Crowdstrike says the global IT outage was not caused by a cyberattack

• Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz said a mass outage was not caused by a cyberattack.
• He said customers were affected "by a defect found in a single content update for Windows."

Crowdstrike, the firm linked to the major global IT outage, has ruled out a cyberattack.

In a statement on X, CEO George Kurtz said the outage was "not a security incident or cyberattack."

He said the company was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted."

Kurtz said the issue had been "identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed." Customers were being referred to its support portal for the latest updates.

"We further recommend organizations ensure they're communicating with Crowdstrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of Crowdstrike customers," he said.

Crowdstrike made the same comments in a statement on its website.

The outage has thrown airports, retailers, hospitals, and many other businesses into chaos.

Airlines, including United, Delta, American, and Allegiant, have all grounded flights due to the mass outage. European airlines Ryanair and KLM have also been affected.

American Airlines said its problems were due to a "technical issue with Crowdstrike that is impacting multiple carriers," BBC News reported.

Some emergency lines, hospitals, and GPs have faced disruptions linked to the outage.

Microsoft users have also complained of issues. The company acknowledged the problems in an X update early Friday, later adding: "The underlying cause has been fixed, however, residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services. We're conducting additional mitigations to provide relief."