The CrowdStrike outage — who will pay?

CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology company, designs software to protect computer systems from disruptions. Ironically, on 19 July 2024, its own software caused one of the biggest IT disruptions in history. A faulty update to its Falcon sensor program crashed...

D

Domini Stuart — ANZIIF Writer

11 May 2026

4 mins read

A

CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology company, designs software to protect computer systems from disruptions. Ironically, on 19 July 2024, its own software caused one of the biggest IT disruptions in history.

A faulty update to its Falcon sensor program crashed computers, grounded flights, paralysed hospitals and brought businesses to a standstill all over the world.

“It’s becoming clear that a large number of Australian businesses suffered significant financial losses as a result of the CrowdStrike outage,” says James North, head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

“Along with lost sales and revenue due to an inability to trade, costs could include employing additional staff to reboot IT systems.

“While the immediate focus was getting their IT systems back online and clearing order backlogs, businesses are now turning their attention to whether they can recover their losses from CrowdStrike or its insurers.”