Windows users across the globe met with an unsettling sight as their screens displayed the infamous Blue Screen of Death. The BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death, is a Microsoft Windows error screen that signifies a system crash. This widespread “blue-screen plague” has had severe consequences, including delayed flights, suspended emergency lines, and a surge in scams.
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company utilized to protect Windows devices, initiated a security update for its Falcon Sensor, a platform that prevents cyberattacks. However, the update contained a bug that caused all the computers that received the update to crash and display the BSOD. George Kurtz, the CEO of CrowdStrike, has reassured affected users through X that the outage is not a result of a cyberattack or a security incident.
The outage has had significant impacts. Six of the top ten healthcare providers utilize Crowdstrike technologies. Many healthcare services rely on technology in their daily tasks, such as prescribing medications, booking appointments, and medical procedures. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) containing patients’ critical health information were inaccessible to many medical professionals, which delayed vital diagnoses and treatments, jeopardizing patient care and outcomes. For instance, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center had to cancel all anesthesia procedures. Healthcare workers could not access patients’ medical histories and allergy information, so administering anesthesia could lead to detrimental reactions or complications.
Furthermore, the outage severely impacted many airlines, impairing major technological systems necessary for safe flights. Hence, airline providers had to cancel countless flights. Ed Bastian, the Chief Executive of Delta Airlines, stated that the outage had cost the airline 500 million dollars from flight cancellations, compensations, and hotel bookings for affected crew members and passengers.
Apart from threatening the healthcare and airline industries, the outage has caused a rise in scams. Most scams due to this shutdown fell into two categories: malware and domain spoofing. During the shutdown, multiple bad actors, individuals who infiltrated computer systems with harmful objectives, impersonated CrowdStrike representatives and sent out system recovery options, only for the options to be a disguise for malware to gain access to users’ login credentials through keylogging or their devices directly. Domain spoofing also became predominant, with many new domains registered containing the word CrowdStrike, likely for malware distribution or phishing.
Overall, this Blue Scare has been an eye-opener emphasizing our reliance on technology, as shown in the aviation and health industries. CrowdStrike has announced that they have strengthened their Rapid Response Content testing and, in the future, they will be staggering the rollout of updates while monitoring the execution of the updates to prevent similar outages from occurring in the future.
Works Cited
Chapman, Michelle. “Delta CEO Says Global Tech Outage Cost Airline $500 Million.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2024, www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-07-31/delta-ceo-says-airline-is-facing-500-million-in-costs-from-global-tech-outage. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
Chuck, Elizabeth. “Microsoft’s “Blue Screen of Death” Makes a Return to Computers around the World.” NBC News, NBC News, 19 July 2024, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/microsoft-blue-screen-of-death-global-outage-rcna162674. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
CrowdStrike. “Falcon Content Update Remediation and Guidance Hub | CrowdStrike.” Crowdstrike.com, 21 July 2024, www.crowdstrike.com/falcon-content-update-remediation-and-guidance-hub/. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
Grothaus, Michael. “Windows CrowdStrike Outage Update: Blue Screen of Death, List of Services down Today, Timeline for Fix, What to Know — Fast Company.” Apple.news, 2024, apple.news/AduZuYEEGQ_64FHtvvl5tbw. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
Joszt, Laura. “Health Systems Affected by Global Microsoft Outage Limit Patient Care.” OncLive, OncLive, 19 July 2024, www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.com/view/health-systems-affected-by-global-tech-outage-limit-patient-care. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
News, BBC. “Microsoft’s Windows 11 Blue Screen of Death to Become Black.” Bbc.com, BBC News, 2 July 2021, www.bbc.com/news/technology-57695586. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.
Price, Emily. “CrowdStrike Fallout Continues: Beware of These Scams Linked to the Blue Screen Outage — Fast Company.” Apple.news, 2024, apple.news/Amo9fpiXvSgmJDlNCuFfOsg. Accessed 3 Aug. 2024.