CrowdStrike Software Update Causes Global Computer Crash

A recent CrowdStrike software update led to a global computer crash, affecting services in various sectors such as aviation, banking, and healthcare. The issue was traced back to a bug in the company's quality control mechanism. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, and the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has sought testimony from CrowdStrike's CEO.

A global computer crash last week, affecting services from aviation to banking and healthcare, was linked to a CrowdStrike software update, the U.S. cybersecurity firm confirmed on Wednesday. The fault was traced back to a bug in the company's quality control mechanism.

The outage occurred because the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor, an advanced platform for protecting systems from malware and hackers, contained a flaw causing computers using Microsoft's Windows operating system to crash with the infamous 'Blue Screen of Death.' The issue arose when the Content Validator, an internal quality control mechanism, failed to detect problematic data.

The cybersecurity firm has yet to disclose what that problematic content was or why it was problematic. The U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee has asked CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify. Meanwhile, CrowdStrike has introduced new checks to prevent similar issues in the future.

(With inputs from agencies.)