Microsoft: CrowdStrike Mishap Impacted Less Than 1 Percent of Windows PCs

Microsoft confirmed that yesterday’s massive infrastructure outage wasn’t its fault. But it also noted that the impact on those with Windows PCs was minimal, and provided some information to help those who are impacted.

“On July 18, CrowdStrike, an independent cybersecurity company, released a software update that began impacting IT systems globally,” Microsoft vice president David Weston explains in a new post to the Official Microsoft Blog. “Although this was not a Microsoft incident, given it impacts our ecosystem, we want to provide an update on the steps we’ve taken with CrowdStrike and others to remediate and support our customers.”

This morning, Microsoft issued a Knowledge Base (KB) article explaining a workaround for those impacted by the CrowdStrike outage. But it says that the impact was minimal: The software giant estimates that just 8.5 million Windows PCs, less than one percent of the installed base, were impacted. Of course, many of those PCs are used by businesses, Weston added, amplifying the economic and societal impacts of the mistake.

“This incident demonstrates the interconnected nature of our broad ecosystem — global cloud providers, software platforms, security vendors and other software vendors, and customers,” Weston says. “It’s also a reminder of how important it is for all of us across the tech ecosystem to prioritize operating with safe deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist. As we’ve seen over the last two days, we learn, recover, and move forward most effectively when we collaborate and work together. We appreciate the cooperation and collaboration of our entire sector, and we will continue to update with learnings and next steps.”