A global computer outage that affected airports, banks and other businesses on Friday appears to be at least partly caused by a software update issued by CrowdStrike, a major U.S. cybersecurity firm.
Until now, most people were unaware of the company’s existence or the vital role it plays in keeping the world’s major systems operational, but former President Donald Trump had already raised questions about the company’s operations in 2019.
Crowdstrike gained notoriety during the 2016 US election when the Democratic National Committee paid the company to investigate hacks of its servers that were found to have originated in Russia.
CrowdStrike “exposes” Russian interference in 2016 US elections
The company was the first to publicly raise the alarm about Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump won, and CrowdStrike’s assessment was later confirmed by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Since then, Trump has been unable to shake off allegations that Moscow had undue influence over him.
Trump calls Zelensky
The company’s name resurfaced in 2019 after White House recordings showed then-President Trump mentioning the matter in a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The controversy ultimately led to the first attempt to impeach Trump.
During the call, Trump suggested Ukraine may own the Democratic National Convention server, saying, “Find out what happened in this situation with Ukraine. They’re saying it was Crowdstrike… they’re saying the server is owned by Ukraine.”
The comments were part of a broader argument Trump is making aimed at casting doubt on CrowdStrike’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.
Conspiracy theories
Trump’s references to CrowdStrike have been entangled in conspiracy theories that the company was somehow involved in a cover-up regarding the Democratic National Committee hack, including falsely claiming that CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovich was Ukrainian and that the company’s investigation was biased.
One conspiracy theory holds that CrowdStrike, at the behest of Ukraine, hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 2016 election, pinning the blame on Russia, and that the DNC’s servers were somehow located in Ukraine.
In reality, Alperovich is a Russian-born U.S. citizen, and CrowdStrike claims to operate in a nonpartisan manner and provides cybersecurity services to both Republican and Democratic groups.
Political experts say Trump’s doubts about the CrowdStrike findings were intended to undermine the established view of Russian interference that has been supported by multiple U.S. investigations, including the Mueller report.
Trump’s claims also sparked a series of conspiracy theories that the DNC fabricated the hack to divert attention from other political issues. These theories persisted despite CrowdStrike’s transparent investigative methodology, which involved forensically imaging the DNC’s servers rather than physically seizing them, a standard method for cybersecurity investigations.
Until now, most people were unaware of the company’s existence or the vital role it plays in keeping the world’s major systems operational, but former President Donald Trump had already raised questions about the company’s operations in 2019.
Crowdstrike gained notoriety during the 2016 US election when the Democratic National Committee paid the company to investigate hacks of its servers that were found to have originated in Russia.
CrowdStrike “exposes” Russian interference in 2016 US elections
The company was the first to publicly raise the alarm about Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump won, and CrowdStrike’s assessment was later confirmed by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Since then, Trump has been unable to shake off allegations that Moscow had undue influence over him.
Trump calls Zelensky
The company’s name resurfaced in 2019 after White House recordings showed then-President Trump mentioning the matter in a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The controversy ultimately led to the first attempt to impeach Trump.
During the call, Trump suggested Ukraine may own the Democratic National Convention server, saying, “Find out what happened in this situation with Ukraine. They’re saying it was Crowdstrike… they’re saying the server is owned by Ukraine.”
The comments were part of a broader argument Trump is making aimed at casting doubt on CrowdStrike’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump.
Conspiracy theories
Trump’s references to CrowdStrike have been entangled in conspiracy theories that the company was somehow involved in a cover-up regarding the Democratic National Committee hack, including falsely claiming that CrowdStrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovich was Ukrainian and that the company’s investigation was biased.
One conspiracy theory holds that CrowdStrike, at the behest of Ukraine, hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 2016 election, pinning the blame on Russia, and that the DNC’s servers were somehow located in Ukraine.
In reality, Alperovich is a Russian-born U.S. citizen, and CrowdStrike claims to operate in a nonpartisan manner and provides cybersecurity services to both Republican and Democratic groups.
Political experts say Trump’s doubts about the CrowdStrike findings were intended to undermine the established view of Russian interference that has been supported by multiple U.S. investigations, including the Mueller report.
Trump’s claims also sparked a series of conspiracy theories that the DNC fabricated the hack to divert attention from other political issues. These theories persisted despite CrowdStrike’s transparent investigative methodology, which involved forensically imaging the DNC’s servers rather than physically seizing them, a standard method for cybersecurity investigations.
