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FYI: Elon Musk has decided to discontinue the use of CrowdStrike following a global IT outage last week.
Elon Musk and CrowdStrike Part Ways After IT Outage
In a surprising move, Elon Musk announced that he has completely halted the use of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. This decision comes in the wake of a botched software update by CrowdStrike that led to a global IT outage on Friday.
The announcement was made by Musk on social media in response to a comment from Silicon Valley angel investor Jason Calacanis, who pointed out that CrowdStrike likely does not perform staged rollouts. Musk’s succinct reply was, “We just deleted CrowdStrike from all our systems, so no rollouts at all.”
Although Musk did not specify if this decision affects all his ventures, it is crucial to note that he holds stakes in numerous companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, X, and xAI. Among these, Tesla and SpaceX are the giants, with Tesla boasting a market cap of $749 billion and SpaceX estimated to be valued at over $200 billion.
In a follow-up post, Musk explained further, “Unfortunately, many of our suppliers and logistics companies use it.” Given that Tesla engages in the mass production of electric vehicles and battery storage products, and SpaceX focuses on rockets and Starlink satellites, it is reasonable to infer that both Tesla and SpaceX have ceased using CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike, renowned for its cloud-delivered endpoint protection, has been under scrutiny following the outage. Their primary product, Falcon, is identified as a sophisticated cybersecurity platform aimed at securing endpoints via a cloud-native architecture. Addressing the situation, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz clarified that the outage was not due to a security breach.
“Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected. We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on,” Kurtz wrote on X.
Musk’s decision to part ways with CrowdStrike sends ripples across various sectors, considering the scale of his operations. From electric vehicles to space exploration, the repercussions of his decision could prompt other companies to reconsider their cybersecurity choices.
In conclusion, the fallout from CrowdStrike’s software mishap has already had significant impacts. Elon Musk’s decision underscores the importance of reliable cybersecurity measures, especially for companies operating on a global scale with intricate production and supply chain networks.
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William Kouch, Editor of Automotive.fyi
