On July 19, 2024, a faulty update to CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor security software caused widespread global system crashes on Windows computers. This event is now the largest IT outage to date, as noted by the New York Times.
Despite the scale of the incident, the infrastructure experts at Team Ascend successfully mitigated the impact for multiple clients through quick discovery, 24/7 service dedication, and coordinated remediation efforts.
Global Business Impact of the 2024 Crowdstrike Incident
The 2024 CrowdStrike Incident profoundly impacted businesses worldwide, disrupting operations across multiple sectors. Approximately 8.5 million systems experienced significant downtime and operational chaos. Industries ranging from airlines, banks, and hospitals to retail stores, manufacturing, and governmental services experienced severe interruptions.
The financial damage was immense, with estimated losses reaching at least $10 billion. Businesses struggled to restore normalcy as systems crashed, requiring manual interventions to fix the issues. The incident showed how easily global IT systems can be impacted. It emphasized the need for a robust IT management strategy and quick responses to prevent similar disruptions.
Incident Response
Team Ascend sprang into action as soon as the incident was identified, demonstrating exceptional readiness and commitment to our client's success. The crisis management process kicked off when a vigilant infrastructure team member identified the issue. Spotting two servers down for one of our clients, they immediately got to work to restore them without waiting for alerts, highlighting our proactive approach.
Following this quick action, the entire infrastructure team swiftly mobilized. Starting after most businesses close and going into the next morning, our engineers worked tirelessly to assess and address the impact across all clients. Their dedication ensured that disruptions were kept to a minimum and operations could resume quickly.
Understanding the potential widespread impact, our infrastructure and service desk teams conducted a thorough, client-wide assessment. This proactive measure allowed us to identify and resolve issues before many clients even noticed a problem. Throughout the process, our Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and virtual Chief Information Security Officers (vCISOs) played crucial roles. They ensured seamless communication and coordination, allowing critical information to flow smoothly between clients and our technical teams. This targeted and efficient response was essential in managing client expectations and maintaining trust during this challenging time.
Our proactive and coordinated efforts mitigated the immediate crisis and reinforced our commitment to providing exceptional 24/7 support to our clients.
Continuing Client Success: The Benefits of Our 24/7 Support
The quick and efficient response to the 2024 CrowdStrike Incident was a testament to the strength of our infrastructure and round-the-clock support teams, immensely benefiting our clients. As the crisis unfolded, our proactive measures, supported by comprehensive managed infrastructure services, ensured that clients experienced minimal disruption. This allowed them to resume operations quickly and efficiently, showcasing the value of our continuous monitoring and rapid response capabilities.
24/7 support services enabled us to prioritize critical systems for each client, ensuring operational continuity. By focusing on the most crucial business assets, we helped them continue their activities smoothly with minimal interruption. This demonstrated how effectively our infrastructure and service desk teams manage crises, keeping operations running seamlessly at any hour.
The dedicated response during the incident significantly reinforced clients' trust in our services. By quickly addressing their needs and minimizing disruptions, we strengthened our relationships and highlighted the value of consistent and reliable IT support. Our team received appreciation, and positive feedback reflected the value they place in our partnership, underscoring our commitment to their success and satisfaction.
Commitment to our Core Values in Action
Team Ascend exemplified our core values in action. We successfully navigated this crisis by demonstrating unwavering commitment, collaboration, integrity, accountability, and transparency and reinforced our dedication to client success.
Commitment to Client Success: We focused on minimizing disruption and swiftly restoring operations, prioritizing our client's best interests.
One Team: Our collaborative efforts across departments, driven by humility and respect, enabled us to find innovative solutions and overcome challenges together.
Integrity: Dedicated to doing what was right for our clients and upheld strong ethical standards during the crisis.
Accountability: We took immediate action in our client's IT environments, working tirelessly until all systems were restored and fully operational.
Transparency: With open and transparent communication with our clients, keeping them informed and reassured about our progress and solutions.
Team Ascend Is Here to Help
The 2024 CrowdStrike Incident was a significant challenge that tested the resilience and responsiveness of IT service providers worldwide. Team Ascend always supports our clients and is dedicated to ensuring their success. This helped us turn a potentially disastrous situation into a showcase of our excellent service.
In this incident, our team demonstrated its capability to manage crises effectively, which speaks to the benefits of our managed services. If you need IT managed services that you can rely on, reach out to talk to an expert!
