Much of the world faced online disarray Friday as a affected companies and services across industries 含羞草研究社� grounding flights, knocking banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off air.

At the heart of the massive disruption is , a cybersecurity firm that worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

CrowdStrike has said a fix is on the way. Still, hours after the problem was first detected.

Here含羞草研究社檚 what you need to know.

How did Friday含羞草研究社檚 含羞草研究社榖lue screen含羞草研究社� outage emerge?

Friday含羞草研究社檚 disruptions began when a faulty update was pushed out from CrowdStrike for one of its tools, 含羞草研究社淔alcon.含羞草研究社� In a statement about the ongoing situation, the company said the defect was found 含羞草研究社渋n a single content update for Windows hosts含羞草研究社� 含羞草研究社� noting that Mac and Linux systems were not impacted.

But, because scores of companies rely on CrowdStrike for their security needs with Windows as their operating system, the consequences of this kind of technical problem have been far-reaching. As a result, affected computer after computer showed the 含羞草研究社渂lue screen of death含羞草研究社� error message.

Long lines in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services during peak summer travel 含羞草研究社� disrupting thousands of flights. Banks and New Zealand reported outages impacting payments. Some news stations, particularly in Australia, were unable to broadcast for hours. And had problems with their appointment systems, leading to delays and sometimes cancelations for critical care, while officials in some U.S. states in their areas.

Elsewhere, people experienced more minor inconveniences, including trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing long lines at some of the coffee chain含羞草研究社檚 stores. Some billboards in New York City含羞草研究社檚 famous Times Square .

Experts stress that Friday含羞草研究社檚 disruptions underscore the vulnerability of worldwide dependence on software that comes from only a handful of providers.

含羞草研究社淚t is an 含羞草研究社榓ll our eggs are in one basket含羞草研究社� situation,含羞草研究社� Craig Shue, professor and computer science department head at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said in emailed commentary. 含羞草研究社淭his lets us make sure our 含羞草研究社榖asket含羞草研究社� is high quality: the software provider tries to identify threats and respond to them quickly. But at the same time, if anything goes wrong and the basket fails, we have a lot of broken eggs.含羞草研究社�

What is CrowdStrike?

is a U.S. cybersecurity company that provides software to companies around the world and across industries. It bills itself as being the globe含羞草研究社檚 most advanced cloud-based security technology provider.

含羞草研究社淲e stop breaches,含羞草研究社� the cybersecurity company says on its website.

According to its website, CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and launched in early 2012. It listed on the Nasdaq exchange five years ago. Last month, the Austin, Texas, company reported that its revenue rose 33% in the latest quarter from the same quarter a year earlier 含羞草研究社� logging a net profit of $42.8 million, up from $491,000 in the first quarter of last year. It reported having 29,000 subscribing customers.

CrowdStrike has a partnership with Amazon Web Services and its 含羞草研究社淔alcon for Defender含羞草研究社� security technology is designed to supplement Microsoft Defender to prevent attacks.

Is there a fix?

Disruptions on Friday continued hours after CrowdStrike first identified the issue. But both the company and Microsoft said that they含羞草研究社檙e .

In an emailed statement, CrowdStrike said that it was 含羞草研究社渁ctively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts含羞草研究社� 含羞草研究社� adding that a fix 含羞草研究社渉ad been deployed含羞草研究社� for the identified issue.

CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz later apologized. 含羞草研究社淲e understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,含羞草研究社� he wrote on .

Microsoft spokesperson Frank X. Shaw said that the company was 含羞草研究社渁ctively supporting customers to assist in their recovery.含羞草研究社� Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft are also appearing to engage IT personnel on official online channels, such as Reddit.

While the problem is fixable, it requires some expertise 含羞草研究社� and its impacts could last long past Friday, with Kurtz noting earlier that some customers may need a 含羞草研究社渕anual含羞草研究社� fix. Cybersecurity experts also warn of bad actors who may reach out claiming they can help. Smaller companies or organizations with less IT resources are particularly at risk.

Gartner analyst Eric Grenier noted that those affected should make sure they含羞草研究社檙e talking to trusted organizations as they work towards recovery. 含羞草研究社淎ttackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this,含羞草研究社� he said.

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