Update (1023ET):
With the US cash market underway, shares of CrowdStrike are down about 10%, while Microsoft lost about half a percent. CrowdStrike confirmed earlier its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product sparked worldwide chaos and crashed Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.
CrowdStrike
Microsoft
“Friday’s global tech outage is an example of an unforeseen event that market participants always fear, but don’t frequently think about,” said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management, who Bloomberg quoted.
Smith said, “While there are sizable declines in the stocks of the individual companies that are closest to this tech outage, we expect the broader markets to look past Friday’s outage.”
Earlier, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X that the company is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.”
The company stated the problem has been “identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.”
For some, the worldwide IT outage seemed a little “like Y2K, except it actually happened this time.”
Early Friday, a global IT outage caused by an issue with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike disrupted flights, banks, retailers, stock exchanges, 911 call centers, and media outlets. Experts say this could be one of the largest IT outages in modern history.
Bloomberg reported that CrowdStrike warned customers that its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product was the source of the chaos, causing Microsoft’s Windows operating system to crash. There was no mention of what triggered the issue, and there were reports of disruptions in Microsoft’s Azure cloud and 365 Office software.
“We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform,” Microsoft said in a statement, adding, “We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming.”
Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, told Bloomberg this global outage is “unprecedented” and warned “the economic impact will be huge.”
