While Microsoft was not the source of the outage, CrowdStrike’s Falcon software is used primarily on Microsoft Windows systems, rather than Apple Macs, for example. Microsoft said in a statement on X that it was investigating the incident.
What has the federal government said?
The government said there is no evidence to suggest the mass outage is a hack or cybersecurity incident.
“I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a statement on X.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.
“There is no information to suggest it is a cybersecurity incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”
How often has this happened before?
Outages are relatively common these days, with telcos, banks and supermarkets often suffering technical glitches that typically last a few hours.
Such an outage may have never been seen on this scale, however, highlighting how reliant our modern economy is on technology, and increasingly how interconnected it is.
Will my home computer be affected?
No, CrowdStrike’s Falcon software is used primarily on large business and enterprise systems, rather than home Windows PCs. Your computer shouldn’t be impacted by the issue.
Is there a fix?
CrowdStrike has issued advice about a temporary workaround.
Here’s what the tech company says you should do:
- Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment (you can do that by holding down the F8 key before the Windows logo flashes on screen)
- Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Crowdstrike directory
- Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys” file, right click and rename it to “C-00000291*.renamed”
- Boot the host normally.