Cybersecurity Firm CrowdStrike's Shares Drop 11% Following Global IT Outage

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike's shares took a plunge this Friday after one of its security updates caused a global IT outage, disrupting multiple airports, broadcasting, and medical operations.

CrowdStrike closed on an 11.1% drop at 304.96 per share as news outlets confirmed that the outage that its software update caused many Windows computers to be hit with the "Blue screen of death suddenly."

The stock drop came amid CrowdStrike's biggest share growth in six months as cyberattacks continued to surge globally since last year.

CrowdStrike IT Outage Not a 'Cybersecurity Incident,' CEO Claims

Microsoft, which allows CrowdStrike to provide antivirus services to Windows computers, earlier reported that the outage also affected its Azure cloud services and Microsoft 365 suite of apps.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz already clarified that the outage was not a cybersecurity incident but rather was due to "a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

As of writing, most impacted computers remain down, although CrowdStrike is already working on the technical update to resolve the issue.

CrowdStrike IT Outage Halts Digital Operations

With most of their computers effectively unusable, many businesses had to resort to pen-and-paper to continue some operations, while most had to either delay or cancel schedules due to the outage.

Australia, in particular, has been heavily impacted by the outage as most of its businesses use Windows computers or the CrowdStrike software for their IT networks.

Similar problems are reported across France, which is hosting the Summer Olympics this year, and the UK.

Several Asian countries also confirmed service disruption, although most government units claimed not to have been affected.

Due to the scale of the outage, experts expect that several companies may soon want to hold Microsoft and CrowdStrike financially liable, similar to the response to the cyberattack on car retailers in North America last month.