‘We just deleted CrowdStrike from all our systems’ – Musk

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, made a bold announcement following the recent global Windows 10 outage. He revealed that his companies have ceased using the web/cloud-based antivirus platform CrowdStrike. This decision came in the wake of a major IT failure caused by a bug in an update initiated by CrowdStrike, which led to widespread disruptions worldwide.

CrowdStrike, a controversial cyber-security firm, has admitted that the extensive system failures were a result of a recent update that clashed with Microsoft systems, causing a global IT meltdown. The impact of this outage was felt by Windows 10 users across the globe, affecting various sectors such as airports, banks, and broadcasters. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that at least 4,295 flights were grounded globally due to the outage. Additionally, media outlets like Sky News in the UK and several Australian-based channels and news organizations experienced disruptions.

Elon Musk took to social media to express his company's response to the situation, stating, "We just deleted CrowdStrike from all our systems." His statement highlighted the severity of the issue and the decisive action taken by his companies in response to the outage.

Satya Nadella, the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, confirmed that a CrowdStrike update was the root cause of the Friday outage. He assured customers that Microsoft was providing technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online.

Musk further commented on the situation, indicating the impact on the automotive supply chain, emphasizing the far-reaching consequences of such technical failures.

In response to a Financial Times report on the global Windows 10 outage, Elon Musk characterized it as the "biggest IT fail ever," underlining the magnitude of the disruption caused by the faulty update.

Christopher Stanley, the head of security engineering at X and a principal security engineer at SpaceX, echoed Musk's concerns, emphasizing the need to reevaluate the presence of internet-connected privileged binaries on production systems. He warned that a bad update could have potentially resulted in a significant security breach, emphasizing the vulnerability posed by third-party vendors.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz expressed deep regret for the impact caused by the outage, acknowledging the disruptions to customers and travelers. He assured that the company had swiftly identified the issue and was working diligently with customers to restore normal operations.

The fallout from the global Windows 10 outage has brought to light the critical role of cybersecurity in safeguarding systems from potential vulnerabilities and the need for robust measures to prevent such widespread disruptions in the future.