On July 19, 2024, CrowdStrike, a global cybersecurity company, experienced a significant outage caused by a faulty software update. This incident impacted millions of Windows machines across multiple industries, including transportation, defense, manufacturing, and finance. CrowdStrike has released an official statement and is posting updates on their blog. Microsoft has also published a blog with remediations, which we encourage you to review.

Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) is a security safeguard setting within Windows designed to prevent malicious actors from exploiting the Structured Exception Handler (SEH) overwrite. By preventing this exploit, SEHOP helps to ensure programs run smoothly and securely. Structured Exception Handler(SEH) is a mechanism within software that’s responsible to keep the program running smoothly in the event of an error.

In a digital landscape teeming with possibilities, safeguarding your business with a robust Internet of Things security framework is paramount. From interconnected devices to data privacy concerns, the stakes are high. Let’s delve into the realm of IoT security and unveil the crucial reasons behind fortifying your business against evolving cyber threats.

On July 19, 2024, an issue present in a single content update for the CrowdStrike Falcon sensor impacting Windows operating systems was identified, and a fix was deployed.1 CrowdStrike Intelligence has since observed threat actors leveraging the event to distribute a malicious ZIP archive named crowdstrike-hotfix.zip. The ZIP archive contains a HijackLoader payload that, when executed, loads RemCos.

By now, everyone is aware of the CrowdStrike Falcon update that caused major disruptions to key services such as hospitals, flights, news channels, and millions of end-user and cloud-based Windows machines worldwide. Details, including recovery options, can be found in the CrowdStrike advisory. At Indusface, designing for failure is a core tenet that we use while building all our SaaS products. After all, despite the best processes, checks, and balances, any system can fail.