| Table of Contents |
|---|
| 1.Introduction |
| 2.What Happened? |
| 3.Key Points |
| 4.Impact of the Outage |
| 5. Workarounds and Remediation Steps |
| 6. How GoGeekz is Handling the Situation |
| 7. FAQs |
On July 19, 2024, a major Microsoft and CrowdStrike Outage caused significant disruptions worldwide. This blog post explains the incident, its impacts, and steps businesses can take to protect themselves in the future. Importantly, GoGeekz was not impacted by this outage, and we are closely monitoring the situation to ensure our clients’ systems remain secure.
What Happened?
The incident began with a problematic update from CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform, which led to widespread disruptions. According to CrowdStrike’s statement, the issue originated from a content update for Windows hosts that inadvertently caused system instability. Concurrently, Microsoft’s Azure cloud services experienced significant outages, impacting various industries.
Key Points
- CrowdStrike Update: A content update for Windows hosts caused system instability, leading to widespread issues.
- Microsoft Azure: Azure’s cloud services experienced significant outages, exacerbating the problem.
Impact of the Microsoft and CrowdStrike Outage
The outage had far-reaching impacts, affecting numerous industries globally. Key areas affected included:
- Airlines: Flight delays and cancellations caused significant travel disruptions.
- Banks: Online banking services faced outages, affecting customers’ ability to access accounts.
- Broadcasters: Interruptions in broadcasting services impacted scheduled programming.
The combined effect of these disruptions led to operational chaos and financial losses for many businesses. Microsoft’s and CrowdStrike’s stocks also experienced volatility due to the market’s reaction to the incident (CrowdStrike)
Workarounds and Remediation Steps
Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft have provided workarounds and steps to mitigate the issue. Here’s what businesses need to do:
For CrowdStrike Users:
- Revert to Previous Content:
Log in to the Falcon console.
Navigate to the “Configuration” app.
Select the “Sensor Update Policy” page.
Change the policy to use the previous content version.
- Apply Patch:
Ensure all hosts are updated to the latest sensor version, which includes the fix for the instability issue.
Monitor CrowdStrike’s release notes for further updates and patches.
- Manual Fix for Impacted Virtual Servers:
Detach the operating system disk volume from the impacted virtual server.
Create a snapshot or backup of the disk volume as a precaution against unintended changes.
Attach/mount the volume to a new virtual server.
Navigate to the %WINDIR%\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys” and delete it.
Detach the volume from the new virtual server.
Reattach the fixed volume to the impacted virtual server.
For Microsoft Azure Users:
- Monitor Updates:
Regularly monitor Microsoft’s status page and update channels for the latest patches and fixes.
Subscribe to Azure Service Health alerts to stay informed about any ongoing issues.
- Implement Redundancy:
Ensure that critical applications have redundancy and failover mechanisms to prevent downtime during such outages.
How GoGeekz is Handling the Situation
GoGeekz was not impacted by the outage. Our proactive approach to cybersecurity, robust incident response plan, and continuous monitoring ensured uninterrupted services. We remain committed to delivering high-quality IT services and ensuring the security and reliability of our clients’ systems.
Are you concerned about the security and reliability of your IT infrastructure? At GoGeekz, we offer comprehensive Managed IT Services tailored to your business needs. Our team of experts is here to help you navigate the complexities of cybersecurity and ensure your systems are always up-to-date and secure.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help safeguard your business and enhance your IT infrastructure.
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The outage was caused by a problematic content update from CrowdStrike and significant outages in Microsoft’s Azure cloud services.
The outage led to significant operational disruptions across various sectors, including airlines, banks, and broadcasters, causing delays, service interruptions, and financial losses.
CrowdStrike advised users to revert to the previous content version if issues were experienced and released a new patch to address the instability. They also provided a detailed manual fix for impacted virtual servers.
Businesses should monitor updates, implement redundancy and failover mechanisms, and ensure regular system patching.
GoGeekz was not impacted by the outage. We have been closely monitoring the situation, implementing best practices to secure our systems, and ensuring minimal disruption to our services.
