When your cybersecurity firm tasked with guarding against dangerous malware unleashes the biggest global IT crisis in history, there’s nowhere to hide. So Shawn Henry cut straight to the chase.
“On Friday we failed you, and for that we are deeply sorry,” began the post, written by CrowdStrike’s chief security officer.
An update released in the cloud just hours before the end of the work week caused Windows-based computer systems to crash, restart and crash again in an endless loop punctuated only by a so-called BSOD. or Blue Screen of Death.
Key industries around the world that use Crowdstrike’s Falcon software — such as airlines, banking and healthcare — were crippled for hours if not days. Delta Airlines is reeling, canceling hundreds of flights Monday and leaving passengers stranded for days.
This CrowdStrike outage is scary. Imagine having to go to each of the systems that went down and fix them manually. It’s even worse with FDE.
I have flashbacks of Nimda and the reboot loop, but this is worse. pic.twitter.com/qY5apjMBaU
— Tim Medin 🇺🇦🌻 (@TimMedin) July 19, 2024
Henry continued: “The confidence we had in drips over the years was lost in the buckets in a matter of hours, and it was break the bowels. “We’re letting down the very people we’re trying to protect, and to say we’re frustrated is a huge understatement.”
The real story presented is a stark contrast to the message from CEO and founder George Kurtz, whose company has lost nearly a quarter of its value as investors await word on the lawsuits. there may be.
Kurtz’s first statement on Friday came off so clean that customers would have been forgiven for thinking the problem lay elsewhere. Since there was no direct admission of CrowdStrike’s guilt, there was no short word of apology.
nor an apology? Bold strategy.
– Tom Warren (@tomwarren) July 19, 2024
The way he reacted surprised him in a way. In theory, Kurtz should have some problem solving skills, as he served as McAfee’s chief technology officer at a time when it was also hacking millions of computers around the world with 2010.
Now, US House leaders are calling Kurtz to testify before Congress to explain the software development fiasco.
The businesses most affected are those that provide essential services
For some customers, his CSO’s words come too late.
“We have just deleted Crowdstrike from all of our operations,” Elon Musk tweeted on Friday, though it was unclear whether he was referring to one or all of his businesses.
We have just removed Crowdstrike from all of our systems, so there is absolutely no advertising
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 19, 2024
In terms of economic losses, it is difficult to accurately measure the damage that his software firm has done to the world. Microsoft estimates that only 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than 1% of all machines, were affected by the end of the day. The problem was the number of industries that rely on CrowdStrike’s Falcon software.
“While the percentage was small, the broader economic and social impact reflects the use of CrowdStrike by businesses that run many critical services,” Microsoft said on Saturday.
Since then, investors have flocked to SentinelOne, whose stock has gained more than 20% since Friday. CrowdStrike’s announcement may have included cybersecurity firm Wiz now in a reported deal to be bought by Google parent Alphabet, for about $23 billion.
Seeing the pullback from CrowdStrike, Deutsche Bank analysts rushed to get a seller’s note indicating that it was a short-term opportunity to buy such a high-value asset.
“However,” it added, “surprisingly, we were unable to publish our first research paper because of the disconnect.”
CEO Daily provides key news that leaders need to know from across the business world. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for information about—and from inside—the C-suite. Register Now.
#CrowdStrikes #CSO #blasts #stock #failure #stocks #drop #trust #built #drops #years #lost #buckets #matter #hours #punch #line