New York: A global technology outage on Friday disrupted operations across industries worldwide, affecting airlines, banks, hospitals, and media outlets. The widespread disruption was traced back to a faulty update pushed by CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm providing software to numerous companies globally.

The issue arose when CrowdStrike deployed an update for its "Falcon" tool, specifically impacting Windows operating systems while leaving Mac and Linux unaffected. The repercussions were significant due to the widespread reliance on CrowdStrike's security solutions, highlighting vulnerabilities in global technology dependence.

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Airports experienced long queues as airlines lost access to crucial check-in and booking systems during peak travel times. Banks in various countries, including South Africa and New Zealand, reported disruptions affecting online services and payments. Hospitals faced delays and cancellations in critical care appointments due to problems with their systems.

Experts underscored the risks associated with such widespread reliance on software from a few providers. Craig Shue from Worcester Polytechnic Institute emphasised that while concentrated software management ensures quick threat responses, any failures could have extensive repercussions.

CrowdStrike, founded in 2011 and publicly listed since 2017, specialises in cloud-based security technologies and collaborates with Amazon Web Services. The company reported a substantial increase in revenue last quarter, reflecting its pivotal role in the cybersecurity landscape.

Efforts to resolve the outage continued throughout the day, with CrowdStrike deploying fixes and Microsoft rerouting traffic to mitigate impacts. Both companies assured customers of ongoing support and engagement through various online platforms to assist in recovery efforts.

Microsoft outage: CERT-In Director General says India was less affected due to lower reliance on CrowdStrike

Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), on Friday explained why the country was less affected by the Microsoft outage. His statement to news portal ANI shed light on how the CrowdStrike tool-related outage had a lesser impact on India.

“Its impact in India was much less as compared to the Western countries. And the reason is that it has to be purchased separately and not many people have bought it as a tool to protect themselves. There are other competing products available as well and people use those products instead of using CrowdStrike,” he said.