyber outage blamed on security software update [Ed: Not cyber outage, Windows outage]

• Antivirus Company Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Limited to Windows PCs, Mac and Linux Not Affected

  A widespread system failure is hitting Windows computers around the world, causing critical boot failures across computers in several industries. The issue causes Windows computers to boot into a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), forcing users into repeated recovery cycles.

More on this incident:

• France24 ☛ Airlines resume services after major global IT crash wreaks havoc

  Airlines and airports across the world were gradually resuming operations on Saturday after a faulty software update to an antivirus programe operating on Abusive Monopolist Microsoft backdoored Windows caused one of the biggest IT crashes in recent years, also affecting banks and financial institutions. While some airports cancelled all flights on Friday, others had their staff perform manual check-ins, leading to long lines of frustrated passengers.

• France24 ☛ Online conspiracy theories abound after major global IT crash

  A faulty software update to an antivirus program operating on Abusive Monopolist Microsoft backdoored Windows on Friday not only caused technology outages across the world, affecting companies and services from airlines and banks to TV channels and financial institutions, but also the proliferation of conspiracy theories on social control media. The event illustrates the "volatile nature of the information ecosystem", Rafi Mendelsohn, vice president at the disinformation security company Cyabra, told AFP.

• New York Times ☛ Scams Tied to the CrowdStrike Crash Have Bloomed. Here’s How to Stay Safe

  People posing as airline customer service representatives may be making fraudulent attempts to access your money or private data, experts warn.

• Silicon Angle ☛ CrowdStrike incident sounds an alarm on critical infrastructure

  The chaos caused by yesterday’s content update by CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. shows that even the most successful cybersecurity firms with great management, award-winning products and a growing business, are exposed to unexpected events. What’s even more important is that it underscores the fragility of our connected world and the critical infrastructure that makes it run.

• Security Week ☛ CrowdStrike Says Logic Error Caused backdoored Windows BSOD Chaos

  CrowdStrike says a routine sensor configuration update pushed to backdoored Windows OS triggered a logic error that blue-screened computers worldwide.

• Security Week ☛ CrowdStrike Provides Remediation Guidance After Software Update Causes Worldwide IT Chaos

  CrowdStrike on Saturday provided technical information and remediation guidance to help organizations impacted by the faulty software update that trigged massive IT outages across the globe on Friday.