The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued an advisory about a major outage affecting Microsoft Windows systems on July 19. The disruption is due to a recent update of the CrowdStrike agent, Falcon Sensor, which has caused systems to crash and show the "Blue Screen of Death" (BSOD).
Reports indicate that Windows hosts with the updated Falcon Sensor are unstable, leading to widespread system crashes and outages.
The widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and global companies. The disruptions continued even after Microsoft said it was gradually resolving the Microsoft 365 apps and services issue.
DownDetector, which tracks user-reported outages, recorded increasing service outages at Visa, ADT security, Amazon, and airlines like American Airlines and Delta.
Australian news publications reported disruptions to airlines, telecommunications, banks and media broadcasters. Airlines in the UK and Europe reported issues, and some banks in New Zealand went offline.
India's top stock exchanges, NSE and BSE, stated that they remained unaffected by the global Microsoft system outage.
Airport and airline operations experienced major disruptions because of the outage. Airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa, advised passengers about issues with online check-in and boarding, causing them to revert to manual processes across their networks.
Ashwini Vaishaw, Union Minister for Information Technology, has assured that the Centre was in touch with the company.
"MEITY is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage. The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue. CERT is issuing a technical advisory. The NIC network is not affected," ANI quoted Vaishaw as saying.
Meanwhile, social media went ablaze with jokes and memes. Check out some of the funniest ones:
CERT-In has recommended the following steps if you encounter the Blue Screen of Death:
1. First, boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment.
2. Next, navigate to the directory C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike and locate the file matching the pattern "C-00000291*.sys".
3. Once identified, delete the file. Finally, reboot the host normally.
(With agency inputs)
