Yesterday, a major outage affected Microsoft and CrowdStrike services, with potentially significant implications for the crypto market. The issue was caused by a faulty CrowdStrike Sensors Update for Windows released on July 19, 2024, which caused system errors for customers who downloaded and installed the update. This incident particularly affected Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services.

Impact on the Crypto Market

1. Interruptions of Transactions:

Outages in Azure services affected the operation of crypto exchange platforms and digital wallets hosted on Microsoft infrastructure. This has resulted in delays in transaction processing and in some cases the inability to complete transactions. Users were unable to access funds or execute sell/buy orders, causing panic in the market.

2. Price Fluctuations:

The panic generated by the inability to access the funds led to sudden price fluctuations. In an already volatile market, these disruptions can exacerbate price movements, causing unexpected increases or decreases in the value of digital assets.

3. Investor Confidence:

Investor confidence in the infrastructure supporting the crypto market may be affected. Incidents of this type highlight the technical vulnerabilities of the platforms and may cause investors to be more cautious about placing funds in digital assets.

4. Security and Trust:

CrowdStrike, being a leading provider of cyber security solutions, has a crucial role in protecting crypto platforms from attacks. Such an incident raises questions about the robustness of security solutions and their ability to prevent and manage attacks and technical failures.

Taken measures

Microsoft and CrowdStrike worked quickly to resolve the issue. Microsoft advised customers to restart affected virtual machines to fix the situation, and CrowdStrike pulled the faulty update and began working on a permanent fix.

Conclusion

This bug highlights the need for robust testing and validation measures for software updates, especially in the context of critical infrastructures and the crypto market.