News CrowdStrike outages cause disruptions in Japan

[thomas]

On 19 July, computers running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system faced a significant service disruption, impacting users domestically and internationally. By 15:00, numerous reports emerged of computer screens abruptly shutting down and displaying error messages like "Windows couldn't load correctly," rendering devices unable to reboot. Affected users in Japan took to social media to describe the issue, with one user lamenting, "It's stuck in an infinite restart loop." Microsoft Japan Co. has announced that they are "investigating the issue."

Microsoft outage causes disruptions in Japan, worldwide - The Mainichi

Computers equipped with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system experienced an apparent major service disruption on July 19, believed to have affec

mainichi.jp

Airports were affected, and so was McDonald's Japan:

McDonald’s in Japan Hit by Systems Outage, Closing 30% of Stores

McDonald’s Corp. in Japan suspended about 30% of its stores nationwide on Friday after a systems outage.

www.bloomberg.com

These disruptions occurred worldwide:

• Major IT outages are hitting industries across the world, with airlines, banking, shops and healthcare affected
• Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike says a "defect" in one of its content updates is to blame, hitting Windows operating systems
• "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed," the firm says

Chaos persists as IT outage could take time to fix, says cybersecurity firm boss

Airports, banking and healthcare were all hit when a Crowdstrike update triggered huge Microsoft outages.

www.bbc.com

Japan mostly spared in global IT meltdown despite reports of some bugs

Around the world, airlines, network broadcasts and banks said their systems were disrupted.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Global cyber outage blamed on security software update

Broadcasters, airports and several companies across the world were hit with major disruptions after an update caused a global tech outage. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said it has issued a fix. DW has more.

www.dw.com

 

[Grandpa Frank]

AS long as JREF is OK , I'm good.

 

[Petaris]

@thomas It wasn't Microsoft, it was the Next Gen Anti-virus/malware/ransomeware vendor CrowdStrike. They pushed an update that caused windows to reboot and BSOD in an endless loop. Fun times were had by all.

 

[mdchachi]

One of the few times that Microsoft doesn't deserve the blame.
Or perhaps Microsoft could do a better job of not allowing other companies' software to brick their computers?
From what I heard on the news although the outage was caused by a remotely triggered update, the recovery requires physical hands-on support for every affected computer. So the recovery/impact is quite huge.

 

[nice gaijin]

Man this is a massive blunder, glad none of my stuff is affected it seems.

We rely so much on technology, but it's all loosely held together with duct tape and toothpicks

 

[Petaris]

Man this is a massive blunder, glad none of my stuff is affected it seems.

We rely so much on technology, but it's all loosely held together with duct tape and toothpicks

And probably some library supported by a single person for the last 20 years. Dependency

 

[mdchachi]

And probably some library supported by a single person for the last 20 years. Dependency

Curious what kind of testing they did or didn't do. It's easy to miss certain dependencies given all the various configurations there are but something like this that affected their entire customer base means they didn't properly test it somehow. Maybe they hired some quality management folks from Boeing.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I always figured the next big issue would be a giant solar flare.

 

[thomas]

It wasn't Microsoft, it was the Next Gen Anti-virus/malware/ransomeware vendor CrowdStrike. They pushed an update that caused windows to reboot and BSOD in an endless loop. Fun times were had by all.

Thanks, I have updated the thread title. Glad it's not MS to be blamed.

 

[salyavin]

Curious what kind of testing they did or didn't do. It's easy to miss certain dependencies given all the various configurations there are but something like this that affected their entire customer base means they didn't properly test it somehow. Maybe they hired some quality management folks from Boeing.

CrowdStrike broke Debian and Rocky Linux months ago, but no one noticed

CrowdStrike recently caused a widespread Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue on Windows PCs, disrupting various sectors. However, this was not an isolated incident, CrowdStrike affected Linux PCs also.

www.neowin.net

"Crowdstrike's model seems to be 'we push software to your machines any time we want, whether or not it's urgent, without testing it'," lamented the team member.

 

[salyavin]

Windows 3.1 saves the day during CrowdStrike outage — Southwest Airlines scrapes by with archaic OS

Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 save the day.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[nice gaijin]

I thought this was a joke!!