After crashing 8.5 million computers, CrowdStrike says sorry to its partners with a $10 Uber Eats gift card, which was also broken

Windows 10 Blue Screen Of Death
(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (MitrandirLK))

If you were out last Friday, you may have encountered some difficulty shopping, getting a coffee, or, god forbid, trying to catch a flight due to a bug that crashed 8.5 million Microsoft devices and messed up a few Linux-powered computers

After realising that the core issue came from a configuration file in an update for CrowdStrike's Falcom platform, the cybersecurity company has been working around the clock to fix the issue, and things seem mostly back to normal. As a partial apology for its huge error, Crowdstrike has been sending out $10 Uber Eats vouchers to its "teammates and partners" (via TechCrunch). 

The email was sent out and also posted to X, though it has since been taken down: "To express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or a late night snack is on us!" 

Another recipient posted the voucher to X, revealing that in the UK, the total credit is £7.75. Depending on where you are, a good chunk of that money would probably go to the delivery charge, and many restaurants on Uber Eats have a minimum order of around £9—£10. 

A CrowdStrike partner, Louis Corriero, voiced his upset on LinkedIn: "The gesture of a cup of coffee or Uber Eats credit as an apology doesn't seem to make up for the tens of thousands lost in man hours and customer trust due to the July 19 incident."

But many users couldn't even get the voucher to work, as putting the code in would just relay them to an error message. "We did send these to our teammates and partners who have been helping customers through this situation," CrowdStrike spokesperson Kevin Benacci tells TechCrunch. "Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage rates." Since this, the problem has been worked out, so if you do have a voucher, it should work now. 

The fallout from last week has also more or less been fixed. At first, there was a technical fix for the faulty CrowdStrike update that required direct access to every device affected by the bug. This was far from a quick solution, as bigger organisations had to dedicate a large amount of time to fixing individual devices. However, luckily, Microsoft released a simpler fix: a recovery tool that has two repair options "to help IT admins expedite the repair process," according to Microsoft support.  

CrowdStrike's CEO also apologised for the global IT outage: "I want to sincerely apologize directly to all of you for the outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation." 

Elie Gould
News Writer

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

Read more
Mister Fantastic giving a thumbs up
Marvel Rivals is giving away 200 units to everyone as an apology for the server outages, and players are very happy: 'I literally made 200 units in my sleep'
Marvel Snap apologises for US TikTok outage by throwing a bunch of free stuff at its players
Microsoft Copilot
A rather pleasing Windows 11 update bug automatically uninstalls Copilot and unpins it from the taskbar, which is jolly nice of it
Eivor battling multiple foes in Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Previously borked Ubisoft games are now fixed on Windows 11 24H2 as the troubled update begins automatically downloading to compatible PCs
Monster Hunter Wilds
Sony offers 5 free days of PlayStation Plus but no explanation for 24-hour 'operational issue,' Capcom to extend Monster Hunter Wilds beta to make up for downtime
Microsoft Windows 11
If you installed Windows 11 with certain security updates and a USB stick, you may not get any more security updates warns Microsoft
Latest in Windows
Microsoft Copilot
A rather pleasing Windows 11 update bug automatically uninstalls Copilot and unpins it from the taskbar, which is jolly nice of it
Microsoft's Task Manager in Windows 11
After years of complaints about Windows Task Manager displaying CPU utilization incorrectly, a fix is finally on its way
Microsoft Windows 11
The latest Windows 11 dev build gives you the ability to snap together commonly paired apps for access in a single click, and I'm already sold
Windows 11's new emoji button in the taskbar.
You might mock Microsoft's new emoji button in Windows 11 but as someone that's explained how to quickly access emojis and special characters too many times, I get it
Windows 10 operating system logo is displayed on a laptop screen for illustration photo. Gliwice, Poland on January 23, 2022.
Valve's monthly survey reveals that almost 45% of Steam users on PC are still using Windows 10 even with the sword of Damocles hanging over them
Microsoft Windows 11
If you installed Windows 11 with certain security updates and a USB stick, you may not get any more security updates warns Microsoft
Latest in News
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'