What we know about the global outage caused by CrowdStrike

Things suddenly got weird on Friday afternoon for millions of Australians, as well as for many more millions of people around the world. Here is what we know so far about the CrowdStrike global outage.

WHAT HAPPENED?
A bug in cybersecurity* software used by public institutions and private companies, from broadcasting*, to tech, to finance and logistics* and even supermarkets and airlines, triggered massive computer system failures.

Devices including personal computers, self-serve check-outs and EFTPOS machines were shut down or entered a “blue screen of death” state, characterised by a sad emoji and a Windows error message.

Even at Sydney Airport, the nation’s busiest airport and the main international gateway to Australia, the travelling public were greeted by blued-out arrivals and departure boards, and flights themselves were cancelled and delayed.

HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
The issue started with cyber security provider CrowdStrike*, which provides data protection software for its customers. It’s believed an update to one of its products – Falcon sensor – pushed out overnight in the US contained a “defect”.

CrowdStrike president and CEO George Kurtz confirmed the issue only hit Windows hosts, and by 8pm Friday night said the issue had been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed”.

The exact nature of the bug is unknown.

HOW MANY COUNTRIES WERE AFFECTED?
Experts are calling this one of the biggest global outages ever experienced, hitting countries all across the world. Known countries impacted by the outage include: Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Central America and China.

HOW WERE AIRPORTS AND AIRLINES IMPACTED?
Air passengers across the world faced cancellations, delays and problems checking in as airlines were caught up in the outage.

Several major US airlines, including American Airlines, United and Delta grounded flights, while other airlines were forced to delay or cancel flights.

Australian airline Jetstar was hit hardest by the outage here, with the airline being forced to cancel or delay tens of flights.

Many airports such as Singapore’s Changi, Hong Kong International Airport, and some Sydney airlines switched to manual checks, with self-service facilities crippled by the outage.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
The fix required IT departments at affected companies to manually deploy a workaround, which meant for major companies with 24/7 support, the issue was mostly fixed by Saturday morning. For others, resolving the crisis could take longer. The issue will likely force companies to reconsider spending their cybersecurity dollars with CrowdStrike – or at least put extra defences in place to prevent a repeat.

Some experts have said the outage could be a “dress rehearsal*” for what a cyber terror attack* could look like.

WHAT NOW?
Cyber security experts have urged the Australian public not to panic – this wasn’t a cyber attack or security breach – and that such incidents are a “reality of life in the digital age”. If your school was affected, the IT department will likely have already responded, and services have mostly fully resumed worldwide. Local business impacts and flow-on effects for airlines will likely ease from here – but if you’re shopping or travelling early in the week, it’s still probably a good idea to check for updates.

WERE PERSONAL COMPUTERS IMPACTED?
Fortunately, CrowdStrike’s software is generally used on large business systems, meaning home computers were not impacted by the outage.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• cybersecurity: the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attack
• broadcasting: radio and television industries
• logistics: supply chain management, the movement and provision of goods and services
• CrowdStrike: American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas.
• dress rehearsal: originally a theatre term for a warm up or final run through before opening night and now also used to refer to any event that prepares for the real thing
• cyber terror attack: planned use of computers and information technology to cause severe disruption, widespread fear and possible violence

EXTRA READING

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QUICK QUIZ

1. Which company was at the centre of the global outage?
2. Name five of the countries impacted by the outage?
3. Experts have said the outage could be a dress rehearsal for what kind of event?
4. Which Australian airline was worst affected by the crisis?
5. How did the issue start?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. News: condensed
Identify the most important pieces of information in this article and write a condensed version of it using 50 words or less.

Draw a picture or diagram to support your condensed news story.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science

2. Extension
Compare your condensed news story with a classmate. Did you both include the same information or are your stories quite different? Discuss your choices and then work together to create a final condensed version of the story that you both agree tells the important parts that a reader would need or want to know.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY
BAB it!
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives “because’’, “and”, and “but” (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.