Scammers are patrolling for vulnerable targets concerned about the Crowdstrike’s faulty update to its security software.

We are being asked to STOP, THINK, PROTECT, REPORT to assess anyone discussing your personal information and data on your computer.

CrowdStrike is a US-based cybersecurity company based in Austin, Texas. A defect in their Falcon content update has sent millions of computers around the world into a blue death screen loop, affecting many personal computers as well as organisations.

The National Anti-Scam Centre, Scam Watch is “warning consumers and small businesses to be wary of unsolicited calls, emails or messages requesting they download a software patch or provide remote access to fix or protect their computer from the CrowdStrike/Microsoft outage.”

(Recommendations from Scam Watch)

Lismore MP Janelle Saffin’s Electorate Office confirmed that some of its laptops were affected by the outage but were rebooted with the help of Parliament’s IT services team.

“Janelle’s staff were able to continue offering service and assistance to her constituents,” a spokesperson said.

“The best advice for anyone disrupted by the outage is to work with their trusted IT support expert to restore connectivity.

“Be extremely wary of unsolicited offers to provide a fix for the blue screen. They are more than likely scammers looking for your personal information.”

Federal MP Kevin Hogan and Lismore City Council did not say they have been affected by the CrowdStrike issue.  

However, Mr Hogan reinforces the need to be wary, “It is exceptionally important businesses and consumers are cautious of any unexpected texts, calls or emails claiming to be assistance with the Crowdstrike issue.

“Friday’s Crowdstrike failure has only reinforced the importance of maintaining cash in our communities.” Mr Hogan said.

Professional assistance is vital when something happens with technology that we are unfamiliar with, and security is an issue.  

Speaking with Ken at Compu-K, he explains a little more about what they know regarding this issue.

“The CrowdStrike Falcon security software seems to be primarily designed for file servers of large organisations, government departments etc. and not PC’s.

“Any organisation that is dependent on access to a central server, such as banks, supermarkets and government departments, may have been affected and their IT departments should handle it.

“If anyone gets a pop-up message purporting to be from CrowdStrike they should probably ignore it. It is very likely from an opportunistic scammer. They like to take advantage of newsworthy events such as CrowdStrike or natural disasters.

“Scammers use trusted names like Microsoft or Telstra to get people to ring them. They can be very convincing, and the thing to remember is that Microsoft or Telstra or MyGov or the tax office will never contact people this way.

“Do not ring the number. Switch the computer off.

“The same applies to emails and text messages that are unexpected or look a bit unusual, even if they are from friends. Especially the ones that say that the sender is having a problem, cannot be contacted the usual way and needs money.

“If someone has a distracted moment and engages with a scammer, they should never give credit card or bank details out and they should not go out and get gift cards. 

“Scammers can be quite intimidating, and they make it hard to refuse them politely. Disengage with them immediately. If the computer is locked up and inaccessible, switch it off and take it to a trusted repairer.

“If someone has an even more distracted moment and lets a scammer access the computer remotely, switch it off. Call the bank and report the event so that they can monitor transactions and help change passwords. Passwords need to be changed for all accounts that have been accessed online by that computer, such as MyGov, Facebook etc.

“Remediation is a chore, and it is better to not get compromised in the first place.

“There is a whole lot more that can be said about potential threats, and scammers are coming up with new angles all the time. The best prevention is awareness and vigilance.”

George Kurtz, the CEO of Crowdstrike acknowledges, “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. 

(CrowdStrike are monitoring the large number of scammer organisations popping up pretending to be the real company)

“I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates.”

Mr Kurtz also informs us, “CrowdStrike is actively assisting customers affected by a defect in a recent content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted. The issue has been identified and isolated, and a fix has been deployed. This was not a cyberattack.”

If you have any concerns, contact Scamwatch here.