Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike promises full transparency over Windows outage

George Kurtz, CEO of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, promises "full transparency" about the circumstances of the global computer outages that caused problems on Friday. Crowdstrike confirmed that a bug in its most recent software update was causing a Blue Screen of Death. Kurtz will also explain what steps the company is taking to prevent a recurrence.

In a letter to customers, which Kurtz also posted online, he apologized again for the damage the outage caused. At the same time, the CEO warned that criminals can take advantage of the confusion. "I advise everyone to remain vigilant and make sure you are in contact with official representatives of CrowdStrike."

An automatic update of CrowdStrike for Windows systems contained a flaw that made numerous computers inaccessible, affecting banks, airports, hospitals, and government organizations worldwide.

As a result, many Dutch airports had to deal with frustrated travelers and chaotic logistics. About 200 flights at Schiphol Airport were canceled on Friday due to the global outage. In addition, Dutch vacationers had to deal with long queues at check-in or delayed flights. Furthermore, KLM canceled a large part of its operations on Friday because of the computer failure.

The outage also affected various hospitals. Around noon, the Singeland hospital in Doetinchem and the Scheper hospital in Emmen reported that they had implemented the workaround and were getting their systems back online.