A global tech outage, triggered by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, affected nearly 8.5 million Microsoft devices, according to a blog post by Microsoft on Saturday.
“We currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines,” Microsoft stated in the blog.
The update by CrowdStrike, a leading player in the cybersecurity industry, caused system problems that disrupted various services, grounding flights, interrupting broadcasters, and leaving customers without access to essential services like healthcare and banking.
“While the percentage was small, the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that run many critical services,” Microsoft noted.
Microsoft reported that CrowdStrike has assisted in developing a solution to expedite a fix for its Azure infrastructure. Microsoft is also collaborating with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, sharing information about the widespread effects observed across the industry.
The air travel industry was recovering on Saturday from the outage, which led to the cancellation of thousands of flights, stranding passengers and causing significant delays at airports. Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), one of the hardest-hit airlines, reported that by 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Saturday, over 600 flights had been canceled, with more cancellations expected.
