WASHINGTON — A faulty software update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused global disruptions Friday, leading to an apology and a vow of full transparency from the company's chief executive.
"I want to sincerely apologize directly to all of you for today’s outage," CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a statement Friday afternoon. "All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority."
Kurtz again stressed that Friday's issues, affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services, were not a security or cyberattack.
"Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike. As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again," Kurtz said.
Problems have continued for hours on Friday after the technology company said it was gradually fixing the issue.
Kurtz is among the most highly compensated in the world, recording more than $230 million in total compensation in the last three years. He's also a driver for a CrowdStrike-sponsored car racing team.
Airlines and airports in the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.