Global tech outage: Microsoft VP explains what went wrong

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It's a software update that had huge repercussions. All around the globe, companies have faced technology troubles after an update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD) impacted Microsoft (MSFT) systems. It led to delayed and canceled flights, stores closing their doors for the day, and headaches for millions. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X the outage wasn't caused by a cyberattack and that a fix had been deployed. Many believe it could take a few days for all systems to be fully back online.

Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy CISO Ann Johnson tells Market Domination about what went wrong. Johnson used the analogy of updating an app on your smartphone overnight. That's basically what CrowdStrike did; they issued an update overnight, and that update ended up roiling systems. Johnson explains that Microsoft is working with CrowdStrike to help those customers who were impacted by the update, adding that Microsoft has engineers working to help businesses implement the fix.

Johnson says it's hard to say how long it will take for all issues to be fully resolved, but ultimately believes CrowdStrike likely did test the update thoroughly and that the problem was "something that was unexpected."

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This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.