Running a business involves managing countless tasks, and cybersecurity shouldn't add to the burden. Yet, in our increasingly digital landscape, even minor threats can have major consequences. This article highlights two common browser-based attacks that target businesses like yours and provides straightforward steps to protect your data.

As organizations work to remediate affected systems, it's crucial to stay alert to phishing campaigns and spoofed domains set up by threat actors attempting to exploit the outage.

CrowdStrike's Remediation Measures

CrowdStrike has provided a solution utilizing the Falcon sensor’s built-in quarantine functionality to remove the problematic channel file causing Windows systems to crash. According to CrowdStrike, when a Windows system with Falcon installed contacts the CrowdStrike Cloud, a request is issued to quarantine the faulty file, visible in the Falcon UI. If the file does not exist, no quarantine occurs, and systems operate normally. The solution may require two or three reboots to take effect due to a timing issue between the file's quarantine and activation. For best results, CrowdStrike recommends using a wired network connection to minimize latency.

On July 19, 2024, at approximately 1:00 a.m. ET, a widespread IT outage began due to a defect in a single CrowdStrike content update. This outage affected numerous Windows hosts globally, including critical U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government systems. CrowdStrike has since isolated the issue and deployed a fix.