CrowdStrike update causing blue screen error for systems running Microsoft Windows: report

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – A widespread issue is reportedly causing computers running various CrowdStrike sensor versions to experience a “blue screen of death” error.

According to Times Now News, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike has acknowledged the problem and investigating the cause of the issue. Per the outlet, citing reports and a pinned message on the CrowdStrike’s forum, Window users are experiencing the “blue screen of death” (BSOD) errors following a recent update for CrowdStrike.

“We’re aware of a widespread issue causing BSOD errors on Windows machines across various sensor versions,” a CrowdStrike representative wrote in a pinned forum message, per Times Now News.

According to the outlet, users should do the following:

• Avoid attempting to fix the problem yourself until the official Technical Alert is released.

• Monitor the pinned thread. The thread will be updated with the latest information, including the TA and solutions that may temporarily resolve the problem.

• Exercise patience. Resolving the problem may take time. The company is working on a solution and will release updates as soon as they become available.

The Guardian reported that there are nationwide reports of outages hitting banks, supermarkets and media companies, including ABC. Per the outlet, an email sent at ABC said Windows terminals across the country are experiencing the “blue screens of death,” which is now causing issues with some TV studios, with several radio studios offline.

The issue appears to be affecting Windows PC’s worldwide, per The Guardian.

When speaking with CNN, Professor Jill Slay with the University of South Australia’s SmartSat Chair for Cybersecurity said the “global impact” of the incident was “enormous,” but added that it was “too early to draw conclusion” regarding the cause of the problem.

“There is currently a major global technical outage affecting multiple companies and services,” Slay told CNN. “Some are attributing this to security services offered by CrowdStrike. Others attribute it to Microsoft or Amazon Authorities and industry will be monitoring, but at this stage it is too early to draw conclusions.”

According to a post to the Subreddit r/crowdstrike, the following steps can remedy the problem.

• Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment

• Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory

• Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.