Breaking - Global Microsoft outage causes blue screen of death on millions Windows PCs

IT security firm CrowdStrike has experienced an outage that has resulted in millions of Windows PCs around the world being knocked offline.

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The outage hasn't just affected PCs at home, but also critical infrastructure across multiple countries. CrowdStrike, which provides cybersecurity solutions to Microsoft for its Windows operating system, issued an update on Friday, which is suspected to be the cause of millions of Windows PCs getting hit blue screens of death (BSOD) error messages. Some reports indicate Windows PCs are being thrown in repetitive boot cycles.

What has this affected? Airlines across multiple countries have been grounded, 911 services in various states in the US are down, news outlets have been knocked offline in Australia, and some Point-of-Sale (POS) systems have been disrupted. Australia is seemingly experiencing the worst of the problem, as universities, POS systems, banks, telecommunications providers, and more have been knocked offline.

CrowdStrike has confirmed in its support updates that it's identified the issue behind the massive global Windows outage, and that issue has to do with "content deployment". The cybersecurity software firm said those changes in its recent update have been reverted and advised affected users to implement this workaround.