Global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike update in Windows 10 systems

The widespread IT outage affecting multiple countries and sectors has caused significant disruptions, particularly impacting Windows 10 users. The crisis is reportedly linked to a recent update of CrowdStrike, a cloud-based antivirus solution. This update has allegedly led to system crashes, creating substantial challenges for air traffic control systems, banks, broadcasters, and other critical infrastructure.

Affected regions include Australia, New Zealand, India, and Israel , Japan. Monitoring sites like Down Detector have recorded outages at major services such as the Microsoft Store, Amazon, and airlines including Delta and Ryanair.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that the Kremlin’s IT systems have not been affected by the widespread Microsoft outage. Additionally, Russian flight and railway authorities have reported that their operations are continuing without interruption. This suggests that the impact of the CrowdStrike-related disruptions has not extended to Russia’s critical infrastructure, which probably hints that the infrastructure there is most likely protected by Kaspersky instead of CrowdStrike

As efforts to resolve the issue continue globally, unaffected regions like Russia remain operational, possibly due to different IT infrastructure or security measures in place.

Dubai International Airport says it has returned to normal operations after some of its check-in procedures were affected by the global outage. It noted that “airlines promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly.”

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, has addressed the widespread IT outage, acknowledging the role of their recent update in the disruptions. He stated, "The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed." Kurtz emphasized that the CrowdStrike team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of their customers, reassuring that only Windows 10 users were affected, while Mac and Linux hosts remained unaffected.

As the fix is being rolled out, efforts are underway to restore normalcy across the impacted sectors. Organizations and users affected by the outage are advised to follow the latest guidance from CrowdStrike and their IT departments to ensure systems are updated and secure.

For those already affected, CrowdStrike provides the following workaround steps:

Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory
Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.
Boot the host normally.

Affected services list :

Ryanair
Heathrow Airport
Ryanair
Microsoft365
UK National Health Service
US 911 emergency centers in State of Alaska
UK-based Sky News – which went off air – as well as the Australia-based ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9, and News Corp Australia.
Turkish Airlines
Israel’s Health Ministry
Microsoft Store
Amazon
Delta Airlines
McDonalds branches in Japan
Dubai International Airport