Is Crowdstrike Paying for the $1BN Damages Caused by the Global Outage? Experts Say It’s Unlikely

By Danielle Ong

Jul 22 2024, 00:01 AM EDT

Microsoft Outage Affects Businesses and Users Across The Globe — A screen displays an announcement on possible travel delays due to a global IT outage Gatwick Airport on July 19, 2024 in Crawley, United Kingdom. Businesses, travel companies and Microsoft users across the globe were among those affected by a tech outage today. Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images

A global tech outage following a faulty update from Crowdstrike caused business operations around the world to stop on Friday, leading to an estimated $1 billion in damages.

Last week, about 8.5 million Windows-based computers and laptops across the globe displayed the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death." It was later revealed to be caused by a software update rolled out by cyber security firm CrowdStrike, which is used by Microsoft. The tech outage brought thousands of businesses worldwide to a standstill.

Since Friday, the tech outage led to the cancellation of over 10,600 flights within, into, or out of the United States alone, per data from Flight Aware. Health systems in the US were also forced to resort to pen and paper as well as delay or cancel some procedures due to the widespread outage.

While experts say it is still too early to put a price tag on the damages caused by the outage, Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group, told CNN that the costs could easily top $1 billion.

"This outage is affecting far more consumers and businesses in a way that ranges from inconvenience to serious disruptions and resulted in out-of-pocket costs they can't get back easily," he said.

Who's Paying for Damages?

While Crowdstrike may have caused the outage, James Lewis, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the company will unlikely be asked to pay for the damages.

"I would guess that the contracts protect them," Lewis said.

Crowdstrike has yet to address any questions about how it plans to compensate customers affected by the outage. George Kurtz, the firm's CEO, said they are currently focusing on getting systems back up and running for all customers.

Crowdstrike has around 29,000 customers. Over 500 of the company's clients are on the list of the Fortune 1000, the firm noted on its website.

Kurtz previously served as the chief technology officer of McAfee. In April 2010, during his tenure at McAfee, a faulty update led to the deletion of a key Windows file, causing millions of computers worldwide to crash and reboot repeatedly.

Months after the 2010 incident, Intel acquired McAfee. Kurtz left the company and founded Crowdstrike in 2012.