CrowdStrike stock drops once again as the disruption to IT persists

As the cybersecurity startup CrowdStrike deals with the fallout from causing a worldwide IT outage, its stock has dropped by more than 13%.

Shawn Henry, chief security officer, described the event as a "gut punch" for the company, which was formerly among the most reputable in its field.

"To say we're devastated would be an enormous understatement. We let down the very individuals we vowed to defend," he said.

After a malicious "content update" last week brought down 8.5 million Microsoft Windows machines worldwide, many organizations are still getting back up and running. 
In certain situations, the problem has needed manual reboots.

After working for the FBI for 12 years, Mr. Henry, a former executive assistant director, said that the past weekend was "the most challenging 48 hours."

He pledged that it would "emerge better and stronger than ever" by taking the situation as a learning experience.

"It was a gut punch—the confidence we had built up over the years was lost in buckets in a matter of hours," he wrote on LinkedIn on Monday.

"However, this is nothing compared to the suffering we've inflicted upon our partners and customers."
On Monday, Delta announced that over 50% of its IT systems were Windows-based and needed to be repaired by hand. It said that the software that controls flight staffing was taking the longest to fix and needed the greatest manual assistance.

"To get this operation where it needs to be, we've got everyone around the company working around the clock," Delta CEO Ed Bastian stated in a Monday video message to staff members.

He had apologized to customers the day before, but not before US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had alerted the agency to complaints about the company's "continuous disruptions and unacceptable customer service."

Some organizations, like the National Health Service in the UK, have reported that things were going more smoothly with their systems.

Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office Minister, told the House of Commons on Monday that most industries impacted by the CrowdStrike virus had recovered, including the railroad, maritime, and aviation sectors.

However, she issued a warning that there will still be some "minor disruption," especially at the NHS.

She continued by saying that the government would "review the lessons learned" in collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre and other partners.

The incident demonstrated to MPs how reliant on "complex and interconnected IT systems" the current world is, as well as how important it is to be prepared for such catastrophes.

Since its founding in 2011, CrowdStrike has grown to serve some 29,000 clients globally, including some of the largest corporations in the world as well as US and UK government organizations.

Just prior to the incident, the company's shares had increased by about 40% this year. 

Some investors are placing bets that the company's competitors would profit from its current difficulties, which have brought attention from anti-monopoly regulators to the world's reliance on a single major player.

For instance, Sentinel One's stock increased by more than 8% on Monday.

Despite the recent decline in CrowdStrike's stock price, analysts did not predict long-term harm to the company.

See our previous article on Crowdstrike