Businesses and public services worldwide experienced significant disruptions on Friday due to a massive Microsoft outage. This unprecedented glitch affected airlines, banks, healthcare systems, and investment firms, forcing many operations to revert to pre-technology methods. Thousands of people reported encountering the infamous ‘Windows blue screen of death’ as the workday commenced.
Businessman Anand Mahindra encapsulated the situation with a picture of security personnel riding buffaloes. The image features officials from the Brazilian Buffalo Patrol team, who monitor Soure, the capital of Marajó Island in Brazil, and are believed to be the only police force globally that rides buffaloes.
“The pace of global commercial activity right now—post the Microsoft crowd strike outage,” he commented.
The post elicited amused reactions from several X users, with many praising the ‘amazing patrol vehicle.’
“Yamdut,” remarked one user.
“Did Mahindra & Mahindra also get stalled?” wondered several others.
Many noted that the outage served as a reminder that even technology has a ‘breaking point.’ Users expressed concern about the world’s heavy reliance on technology for every aspect of life.
“Just shows how dependent we are on digital currencies and computers. It’s like the world will come to a halt if something goes wrong with the internet and computers/AI systems,” commented one user.
“This outage highlights our heavy reliance on a handful of companies. It’s a real concern and a wake-up call for the world to develop alternatives for every critical service. Diversification is key to resilience,” added another.
“We think our lives are in our control. One virus, technical glitch can jeopardize our lives,” read a third, somewhat ominous, post.
An update from CrowdStrike—the security firm associated with the software update that caused the outage—indicated that the issue had been isolated and a fix deployed by Friday afternoon.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” said George Kurtz, President and CEO of CrowdStrike.
