Behind a massive IT failure that grounded flights, upended markets and disrupted the operations of corporations around the world is one cybersecurity company: Austin-based CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.

Known as a dominant supplier of software that protects businesses from ransomware attacks, CrowdStrike was thrust into the spotlight on Friday as it struggled to fix a faulty patch that led to cascading, system-wide failures, paralyzing the operations of clients ranging from banks to global retail giants to health-care systems on Friday.

CrowdStrike was founded by former executives of antivirus pioneer McAfee Inc. and has grown into the leading maker of a relatively new type of security software that’s considered among the best defenses against ransomware and other hacking threats. It controls what market research firm IDC estimates is nearly 18 percent of the $8.6 billion global market for so-called “modern” endpoint protection software, just ahead of archrival Microsoft.

The type of software CrowdStrike supplies is separate and distinct from older, more limited types of security software. Traditional antivirus software was useful in the early days of computing and the internet for its ability to hunt for signs of known malware, but it has fallen out of favor as attacks have become more sophisticated. Now, products known as “endpoint detection and response” software that CrowdStrike develops do far more, continually scanning machines for any signs of suspicious activities and automating a response.

But to do this, these programs have to be given access to inspect the very core of the computers’ operating systems for security defects. This access gives them the ability to take disrupt the very systems they are trying to protect. And it is how Microsoft Windows systems came into play in Friday’s outage.

Representatives for CrowdStrike confirmed online reports that a glitch in the company’s Falcon software was responsible for disabling potentially millions of corporate and government Windows computers around the world and causing the dreaded “blue screen of death.”

The company pegged the incident to “a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” in a statement on Friday and said the outage wasn’t down to a cyberattack or security breach. Anyone using a Mac or Linux machine isn’t impacted, the company said, adding that “a fix has been deployed.”

An apparently separate incident involving Microsoft Corp.’s Azure cloud services also caused widespread disruption on Friday.

While cybersecurity professionals say CrowdStrike’s technology is a strong way to defend against ransomware, its cost — which in some cases can be more than $50 per machine — means that most organizations don’t install it on all of their computers. What that means, however, is that the computers that have the software installed on them are among the most important to protect, and if they go down, key services can fall with them.

One outstanding question is whether CrowdStrike’s software fix can be rolled out automatically or manually.

“You’ll have men in white vans going around to try manually fix this problem even when they put out a fix,” said Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey, in an interview with Bloomberg News. “To use the laptops, they’ll have to manually intervene — that is a big job.”

There’s also the question of how the bad rollout happened to begin with.

“CrowdStrike is meant to keep these machines safe,” Woodward said. “This is the sort of thing ransomware would do, but imagine ransomware simultaneously hitting the biggest organizations in the world — container ports in the Baltics, hospitals, railway stations, they’ve all been hit at once because of this one little file.”

CrowdStrike’s customer base comprises large organizations that have a large number of remote machines to manage, he added. “The economic impact is going to be huge.”

– Jordan Robertson and Shona Ghosh for Bloomberg

Major airlines grounded, banks knocked offline in global Microsoft tech outage

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Microsoft says users worldwide may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services, in a widespread outage reportedly connected to the U.S. cybersecurity company Crowdstrike.

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BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – One of the Olympic’s newest sports has a popular community in Bryan.

Skateboarding was introduced to the games during the Tokyo Olympics.

The City of Bryan has two skateparks community members can enjoy, Williamson Skatepark and Henderson Skatepark.

Bryan Parks and Recreation Supervisor Cody Junek says the skateboarding community in Bryan has grown.

“You can see 30 to 35 skaters out here in the afternoons. They’re out here very often and they’re they say that this place is always busy.”

The Texas A&M Skaters, an organization on the campus of Texas A&M University, say it’s exciting to see the sport they love being showcased on a world stage like the Olympics.

“I think it’s really cool because skateboarding is still kind of a niche thing. It also gives kids a better outlet to get their stresses out. If they don’t have the money to afford a gym, they can go skate out in the park,” said Texas A&M Skaters Treasurer Zachary Munguia.

The Olympics features two skateboarding competitions.

“Skateboarding Park” is judged by the height and speed of the tricks and “Skateboarding Street” is judged by technique and control.

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DALLAS — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian spoke openly Wednesday about the Longhorns’ rivalries with Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

But it was his comments about new-old rival Arkansas that really caught everyone’s attention.

“They hate Texas more than they like themselves,” Sarkisian said.

So naturally, Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman was asked Thursday what he thinks about Sarkisian’s statement.

“I will say this: we hadn’t played Texas for years, and when we played them a couple of years back, it was the most excited our fan base has been in a while.

“So I would say he’s probably right.”

Arkansas won that meeting in Fayetteville 40-21 back in 2021 as Texas was trying to decide between Hudson Card and current Oklahoma QB Casey Thompson at quarterback. The Horns finished just 5-7 in Sark’s first season in Austin.

But Texas leads the all-time head-to-head series 56-23 against the Hogs — that’s 71 percent for UT, just 29 percent for UA. 

The old Southwest Conference rivals renew their hostilities on Nov. 16 when they meet — again in Fayetteville, this time as Southeastern Conference foes.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Sarkisian said. “We’re looking forward to renewing rivalries with Texas A&M and with Arkansas. We’re one of the few schools with realignment that has benefitted from realignment that we’ve gotten some rivalries back.”

Now the Longhorns are coming off a College Football Playoff appearance and first Big 12 title in 15 years, while the Hogs were 4-8 last year and 1-7 in SEC play.

“You know, the difference is is Texas is certainly a different team than what we played,” Pittman said. “That was his first year there. And now, you know, obviously he’s a great coach, great guy, and got a wonderful football team. 

“But I’m glad that we’re gonna play him at home again, — you know, I don’t know if that’s fair because they came there two years ago. 

“But it’s already more than a game. So he’s probably correct. You’d have to ask the old hats of Arkansas but he’s he’s probably right.”

For Pittman’s part, he’s more focused on building a winner. After going 9-4 in his second season, the Hogs have gone 7-6 and 4-8 the last two years. 

For a program like Arkansas, an expanded playoff field to 12 teams “gives you life,” Pittman said.

“I’d like to get to the damn SEC championship game.”