Slow recovery after CrowdStrike update sparks global IT outage
Al Jazeera
Head of the cybersecurity firm issues a public apology but cautions that a total recovery could take weeks.
Businesses and services around the world were slowly recovering after a massive technology outage wreaked havoc across the world and raised questions about the vulnerability of the global interconnected economy.
A faulty software update caused the “unprecedented” outage on Friday, grounding flights, knocking out financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, supermarkets, small businesses and government offices.
By Saturday, several services were back online, but George Kurtz, the CEO of US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike – whose botched software update on its Falcon Sensor hit Microsoft’s Windows operating system – cautioned that a total recovery could take weeks.
CrowdStrike said it had rolled out a fix for the problem and Kurtz told US broadcaster CNBC he wanted to “personally apologise to every organisation, every group and every person who has been impacted” by the widespread glitch.
US President Joe Biden’s team was talking to CrowdStrike and those affected and was “standing by to provide assistance as needed”, the White House said in a statement.
