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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Nick Robins-Early

What is CrowdStrike, and how did it cause a global Windows outage?

people in front of a board listing flights that are delayed
Passengers wait in front of a board displaying delayed flight information at Bilbao Airport in Bilbao, Spain, on 19 July 2024. Photograph: Vincent West/Reuters

A global technology outage on Friday grounded flights, disrupted health services, crashed payment systems and blocked access to Microsoft services in what experts believe is one of the largest IT failures in history.

The cause of the disruptions originated from a cybersecurity firm called CrowdStrike, which provides software to a wide range of industries. An update to one of CrowdStrike’s pieces of software, Falcon Sensor, malfunctioned, throwing a wrench into computers running Windows, leading to major tech failures around the world, the company said.

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