Good morning and Happy Friday!

Big tech overall failed to make a comeback yesterday, as Apple, Microsoft, and Google led the multi-day sell off…

With the only good news being that Nvidia and Meta managed to take a bit of a breather while closing up 2.77% and 3.73% respectively. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Netflix, on the other hand, came out guns a blazin’ yesterday with a banger of an earnings report as they not only crushed top and bottom line estimates, but their ad-supported tier grew an astounding 34%. (Imagine not having Netflix in your portfolio). 

(Source: CNBC) 

However, with all the up and down price action across the market - the big news on the street this AM is the massive global outage that swept through banks, airlines, and broadcasters this morning giving all those affected “Leave the World Behind” vibes. 

The culprit? Crowdstrike. 

(Source: The Standard) 

In a wild event no one saw coming, cybersecurity heavyweight CrowdStrike managed to turn a routine software update into a global IT meltdown today. Airports, banks, and broadcasters found themselves scrambling to pick up the pieces as a faulty update sent thousands of Windows machines into the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) loop. 

(Source: Know Your Meme) 

CrowdStrike's CEO, George Kurtz, took to X to acknowledge the mess. “The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” he assured, undoubtedly with a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. 

(Source: X) 

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. It’s just a software bug.” Translation: we messed up big time, but it’s not hackers – it’s us.

Airlines bore the brunt of the chaos. Major players like American Airlines, Delta, and United found their operations in disarray, with flights delayed and systems down. 

(Source: ABC News) 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stepped in, with spokesperson Jeannie Shiffer noting, “Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops for their fleets until the issue is resolved.” It got so bad that an airline in India had to issue handwritten boarding passes. Yes, in 2024, they were writing out boarding passes by hand like it was the 1980s. 

(Source: Economic Times) 

Berlin Airport also sounded the alarm, warning travelers to brace for delays due to “technical issues,” which is code for, “We’re in deep sh%t.”

The financial sector and healthcare providers weren’t spared either. German insurer Allianz reported that their employees were locked out of their computers. The Royal Surrey hospital in the UK declared a “critical incident” and halted radiography treatment temporarily. Even 911 call centers in Alaska weren’t immune. Meaning it’s clear that when cybersecurity fails, it fails hard.

(Source: Giphy) 

As expected, the market reacted swiftly. CrowdStrike’s stock nosedived, dropping 10% in premarket trading, while Microsoft shares slipped 1.4%. Both companies found themselves in a frantic damage control mode, working tirelessly to roll back the faulty update and restore systems. 

But as Omer Grossman, CIO at CyberArk, pointed out, “Getting back online is unlikely to be easy. This must be solved manually, endpoint by endpoint. This is expected to be a process that will take days.”

(Source: Giphy) 

Now while this caused quite the stir globally, the encouraging aspect is that again, Crowdstrike’s screw up was not a full blown cyberattack. However, it’s quite comical that a firm renowned for protecting against cyber threats inadvertently became the threat. 

And even though Kurtz offered a public apology on NBC’s TODAY, saying, “We’re deeply sorry for the impact we’ve caused,” this is just a stark reminder that sometimes in life, crap just happens… 

(Source: Spiceworks) 

And sometimes, the crap turns out to be some random error that causes widespread disruption across the world. Wonderful… 

Stocks.News holds positions in Apple, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Netfilx, Google, and United Airlines as mentioned in the article.