A global outage of a Microsoft tool is causing widespread disruption to businesses around the world. An update to Crowdstrike, a malware-blocking tool, has affected the cloud system used by numerous companies. The failure has been reported in the United States, Australia, and Spain, among other countries, and has forced Microsoft to implement "mitigation measures" to restore normalcy.
Crowdstrike, the company behind the antivirus software, has acknowledged the issue, which is believed to have been caused by a scheduled update in the past few hours. The error causes computers to constantly restart, resulting in a "blue screen of death."
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The root of the problem lies in the failure of the antivirus software. When Windows and Microsoft Azure cannot guarantee security, they automatically shut down to prevent a potential cyberattack. When the antivirus failure was detected, the Microsoft cloud system went down, leaving affected companies unable to operate.
The outage has affected major companies across various industries, including transportation, healthcare, and those that handle large volumes of data in the cloud. Among the affected companies are Aena, which is trying to operate manually, resulting in flight delays and cancellations; Osakidetza, which has been unable to access its scheduling system; and Repsol, which has been affected by the outage.
Other companies, such as Mercedes, have also been impacted, with production halted due to the failure. Banks, including Kutxabank and Caja Laboral, have also experienced serious issues operating; Bizum or Visa, reports many problems in transactions. The outage has also affected drivers, who are unable to pass their vehicles through the ITV due to the failure of the system.
