A widespread computer outage on Friday impacted airports, banks, and various businesses. This disruption appears to be linked, at least in part, to a software update released by the prominent US cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike.
This unexpected event has put CrowdStrike in the spotlight, prompting questions about the company and its role in the tech landscape.
What is CrowdStrike?
Founded in 2011, CrowdStrike is a leading cloud-delivered endpoint protection platform (EPP) provider. Their core product, Falcon Complete, offers a comprehensive security solution that includes:
- Next-gen Antivirus (NGAV): Protects against malware, ransomware, and other threats.
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Provides real-time visibility into endpoint activity for threat hunting and incident response.
- Managed Threat Hunting: Offers a team of security experts who actively search for threats within your environment.
- Vulnerability Management: Identifies and prioritizes vulnerabilities on your endpoints.
CrowdStrike’s cloud-native architecture allows for rapid deployment and scalability, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Their focus on endpoint security is particularly relevant in today’s world, where cyberattacks increasingly target devices like laptops and servers.
CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software, utilized by numerous Fortune 500 companies across sectors such as banking, healthcare, and energy, is designed to detect and block hacking threats. This software, like other cybersecurity products, requires deep access to a computer’s operating system to perform thorough threat scans. Recently, computers running Microsoft Windows have experienced crashes due to a problematic interaction between a CrowdStrike software code update and the Windows operating system.
The company said the outage was not caused by a security incident or a cyberattack. Kurtz, in his post, said the issue was identified and isolated, and engineers deployed an update to fix the problem.
CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…
— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024
What is CrowdStrike known for?
CrowdStrike, a prominent global cybersecurity company, is known for its software sales and major hack investigations. The company also assists the US government in cybersecurity probes, having tracked North Korean hackers for over a decade. Notably, CrowdStrike was responsible for tracking the hacking groups behind the 2014 Sony Pictures hack.
However, CrowdStrike is perhaps best recognized for its investigation into the Russian hack of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 US election. Since 2016, the company has been the subject of false conspiracy theories, particularly after a White House transcript revealed that former President Donald Trump mentioned CrowdStrike during a July 2016 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which led to his first impeachment.
CrowdStrike was the first to publicly alert the world to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, and its assessment was later corroborated by US intelligence agencies.
