Bitcoin
‘Bitcoin Keeps Hashing’ Amid CrowdStrike Global Outages: Mining CEO
‘As the world continues to recover from computer outages triggered by a faulty software update deployed by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, business continues as usual Bitcoin due to its decentralized nature and independence from centralized providers and infrastructure.
On Thursday night, CrowdStrike sent the tech world into a tailspin as numerous systems who relied on its security tools for their Microsoft-based systems were brought down. Major systems — including those of government offices, banks and airlines — went down as computer screens displayed the dreaded blue screen of death.
In an update posted Friday, Crowd strike CrowdStrike Inc. said it is actively working with customers impacted by a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” CrowdStrike said in a statement. “Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.”
“We know that adversaries and bad actors will attempt to exploit events like this,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a letter to customers and partners. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you are engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives,” he said.
Bitcoin was safe, however, because it does not rely on Microsoft software, said the founder and CEO of SunnySide Digital Taras Kulyk.
“If you look at the Bitcoin hash rate chart, [Bitcoin] “It’s not affected at all because most, if not all, Bitcoin miners are using Linux-based frameworks,” Kulyk told Decrypt in an interview. “It’s hilarious because banks globally are closing because of this server issue and yet Bitcoin keeps hashing, and I hate to use the term but, ‘tick tock, next block.’”
Released in 2021, Digital Sunny Side is a wholesale distributor of data center hardware and services and digital mining hardware and infrastructure.
“It’s really about the infrastructure that [the blockchains] “Trust,” Kulyk said. “If you’re looking for .NET frameworks, obviously it’s Microsoft. If there’s a lot more opportunity for Linux-based hardware to be used in software systems to be used in the network, then you basically know that it can be immune to this kind of server shutdown.”
For Kulyk, the difference between using a Microsoft or Linux system comes down to the principles of strong privacy rights, decentralization, and empowering individuals against centralized authority.
“What a lot of people forget is that Bitcoin miners are traditionally the people who don’t like the existing system, the existing large-scale corporate players,” Kulyk said. “Open source Linux is much more preferable than [Windows]visualizing everything you’re doing on the hardware you control. Ubuntu is the operating system for most miners when you actually get down to the people who, you know, subscribe to the ethos of the cypherpunks of old.”
CrowdStrike declined a request for comment from Decrypt.
While CrowdStrike has rolled back the update, the repercussions of the error are far-reaching. CrowdStrike (CROSSING), meanwhile, fell 11.10%, according to Yahoo Finance.
The blockchain industry at large appeared to be unaffected by the drop, with the cryptocurrency market up 4.6% on the day, and Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $67,224, according to CoinGecko.
“Nothing is more important to me than the trust our customers and partners have placed in CrowdStrike,” said Kurtz. “As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to providing full transparency into how this occurred and the steps we are taking to prevent something like this from happening again.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.