“We are aware of this issue and are working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online,” Nadella stated on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Microsoft’s Windows devices, Microsoft 365, and Azure affected
The outage, which began yesterday, has resulted in countless Windows PCs and servers encountering the “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD), effectively rendering them inoperable. This has triggered a domino effect, placing extraordinary strain on Microsoft’s data centres and network infrastructure, subsequently affecting Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz clarified that the incident was not a security breach or cyberattack. “Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected,” Kurtz said. He added, “We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption.”
The faulty update has impacted a wide range of critical services globally. Airlines have reported grounded flights, banks are experiencing service interruptions, and even 911 emergency services in several US states have been compromised.
While CrowdStrike has identified the issue and deployed a fix, recovery is expected to be a gradual process. IT administrators face the challenging task of manually resetting affected machines, a process that could take days or even weeks for large organisations.