Russian officials have claimed that Moscow was largely unaffected by a global IT systems outage, attributing this to the country’s increased self-sufficiency due to Western sanctions. These sanctions, imposed over Russia’s war in Ukraine, have led companies like Microsoft to suspend new product sales and scale down operations in Russia.
The outage, caused by CrowdStrike’s ‘Falcon Sensor’ software, did not impact Russian systems, as local cybersecurity firms like Kaspersky Labs dominate the market. The Kremlin, along with major companies such as Rosatom and leading banks, reported no disruptions.
Financial and currency markets in Russia also remained stable. Preparations for potential disconnections from foreign software due to sanctions have been ongoing, with significant investments in domestically developed software. VTB, Russia’s second-largest lender, plans to increase its use of local software to 95% by the end of the year.
However, IT experts caution that the risks of insufficiently tested software updates are universal. Eldar Murtazin, an IT expert, noted that while Russian software performed well during the current incident, future glitches remain a possibility if proper controls are not maintained.
Security experts have criticised CrowdStrike for the lack of quality checks on a recent update of its Falcon sensor software, which led to a global tech outage on Friday. The faulty update, intended to enhance security against hacking, caused widespread disruptions affecting global banks, airlines, hospitals, and government offices.
The issue arose from problematic code within the update, resulting in systems running Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashing. The failure was visible on users’ screens as ‘blue screens of death,’ and restoring affected systems requires manually removing the flawed code. According to experts, the oversight likely occurred due to inadequate vetting or sandboxing of the update.
CrowdStrike’s response includes providing information to fix the issue, but experts say the resolution will be time-consuming. The incident highlights the risks associated with frequent updates and the importance of thorough testing. Similar issues have occurred with other security firms, but the global impact underscores CrowdStrike’s extensive reach, serving over half of Fortune 500 companies and major government agencies.
Australia’s cyber intelligence agency warned on Saturday about the release of ‘malicious websites and unofficial code’ online, claiming to aid recovery from Friday’s global digital outage. The outage, caused by a botched software update from CrowdStrike, impacted various sectors, including media, retailers, banks, and airlines.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) urged consumers to obtain technical information and updates exclusively from official CrowdStrike sources to avoid falling victim to scams. Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil also cautioned Australians to be vigilant against potential scams and phishing attempts.
The outage affected the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, causing temporary disruptions in PayID payments, which were later resolved. National airline Qantas and Sydney airport experienced delays but maintained operations. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that critical infrastructure, government services, and emergency phone systems were unaffected.
CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity provider with nearly 30.000 global subscribers, previously reached a market cap of about $83 billion. Despite the widespread disruption, the swift response helped mitigate further issues and ensured a quick recovery.
A global tech outage on Friday affected some external vendors responsible for content moderation on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. According to a Meta spokesperson, the outage temporarily impacted several tools used by these vendors, causing minimal disruption to Meta’s support operations but not significantly affecting content moderation efforts.
The outage led to a SEV1 alert at Meta, indicating a critical issue that required immediate attention. Meta relies on a combination of AI and human review to moderate the billions of posts made on its platforms. While Meta staff handle some reviews, most are outsourced to vendors like Teleperformance and Concentrix, who employ numerous workers to identify and address rule violations such as hate speech and violence.
Despite the outage disrupting vendor access to key systems that route flagged content for review, operations continued as expected. Concentrix reported monitoring and addressing the impacts of the outage, while Teleperformance did not provide a comment. Meta confirmed that the issues had been resolved earlier in the day, ensuring minimal to no impact on their content moderation processes.
CrowdStrike reported on Sunday that many of the 8.5 million Microsoft devices affected by a global tech outage that occurred on Friday are now back online and functioning. The outage, linked to a software update, had disrupted services for millions of users worldwide.
Efforts to restore operations have been successful, with a significant number of devices returning to normal. The swift recovery underscores the importance of robust cybersecurity measures and efficient response protocols in mitigating the impact of such widespread outages.
As systems continue to be restored, the focus remains on ensuring stability and preventing future disruptions. The incident highlights the critical need for continuous vigilance and rapid response in the tech industry to maintain service reliability and user trust.
