CrowdStrike develops software that helps businesses manage security in their IT environments.
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Shares in cybersecurity company CrowdStrike plummeted on Friday after an update caused a major outage that affected businesses around the world.
Shares of the company, which makes software to help companies manage security in their IT environments, plummeted 20% in premarket trading on November 26th.
Microsoft also reported issues affecting its Azure cloud service and Microsoft 365 apps suite, dropping 2.5% in pre-market trading.
Dozens of websites went down on Friday morning as planes were grounded and television studios paused broadcasts amid a major IT outage.
CrowdStrike suffered a major outage early Friday morning due to an update issue affecting its Falcon Sensor product, which is designed to use cloud technology to thwart cyber breaches. CrowdStrike is now working to roll back the update globally.
“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of Windows host crashes related to the Falcon Sensor,” CrowdStrike told NBC News in a recorded phone message.
Cybersecurity experts said the CrowdStrike update issue had a direct impact on Windows systems around the world, causing laptops to display an error screen known as the “Blue Screen of Death.”
Microsoft said on Friday that its cloud services had been mostly restored after an outage affecting its cloud apps in the US, but it was unclear whether the outage was related to the CrowdStrike update.
–CNBC’s Arjun Karpal contributed to this report
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