Array
A faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, July 19, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses, and government offices.
The breadth of the outages highlighted the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a few providers for key computing services.
The trouble was sparked by an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and only affected its customers running Microsoft Windows, the world’s most popular operating system for personal computers. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.
Businesses and governments worldwide experienced hours-long disruptions – their computer monitors glowing blue with error messages – and they scrambled to deal with the fallout.
