CrowdStrike Windows Outage—What Happened And What To Do Next

A faulty update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor security software on July 19, 2024 triggered one of the largest IT outages in history—roughly 8.5 million Windows machines worldwide crashed with Blue Screen of Death errors, and many couldn’t reboot properly. Critical services across industries—including airlines, hospitals, banks, broadcasters, and public safety systems—were disrupted, grounding flights, halting surgeries, and knocking TV stations off-air, with disruptions estimated to have caused at least $10 billion in damages.