Up to 8.5m Windows devices were affected by Friday’s IT outage. Although it was less than 1% of all machines using the software, it had a major effect because CrowdStrike is widely used by businesses.
Microsoft says the European Union is to blame for what on Friday became the world’s biggest IT outage following a faulty security update.
A 2009 agreement insisted on by the European Commission meant, the software giant said, that it could not make security changes that would have blocked the CrowdStrike update which caused chaos around the world as computer systems failed.
Flights around the world were delayed or cancelled, leaving passengers stranded at airports, the UK’s NHS service was affected and contactless payments failed to work.
The problem was triggered through CrowdStrike’s Falcon system which, ironically, was designed to prevent cyber attacks. It has privileged access to a key part of a computer known as the kernel.
Microsoft has Windows Defender, its own own alternative to CrowdStrike but, because of the 2009 agreement made to avoid a European competition investigation, had allowed multiple security providers to install software at the kernel level.
Commission has Apple in its sights over competition rules
The European Commission had been accusing Microsoft since the early 2000s of having an unfair advantage over other companies because of its popular Windows software.
Microsoft’s main competitor, Apple, in 2020 blocked access to the kernel on its Mac computers, arguing it would improve security and reliability.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a Microsoft spokesman said the company could not make a similar change because of the EU agreement.
Up to 8.5m Windows devices were affected by the outage, Microsoft confirmed, saying it was less than 1% of all machines using the software. However, it said, there had been major impacts because CrowdStrike is widely used by businesses.
CrowdStrike has said “a significant number” of the affected computers are back online and has apologised for what happened.
Under its new Digital Markets Act, Europe is currently trying to force Apple to give access on its iPhone to allow alternative app stores and web browsers to be used.
