CYBERSECURITY FIRM CROWDSTRIKE says a “significant number” of the millions of computers that crashed on Friday are back in operation as customers and regulators await a more detailed explanation as to what went wrong.

Parts of the world were thrown into chaos amid the global IT outage that resulted in cancelled flights and interferences with businesses, healthcare and banking.

Websites including ABC News Australia and Ryanair went down as a result and Belfast International Airport had to resort to using a whiteboard as a workaround.

Crowdstrike said that the problem was caused by an update to its Falcon antivirus software, designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.

The outage was not from hackers but was a technical error with far-reaching implications. 

In all, the defective software update impacted around 8.5 million machines running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

The painstaking work of fixing it has often required a company’s IT crew to manually delete files on affected machines.

In a message last night, CrowdStrike said a “significant number” of the 8.5 million impacted devices “are back online and operational”.

CrowdStrike continues to focus on restoring all systems as soon as possible. Of the approximately 8.5 million Windows devices that were impacted, a significant number are back online and operational.

Together with customers, we tested a new technique to accelerate impacted…

— CrowdStrike (@CrowdStrike) July 21, 2024

The statement said that the company “tested a new technique to accelerate impacted system remediation” and that it is “making progress by the minute”.

CrowdStrike apologised for the disruption and added: “Our focus is clear: to restore every system as soon as possible”.

The company has also published a video outlining the steps required to self-remediate impacted remote Windows laptops.

Shares of the Texas-based cybersecurity company have dropped nearly 30% since the meltdown, knocking off billions of dollars in market value.

The scope of the disruptions has also caught the attention of US government regulators, including antitrust enforcers, though it remains to be seen if they take action against the company.

“All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers,” said Lina Khan, chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, in a post on the social media platform X.

1. All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers. Millions of people and businesses pay the price.

These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems.

— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) July 19, 2024

“Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems.”

-With additional reporting from Press Association