An IT outage affected 8.5 million Windows computers on Friday, July 19, causing widespread disruptions. The issue stemmed from a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon system, which caused Windows PCs and servers to enter a boot loop according to Microsoft.
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity firm specialising in Windows security. Microsoft claimed that the European Union was the reason behind the outage, and why the company was unable to take any preventive measures in the first place.
A 2009 agreement mandated by the European Commission prevented Microsoft from making security changes that could have blocked the faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which caused an estimated 8.5 million computers to fail, the tech giant stated in comments to the Wall Street Journal.
CrowdStrike’s Falcon system, designed to prevent cyberattacks, has privileged access to the ‘kernel,’ a critical part of a computer. Microsoft, which offers Windows Defender as an alternative, agreed in 2009 to permit multiple security providers to install software at the kernel level as part of a European Commission investigation.
Microsoft’s decision to allow third-party security software the same level of access as its own Windows Defender was influenced by the EU agreement. This agreement aimed to address antitrust concerns but has now been pointed to as a contributing factor in the recent outage.
While the Falcon system’s deep integration with Windows OS contributed to the severity of the issue, Apple’s closed ecosystem prevented similar problems for Mac users. Apple’s policy of restricting kernel-level access to its macOS since 2020 helped avoid such catastrophic failures, according to Patrick Wardle, CEO of Mac security firm DoubleYou.
A Microsoft spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that it was unable to implement a similar change due to the terms of the EU agreement.
As a result of the IT meltdown on Friday, flights were grounded, GP surgeries were disrupted, and news channels went off the air due to faulty updates causing blue screens to appear on computers worldwide.