Microsoft Global Outage: What led to the ‘Blue Screen of Death’?

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New Delhi: The world is facing a major server outage as Microsoft’s server. It has impacted critical services including the London Stock Exchange, airlines, banking, and telecommunications. Users worldwide, including those in the banking and airline sectors, reported widespread disruptions, prompting Microsoft to address and mitigate the issue.

What went down in Microsoft 10 server?

A widespread IT outage today is wreaking havoc on banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, and other sectors. The issue began when Windows workstations started showing ‘blue screen of death’ errors. This after following a software update from CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike is  a cybersecurity firm. This disruption has significantly impacted banking operations, airline services, and broadcasting. Efforts are currently underway to diagnose and resolve the problem promptly.

The initial reports of issues originated from Australia, quickly followed by widespread problems affecting the US, UK, and beyond. Significant disruptions ensued, including major airlines like Delta and United suspending flights, TV networks such as Sky News going offline in the UK, and extensive communication outages across Australia.

Effect on Indian Stock market

Numerous trading platforms like IIFL Securities, Angel One, and 5Paisa were experiencing technical disruptions and glitches.  This was all due to a Microsoft Azure outage. Azure is critical cloud computing platform for these services. It supports their essential operational infrastructure. This disruption has impeded their ability to execute trades smoothly. This eventually caused inconvenience to their users.

According to reports, Traders using platforms like Nuvama, Edelweiss, and Motilal Oswal were also facing technical outages. Specifically, Edelweiss Mutual Fund has reported login issues on its website due to the ongoing Microsoft outage.

The platform 5Paisa also addressed the situation through the social media platform X about the disruption caused:

Due to a global outage with Crowdstrike/Microsoft, offering a cyber security solution, our systems are affected. Our team is working closely with both of them to restore our systems as soon as possible.

— 5paisa (@5paisa) July 19, 2024

Later in the day, 5Paisa also posted an update informing its users that they had resolved the issue.

We wish to inform you that the system outage issue has been resolved. You can now place the orders normally. Inconvenience caused is highly regretted.

— 5paisa (@5paisa) July 19, 2024

Microsoft’s take on the issue

Following the major outage at Microsoft headquarters, the company promptly informed the public through a tweet on their social media platform, X.

We’re aware of an issue with Windows 365 Cloud PCs caused by a recent update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software. This is being communicated under WP821561 in the admin center. (Cont…)

— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 19, 2024

CrowdStrike admits the issue on a recent support page, stating that the recent crashes on Windows are in connection to problems with the Falcon sensor. They mentioned, “CrowdStrike is aware of reports indicating crashes on Windows hosts associated with the Falcon Sensor.”

“Symptoms include hosts experiencing a bugcheck\blue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor. Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.” the company added.