CrowdStrike sent $10 Uber Eats gift cards to thank its beleaguered contractors who are helping to manage the fallout of a disastrous software update that caused a global tech meltdown last week.
Millions of computers with the Microsoft Windows operating system were hit with the “blue screen of death” on Friday because of a CrowdStrike glitch that left them unable to boot up.
CrowdStrike has been scrambling to salvage the crisis, which is expected to cost Fortune 500 companies billions of dollars.
In an email addressed to “CrowdStrike partners” – contractors involved in managing accounts for cybersecurity customers – the firm apologized for “the additional work the July 19 incident has caused.”
“To express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or late night snack is on us!” said the email, which included a promo code for Uber Eats and was reportedly sent in the name of CrowdStrike’s chief business officer Daniel Bernard.
Several X users posted that they had received a gift voucher from CrowdStrike, though some said the code appeared to have been taken offline and was no longer working.
“Two hours later the code is cancelled and the $10 removed from Uber Eats account,” another X user said. “That’s an uhh…interesting way to apologize to partners.”
One UK-based X user who received the gift card said it was worth £7.75, or about $10.
The email was obtained byTechCrunch, which first reported on the gift cards.
A CrowdStrike spokesman clarified that the gift cards were sent to contractors on its payroll, not customers.
“CrowdStrike did not send gift cards to customers or clients,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We did send these to our teammates and partners who have been helping customers through this situation. Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage rates.”
Microsoft said that some 8.5 million devices were likely affected during the meltdown, which stranded passenger in airports around the world and left some hospitals unable to function normally.
In a lengthy report published Wednesday, CrowdStrike explained that a bug in its quality control system had prevented it from identifying flawed data included in a routine software update.
The update was part of CrowdStrike’s rapid response plan, which is meant to update cybersecurity systems to combat new threats.
“I want to sincerely apologize directly to all of you for the outage,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a statement posted online last Friday. “All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation.”
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