Only a few hours back, Microsoft users experienced a major outage due to some faulty software update. Herein, thousands of Microsoft Windows computers were affected worldwide. The outage disrupted essential services, including air travel, credit card payments, emergency services, and stock markets.
According to the firm, an update for CrowdStrike’s Falcon cybersecurity tool caused system crashes worldwide. Crowdstrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, apologised publicly, citing that a defect in the Falcon content update for Windows hosts was to blame for the incident. He assured that deployment of the fix had already been made and clarified that this was not a cyber attack event.
This was not the first time that Kurtz was associated with a major technology failure. In 2010, while working as the CTO at McAfee, the antivirus company pushed out a defective security update that caused tens of thousands of Windows XP computers worldwide to crash. Many people were surprised to know that Kurtz has been associated with these two massive tech failures.
On the news of the CrowdStrike outage, Kurtz’s personal net worth dropped over $300 million as CrowdStrike’s stock tumbled 11%. His net worth dropped from $3.2 billion Thursday to $2.9 billion Friday, according to Forbes.
Early Life and Education
George Kurtz is the CEO and founder of CrowdStrike, which is a leader in next-generation endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and services. He is an internationally known security expert and best-selling author, entrepreneur, and speaker. With such an accomplished background of more than 30 years of security experience, Kurtz has had quite an excellent record in setting up real revenue growth and scaling global organisations.
Kurtz earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Seton Hall University. He passed the Certified Public Accountant exam, although this license had already been inactive. His university education gave him a strong business and finance foundation, which greatly contributed to the success of his entrepreneurial ventures.
Kurtz’s Achievements
Before co-founding CrowdStrike, Kurtz held a series of influential positions in the cybersecurity industry. He started his career in security at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, holding senior positions in both companies. It was the work he did at these firms that laid the base for his future successes in this very industry.
In October 1999, Kurtz founded Foundstone, a worldwide security products and services company. As the CEO, he recruited the founding team members and was responsible for building the company into a leader in incident response practices. In what was arguably one of the biggest points of his career, Foundstone was sold to McAfee in October 2004.
At McAfee, Kurtz served in the roles of Worldwide Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, and Executive Vice President of Enterprise. While there, he was instrumental in spearheading innovation and revenue growth. His work at McAfee showcased the ability to commercialise nascent technologies and propel them successfully to market.
Kurtz as an Author and Speaker
Kurtz is also a noted author and public speaker. He has co-authored the bestseller security book titled “Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions.” Generally, this work is considered one of the most spiritually influential in the whole area of cybersecurity. In turn, Kurtz’s insights have made him one of the sought-after speakers on the circuit of industry conferences and events.
Kurtz has been featured in numerous major publications, media outlets, and television programs, including CNN, Fox News, ABC World News, Bloomberg, CNBC, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. This accomplished media presence solidifies his standing as one of the leading thought leaders within the security space.
Kurtz at CrowdStrike
Under Kurtz’s leadership, CrowdStrike has risen to become a prime player in the cybersecurity marketplace. It has been characterised by innovations in endpoint protection and threat intelligence.
Even with the outage, CrowdStrike remains one of the key partners to every organisation needing protection for digital assets.
