8.5 Mn Windows devices impacted by CrowdStrike outage: Microsoft

A faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused a global outage that affected approximately 8.5 million Windows devices. This incident, has led to significant disruptions across various sectors, including air travel, financial services, and media broadcasting.

"We currently estimate that CrowdStrike's update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines," it said in the blog.

"While the percentage was small, the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that run many critical services," Microsoft said in its blog post.

CrowdStrike has helped develop a scalable solution that will help Microsoft's Azure infrastructure accelerate a fix, Microsoft said, adding that the tech giant had worked with both Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform to collaborate on the "most effective approaches."

The air travel industry was recovering on Saturday from the outage that caused thousands of flights to be cancelled, leaving passengers stranded or grappling with hours of delays as airports and airlines were caught up in the IT outage.

Delta Air Lines , opens new tab, one of the hardest-hit airlines, said that as of 10 a.m EDT (1400 GMT) on Saturday, more than 600 flights had been canceled, adding that additional cancellations were expected.

Delta said in an update on its website Saturday morning that it was “continuing its operational recovery,” but did have to cancel more than 600 flights during the day. “Additional cancelations are expected as some of Delta’s technology continues to recover from Friday morning’s vendor-caused issue,” the airline said.