A major cyber incident has caused a global digital lockdown, with airports, supermarkets, and banks displaying critical errors following a cybersecurity update.
US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike is responsible for the chaos, with a simple update to its platform causing computers globally to stop working.
On Friday, July 19, a software update went critically wrong. The patch distributed by CrowdStrike caused computers to restart and display a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error.
READ MORE: What we know about the massive global IT outage
What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is a multibillion-dollar cyber security company based in Austin, Texas. Its software is used by close to 30,000 businesses and is installed on millions of computers worldwide.
CrowdStrike is intended to help protect computers and networks from cyber attacks. It provides antivirus software and tools to detect and stop hackers, and other malicious activities.
Its services also include investigating cyberattacks and helping organisations respond quickly to threats.
READ MORE: Biggest IT outage in history brings world to a halt
Who owns CrowdStrike?
Despite the incident primarily affecting Microsoft computers, CrowdStrike is not owned by the computer giant.
CrowdStrike is a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq under CRWD. This means it is owned by its shareholders.
The largest shareholders typically include major investment firms and mutual funds.
George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO, also holds a significant stake in the company. Kurtz is recognised as a leader in the cybersecurity industry with extensive experience in developing and managing security technologies.
Before founding CrowdStrike in 2011, Kurtz was the worldwide chief technology officer and general manager at McAfee, a major cyber security company that produces antivirus software.
READ MORE: Aussies stranded as flights hit by IT outage
Is CrowdStrike safe to use?
CrowdStrike is a well known and highly regarded company in the field of cybersecurity, used by many large organisations, including government agencies and Fortune 500 companies.
Despite a major incident impacting computers utilising its software, as of today, there hasn’t been any data breach to suggest it’s not a safe service.
What is a BSOD?
A BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death, is an error screen displayed by the Windows operating system when a critical system error occurs that causes the system to crash. This error screen indicates that Windows has encountered a problem it cannot recover from without restarting — or in the case of the CrowdStrike patch, needs to be manually fixed.
The most common causes of a BSOD include hardware failures, driver issues, software conflicts, malware and overheating.
When a BSOD occurs, it typically provides an error code and a brief description of the issue, which can be used to diagnose and troubleshoot the problem.
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