The U.S.-based cybersecurity company, Crowdstrike, announced at approximately 9:30 a.m. Turkish time that a recent update to its Falcon security platform has led to ‘blue screen’ errors on Windows operating systems, causing systems to shut down unexpectedly.
PROBLEM IDENTIFIED
George Kurtz, co-founder of Crowdstrike, confirmed on his social media that the technical disruptions were indeed caused by his company’s update. He clarified that the issue was specific to Windows servers, assuring that Mac and Linux systems remain unaffected. ‘This is neither a security breach nor a cyber attack. The problem has been pinpointed and isolated, and a resolution has been rolled out. Our team is vigilant in maintaining the safety and stability of Crowdstrike clients,’ Kurtz stated.
RESOLVING THE CROWDSTRIKE ERROR
To correct the blue screen error, the company advised rebooting devices in ‘safe mode’ to remove the problematic file. Here are the steps outlined by Crowdstrike:
- Reboot Windows in Safe Mode or Windows Recovery Environment.
- Navigate to C:WindowsSystem32driversCrowdStrike.
- Locate and delete the file named “C-00000291*.sys”.
- Restart the device normally.
CROWDSTRIKE: A LEADER IN CYBERSECURITY
Crowdstrike, renowned for its antivirus software, has its Falcon platform employed by major global corporations, including airlines, banks, and supermarket chains, to secure Windows devices and servers. The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) confirmed that the outages in Turkey were linked to the Crowdstrike update. ‘Following the investigation into the global outage affecting Windows devices, it was concluded that the disruption was not due to a cyber attack,’ stated BTK on social media platform X. The BTK also shared Crowdstrike’s solution proposal in their announcement. In the wake of these outages, Crowdstrike’s stock witnessed a 14% drop.
THE ORIGINS OF CROWDSTRIKE
Founded in 2011 in Texas, USA by George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch, Crowdstrike was established to shield the world’s largest enterprises from cyber threats and vulnerabilities. The company went public on Nasdaq, the world’s second-largest stock exchange for technology stocks, in 2019. Since inception, Crowdstrike has been instrumental in numerous cyberattack investigations. Notably, in 2016, the Democratic Party in the U.S. engaged Crowdstrike to probe into the hacking of its computer networks which resulted in the exposure of internal communications.
UNDERSTANDING THE BLUE SCREEN ERROR
The recent update by Crowdstrike exclusively affected Windows machines, leading to the blue screen errors. As per Microsoft, a blue screen error arises ‘when Windows encounters a critical problem, prompting an unexpected shutdown or restart.’ Users might see an alert indicating that ‘Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.’ Typically, this error is remedied by removing the offending hardware or software. For users unable to restart their devices, Microsoft suggests running Windows in ‘safe mode’ to address the issue.
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