We have witnessed power cuts, or some social media platforms are down such as X, Facebook, or WhatsApp. But this time, something happened that caused confusion and chaos. This is all because of the Microsoft outage. It caused disruptions worldwide, from airlines to hospitals. Why this outage happened and what the real reason for this Mircosoft outage is the rising question.
According to recent updates, there were up to 8.5 million Windows devices affected by Friday’s (19-7-2024) Microsoft outage. Let’s unveil what happened and what the consequences of this malfunction were.
What actually happened?
Airlines were grounded, and the operations of 911 lines could not handle the emergencies. Hospitals canceled the surgeries, and retailers closed their businesses because of this disruption. What happened is that the whole world was affected to some extent.
Basically, a flawed software update sent out by a cybersecurity company caused this chaos. Overall, it raised the question: How did a flawed update to Microsoft Windows software cause such a large disruption?
The problem started with an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity company called CrowdStrike. It relied on the global technology industry, including Microsoft, for its Falcon program, which clocks the execution of cyber-attacks or malware. Falcon protects devices by providing security access to a large number of internal systems and updating its defenses automatically. It is a level of integration that, if wavered, the system is closed behind.
After CrowdStrike updated Falcon on Thursday night, Windows PCs and Microsoft systems were hit with a ‘blue screen of death’ that caused the outage.
How has the outage affected everything?
Microsoft has significant market power, dominating cloud-computing infrastructure across Europe and the United States. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just computers that were affected, but a host or servers of other systems as well. Urgent requests from devices, users, businesses, and services caused failure with Microsoft products such as Microsoft 365 and Azure Cloud.
This is how CrowdStrike’s wrong update caused the largest Microsoft outage in history. However, the concern still lies in why a global computational infrastructure seems to have reached this point of failure. One of the CrowdStrike executives also had the same concern.
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A CrowdStrike vice-president, Drew Bagley, said, “Their IT stack may include just a single provider for the operating system, cloud, productivity, email, chat, collaboration, video conferencing, browser, identity, generative AI, and increasingly security as well. This means that the building materials, the supply chain, and even the building inspector are all the same.”
Microsoft blames the EU for the outage
Microsoft says that the European Union is to blame for history’s biggest Microsoft outage on Friday. A 2009 agreement insisted on by the European Commission meant that Microsoft could not make any security changes. This would have blocked the update from cybersecurity company Crowdstrike, which caused almost 8.5 million computers to fail. Thousands of flights were canceled, leaving passengers in haste at airports. Even the UK’s NHS service was also affected, and contactless payments failed to work.
Microsoft has been accused since the early 2000s by the European Commission of having an unfair advantage over its Windows software. Also, Microsoft’s main competitor, Apple, blocked access to the kernel on its Mac systems in 2020, arguing it would improve reliability and security.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for Microsoft said the company could not make similar changes because of the EU agreement. Under the new DigitaL Markets Act, Europe is currently trying to force Apple to grant access to its iPhone to allow alternative web browsers and app stores to be used.
Lastly,
The blue screen of death appeared at airports, hospitals, and businesses and created chaos. CrowdStrik’s chief executive lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to this. Microsoft and CrowdStrike have lost some business and clients. Global businesses lost quite a bit of money and were affected by this Microsoft outage. In addition, the stock price of CrowdStrike, which reported $3 billion in annual revenue in 2023, closed down 11 percent. While some business sectors were affected a lot, others might be affected a little. However, the consequences of such global outages can be atrocious.
A cybersecurity consultant, Mr. Parently, said that until software companies have to pay a price for faulty products, we will be no safer tomorrow than we are today, All those who used Microsft were affected on Friday, but such outages in the future can be a threat to business sectors. So, that was all in this new update. Feel free to contact us to learn about the latest trends and news. Also, you can book a free consultation to get our bespoke software development services.