Microsoft announced on Friday that the underlying cause of a global outage has been resolved. However, some Office 365 apps and services continue to experience residual impacts from the cybersecurity outages. The company is working to restore normal operations and fully mitigate any ongoing issues.
The initial outage had widespread effects, disrupting key sectors such as airlines, media, healthcare, and financial services, which also experienced significant impacts around the world. The root cause of the outage was traced to a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
The company’s CEO, George Kurtz, announced that they identified and fixed the update that caused Windows systems to crash globally. Kurtz emphasised that the incident was not a security breach or cyberattack.
As Microsoft continues to resolve these residual impacts, users are advised to remain patient and expect intermittent disruptions until full functionality is restored.
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. CEO George Kurtz announced that the company has identified and fixed the update that caused Windows systems to crash globally. Kurtz emphasised that the incident was not a security breach or cyberattack. The issue stemmed from CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product, which coincided with disruptions in Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, leading to widespread IT outages.
CrowdStrike 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. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…
The outages affected several major companies, including McDonald’s, United Airlines, and the LSE Group, which reported communication issues. KLM had to suspend most flights due to the global computer outage. Despite the swift deployment of a fix, CrowdStrike’s shares fell 16% in premarket trading.
The following incident highlights the interconnected nature of modern IT infrastructure and the far-reaching impact of technical issues. CrowdStrike’s quick response helped mitigate further disruptions, but the event underscores the importance of robust and resilient IT systems.
A widespread cyber outage on Friday disrupted operations across various sectors in Australia and New Zealand. Key industries, including media, retail, banking, airlines, and telecommunications, were affected by issues stemming from cybersecurity firms CrowdStrike and Microsoft. Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, faced service interruptions, and national airline Qantas reported flight delays.
Victoria state police experienced internal system disruptions, although emergency services remained operational. The outage also impacted several media companies, with state broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia reporting significant network failures. According to Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, despite the extensive impact, there was no evidence of a cybersecurity attack.
New Zealand also felt the effects, with parliamentary computer systems compromised. Retail operations were hindered, as evidenced by error messages seen on payment systems at Harris Farm grocery stores in Sydney. The outage was linked to a technical issue with a third-party software platform, causing widespread disruptions, but it is not believed to be the result of a hack.
A major tech outage on Friday disrupted operations across various industries worldwide. Airlines such as American, Delta, and United grounded flights due to communication issues, while airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Berlin reported delays. The disruption extended to financial services, with banks and stock exchanges experiencing significant interruptions. Microsoft’s cloud services and Amazon’s AWS were also impacted, further complicating matters.
The root cause of the outage was traced to a software update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Their Falcon Sensor software caused Microsoft Windows systems to crash, displaying the notorious ‘Blue Screen of Death.’ CrowdStrike has begun rolling back the problematic update, offering a manual workaround to mitigate the issue. Despite the widespread impact, there was no indication that the outage was due to a cyberattack.
The outage’s ripple effect was felt globally, hitting healthcare and media sectors. Sky News went off air in the UK, and doctors’ booking systems were down. In Australia, telecom companies and banks faced disruptions linked to CrowdStrike’s software issues. As companies work to restore their systems, the global scope of the outage underscores the interconnected nature of modern technology infrastructure.
A US judge has dismissed most of an SEC lawsuit against software company SolarWinds, which accused it of defrauding investors by concealing security weaknesses linked to a Russia-backed cyberattack. Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled that claims against SolarWinds and its chief information security officer, Timothy Brown, were based on ‘hindsight and speculation’ and lacked concrete evidence.
The judge dismissed most claims related to statements made before the cyberattack, except for one regarding a statement on SolarWinds’ website about its security controls. The SEC had alleged that SolarWinds hid its cybersecurity vulnerabilities before the attack and downplayed its severity afterwards. SolarWinds expressed satisfaction with the decision, calling the remaining claim factually inaccurate.
The cyberattack, known as Sunburst, targeted SolarWinds’ Orion software platform and compromised several US government networks, including the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, State, and Treasury. The US government has attributed the attack to Russia, which has denied involvement.
This case, filed last October, was notable for being one of the first where the SEC sued a company that was a victim of a cyberattack without announcing a settlement. It is also rare for the SEC to sue public company executives not closely involved in preparing financial statements.
