How a London Stadium Recovered from the CrowdStrike Outage in Time for a Concert

When we think about cyber incidents, ransomware attacks typically dominate the headlines. However, July 2024 brought a different kind of crisis that proved equally devastating—a major software malfunction.

The CrowdStrike Incident

On 19 July 2024, CrowdStrike released a faulty update that rendered over eight million Windows computers inoperable. The malformed update file caused the Blue Screen of Death, trapping affected machines in a continuous reboot loop. Whilst CrowdStrike quickly withdrew the update and released a fix, computers already affected had no way to receive it.

The Recovery Challenge

IT administrators faced two options: perform complex manual commands on each affected computer, or completely rebuild systems from scratch. Manual recovery was laborious and time-consuming, especially for geographically dispersed devices. However, organisations with automated rebuild processes had a significant advantage in recovery time.

A London Stadium’s Crisis

A London stadium faced a high-pressure scenario with an imminent major concert. All 800 point-of-sale (Registers) devices across the arena were disabled by the update. These devices were scattered across hundreds of concession stands, multiple floors, and numerous locations. Remote management software was non-functional, making manual recovery impractical.

The Solution

Fortunately, the London stadium had previously used OneDeploy to deploy these endpoints, giving them an automated rebuild process. They recovered the environment within 24 hours, and the concert proceeded as planned.

The Takeaway

The CrowdStrike incident demonstrates that cyber recovery extends beyond malicious attacks. Organisations with automated deployment and rebuild processes build resilience that can mean the difference between meeting critical deadlines and facing catastrophic disruptions. For the London stadium, proper infrastructure preparation meant thousands of fans could enjoy the concert without knowing how close the venue had come to not being able to open at all.

Contact us to book a Demo