Microsoft’s Azure platform faced a global outage after a new update from CrowdStrike, affecting air-travel globally along with an impact on stock markets and Microsoft and CrowdStrike’s share prices. A major outage impacting Microsoft services globally on Friday stemmed from a recent update to the CrowdStrike security software “Falcon Sensor”, leading to disruption in various services globally. Microsoft said on July 19 that it is investigating a host of issues with Azure in the Central U.S. region, but users in India, and globally, are also raising complaints. Many users were greeted with the ‘Blue screen of death’ (BSOD). The issue affected many Microsoft services, which includes Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Admin Center, OneDrive, Outlook, Xbox App, and more. Microsoft finally acknowledged the outage after six hours of user-reported issues. They assured progress in restoring services. The outage has caused disruptions in air traffic, forcing airports to shift to manual operations. Brokerages and stock exchanges have also been hit as a result of the tech outage. Microsoft while acknowledging the outage has said “a resolution is forthcoming”.
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications, the Azure cloud computing platform and the Edge web browser. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload protection and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.
