History of CrowdStrike in Timeline

CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It specializes in delivering endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services, providing comprehensive protection against modern cyber threats.

July 2024: Falcon Update Causes Widespread Disruptions

In July 2024, CrowdStrike released a software configuration file update to the Falcon endpoint detection and response agent. Flaws in the update caused blue screens of death on Microsoft Windows machines, disrupting millions of Windows computers worldwide. Affected machines were forced into a bootloop, making them unusable. The downtime caused a widespread global impact, grounding commercial airline flights, temporarily taking Sky News and other broadcasters offline, and disrupting banking and healthcare services as well as 911 emergency call centers.

July 2024: Share Price Drop and Apology After Incident

On July 22, 2024, CrowdStrike shares closed down 13.46% following the disruptions caused by the faulty update. On July 24, 2024, CrowdStrike published a Post-Incident Review and reportedly contacted affected channel partners with apology emails containing Uber Eats gift cards.

July 19, 2024: Faulty Security Update Causes Global Outages

On July 19, 2024, Crowdstrike issued a faulty update to its security software that caused global computer outages, disrupting air travel, banking, broadcasting, and other services.

August 2024: Root Cause Analysis Published

On August 6, 2024, Crowdstrike published a Root Cause Analysis to explain the causes of the Channel File 291 Incident, and the mitigation steps the company took to eliminate future incidents. The company implemented several process improvements, including new content configuration test procedures, additional deployment layers and acceptance checks, and engaging third-party vendors to review Falcon sensor code, as well as staggering update rollouts.

September 2024: Launch of CrowdStrike Financial Services

In September 2024, CrowdStrike launched CrowdStrike Financial Services, which offers payment solutions and financing to improve access to the Falcon platform.