Sovereignty incidents — hardware, export controls, supply chain
CrowdStrike global outage (19 July 2024)
Claim
A broken update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor security software (channel file 291, timestamped 2024-07-19 04:09 UTC) set off what is widely called the largest IT outage in history. About 8.5 million Windows devices — roughly 1% of all Windows machines — crashed, throwing airlines, banks, hospitals, shops, and emergency services into chaos worldwide. Insurers estimated the cost to U.S. Fortune 500 companies at $5.4 billion. Delta Air Lines reported losses of about $500 million and sued CrowdStrike on 25 October 2024. In May 2025, a Georgia judge let Delta press claims of gross negligence, computer trespass, and limited fraud.
Sources
- “2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages,” Wikipedia (consolidating contemporaneous press coverage) ↗
- Microsoft Corporation, “Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage,” 20 July 2024 ↗
- Sean Michael Kerner, “CrowdStrike outage explained: What caused it and what’s next,” TechTarget, updated September 2024 ↗
Referenced in
- Framework §2
- AI-SAF-N Software pillar
- AI-SAF-C Software pillar
- Refining §3.6