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microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said on Saturday that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected by the global outage caused by a faulty update provided by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD), an event that paralyzed several industries around the world.
According to the tech giant, that figure represented less more than one percent of all Windows machines.
“While the percentage was small, the broad economic and social impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises running many critical services,” said David Weston, vice president of enterprise and operating systems security at Microsoft (MSFT), in a statement. blog entry.
A flaw in a CrowdStrike (CRWD) Falcon content update for Windows hosts triggered the so-called “blue screen of death” on several Windows systems around the world on Friday, affecting everything from airlines to banks to healthcare companies. Many have called the event the world’s largest IT outage.
“This incident demonstrates the interconnected nature of our broader ecosystem: global cloud providers, software platforms, security and other software vendors, and customers. It is also a reminder of how important it is for all of us in the technology ecosystem to prioritize operation with secure deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist,” said Microsoft's (MSFT) Weston.
“We are working around the clock, providing updates and support on a continuous basis. Additionally, CrowdStrike helped us develop a scalable solution that will help Microsoft's Azure infrastructure accelerate the fix for CrowdStrike's faulty update. We are also working with AWS and GCP to collaborate on the most effective approaches,” Weston added, referring to cloud platforms from amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG)(GOOGL).
Microsoft (MSFT) said it has maintained ongoing communication with its customers, CrowdStrike (CRWD) and third-party developers since the event began.
“We recognize the disruption this issue has caused to businesses and the daily routines of many people. Our goal is to provide customers with technical guidance and support to get disrupted systems up and running safely again,” added the company led by Satya Nadella. The Indian-born executive had x.com/satyanadella/status/1814329337451344250″ target=”_blank”>heavy in on the subject on x (formerly twitter) on Friday.
According to Weston, the steps taken by Microsoft (MSFT) to address the problem included deploying hundreds of the company's engineers and experts to work directly with customers and quickly publishing documentation and manual workaround scripts online.