Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike announced on Wednesday that a bug in a software update was responsible for the worldwide disruptions to banks, retailers, and airlines last week.
CrowdStrike explained that the update was intended to collect new data on potential threats. However, an undetected bug in the update caused certain Windows operating systems to crash, leading to the infamous “Blue Screen of Death.”
Approximately 8.5 million machines were affected in total, but the impact was much broader due to the interconnected systems that relied on those computers. Hospitals, government agencies, TV stations, banks, and airlines all experienced at least temporary disruptions.
As of Wednesday, some businesses were still in the process of fully recovering from the downtime.
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CrowdStrike has implemented changes to its procedures to reduce the risk of future crashes. The company will now stagger updates instead of deploying them globally simultaneously and conduct more internal testing on updates to identify bugs before they go live.
Regulators are currently investigating CrowdStrike and the outage. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a federal investigation into Delta Air Lines, and lawmakers are requesting testimony from CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to explain the incident.
“All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers,” said U.S. Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan on Sunday. “Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems.”
