Microsoft estimates 8.5 million devices affected by global IT outage

Tech giant, Microsoft, said on Saturday that around 8.5 million computers and devices around the world using Windows were affected by the recent global IT outage.

The glitch was caused by a corrupted update issued by security company CrowdStrike, which created havoc worldwide from Thursday into Friday.

“We currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one per cent of all Windows machines,” it said in a blog post.

The update triggered systems problems that crippled the day-to-day working of businesses and individuals.

It also resulted in thousands of flights being grounded, forced broadcasters off air, and left customers without access to services including healthcare and banking.

The former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, said he was not surprised by the scale of disruption.

"We've talked for a long time in the industry about the inherent fragility of foundational parts of the internet, these little bits of activity and infrastructure that underpin the whole thing and if they go wrong they can have really serious global consequences,” he said.

The centre has urged people and businesses to be on the lookout for phishing attempts, while Germany’s IT security agency warned that cybercriminals were trying to take advantage of the situation through fake websites and other online scams.

CrowdStrike, which has apologised for the chaos cause, on Sunday said it was actively assisting customers affected by the update and that a fix has been deployed.