United Airlines employees wait by a departures monitor displaying a blue error screen, also known as the 'Blue Screen of Death' inside Terminal C in Newark International Airport, after United Airlines and other airlines grounded flights due to a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software which crashed Microsoft Windows systems, in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Bing Guan
(Reuters) - Companies across several industries including airlines, banking and media were hit on Friday by a global tech outage tied to Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and a software issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
The issue impacted computers running the Windows operating system and CrowdStrike software. CrowdStrike said it was working with impacted customers and had deployed a fix for the issue, which stemmed from an update it issued for Windows users.
Here are a few key details about CrowdStrike:
WHAT IS CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike offers cloud-based security solutions to businesses. Its Falcon tool - one of the reasons for the outage on Friday - identifies unusual behavior and vulnerabilities to protect computer systems from threats such as malware.
Founded in 2011 and based in Austin, Texas, CrowdStrike operates in more than 170 countries and employed more than 7,900 people as of January.
The U.S. accounted for nearly 70% of the more than $900 million in revenue it reported for the quarter ended April.
WHO ARE CROWDSTRIKE'S MAJOR CLIENTS AND COMPETITORS?
Some of the world's biggest tech companies including Alphabet's Google, Amazon and Intel are its customers. It has about 29,000 customers across the globe.
Its presence spans several sectors with clients including retail giant Target, Formula One team Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS and the U.S. government.
CrowdStrike competes with companies such as Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler and Fortinet.
CrowdStrike'S STOCK VERSUS PEERS
Shares of CrowdStrike tumbled nearly 12% in premarket trading on Friday. As of Thursday's close, CrowdStrike had a market value of $83.5 billion, with its stock price up 34% this year, according to LSEG data. In comparison, Palo Alto Networks' stock has gained about 10% year-to-date, with a market capitalization of $104.87 billion.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru)
