CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz announced that more than 97% of Windows sensors have been restored following an update from the cybersecurity company that triggered one of the world’s largest IT outages.
“To our customers still affected, please know we will not rest until we achieve full recovery,” Kurtz stated in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.
Last week, CrowdStrike released a routine update to its global user base, primarily consisting of large businesses, which contained a bug that caused crashes in Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
Many users encountered a blue screen error on Windows on Friday (19/07/2024) morning. The IT outage caused worldwide chaos, leading to flight cancellations, early business closures, and medical staff scrambling to maintain operations.
CrowdStrike reversed the update to resolve the problem.
Since the incident, the company’s share price has taken a significant hit as CEO Kurtz works to manage the reputational damage.
“I am deeply sorry for the disruption this outage has caused and personally apologize to everyone impacted. While I can’t promise perfection, I can promise a response that is focused, effective, and with a sense of urgency,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
A TechCrunch article titled “CrowdStrike offers a $10 apology gift card to say sorry for outage” claimed that the company was “providing its partners with a $10 Uber Eats gift card as an apology.”
In response to CNBC’s request for comment, CrowdStrike stated, “That claim is incorrect. CrowdStrike did not distribute gift cards to customers or clients. We did send them to our teammates and partners who have been assisting customers through this situation. Uber flagged it as fraud due to high usage rates.”
TechCrunch had previously reported that some individuals were experiencing difficulties using the gift cards.
When asked by CNBC about the purpose of the gift cards, a CrowdStrike spokesperson explained, “This was intended by an internal team as a gesture of appreciation for our external partners who worked diligently with our customers. Any other description is inaccurate.”
