Crowdstrike paralyzes security-relevant systems for hours.

Where did the faults occur?

The most noticeable at first were the difficulties in air traffic. The airport in Berlin had to shut down at the beginning of the vacation season of all times. Air traffic was also severely disrupted in Hamburg. In the USA, the FAA stopped flights by airlines such as United, American and Delta. In northern Germany, several clinics had to cancel planned operations. In the UK, a system for booking appointments with the NHS was paralyzed. The British television station Sky News and the London Stock Exchange also had to contend with problems. In addition to Switzerland, problems were also reported in Germany, the USA, India and Australia.

Was it a cyber attack?

No. CrowdStrike has released a statement on X from their CEO and President George Kurtz. It reads, "CrowdStrike is actively working with customers affected by a bug identified in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not affected. This is not a security incident or cyber-attack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix provided."

What caused the malfunction?

There was no clear answer at first. In the first few hours, IT experts were slow to find the cause of the problem. One central theory is that a bug in a program update from the IT security company CrowdStrike could have been the trigger. This in turn would have disrupted software from companies such as Microsoft. The latest update is currently being withdrawn, a CrowdStrike spokesperson told US broadcaster CNBC.

How long did the disruption last?

After a few hours, there were the first signs that the situation was normalizing.

What does CrowdStrike do?

The American company plays an important role in protecting against IT threats and secures websites, among other things. One of its products, Falcon, is used to detect malicious activity in data traffic. According to media reports, a faulty Falcon update could have caused the disruption.

How high is the financial damage caused by the losses?

This will only become clear after weeks or months. In addition to the immediate costs, later claims from affected customers could also play a role. CrowdStrike's share price fell by over 20 percent at times in pre-market trading.

How can a global outage occur?

One reason is the concentration in the tech industry. One service provider often serves thousands of companies, so problems can have far-reaching effects. In the past, mistakes by IT security companies have already paralyzed numerous websites at the same time.

Which CrowdStrike system is affected?

"Falcon Sensor" - the product name of the IT security service from the Californian company Crowdstrike promises sharp monitoring to ward off threats. The security monitoring solution is designed to detect and ward off threats at an early stage. "Falcon Sensor" is a system that monitors activities in real time and is designed to block attacks. Security expert Jürgen Schmidt from Heise Security describes it as "a kind of next-generation antivirus program" that is primarily used by large companies. "End customers don't normally use such systems, but they are still affected by problems that arise when service providers, companies and authorities use them."