The Texas company blamed for last week’s Microsoft outage that cost $5.4 billion has been mocked for offering furious customers a $10 Uber Eats gift voucher.
CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm based in Austin, sent the $10 food vouchers to impacted customers, alongside an apology email.
‘And for that, we send our heartfelt thanks and apologies for the inconvenience,’ the message read.
‘To express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or late night snack is on us!’
CrowdStrike caused the meltdown Friday by pushing out a massive software update that crashed computers around the globe.
Airlines were among the worst hit, with tens of thousands of flights canceled across the globe – and Delta Airlines only returning to a full schedule a week later.
The company’s ‘Falcon Sensor’ caused Microsoft Windows to crash, resulting in the now infamous ‘Blue Screen of Death,’ so many people saw July 23.
Falcon, uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect cyber threats in real time.
As part of its mea cupla tour, CrowdStrike issued a plan to avoid future outages in a blog post.
The company will no longer release mass updates to prevent worldwide outages.
It’s also promised to upgrade its verification system to identify faulty code.
As for those $10 Uber vouchers, CrowdStrike confirmed it had sent the coupons to customers.
‘Uber flagged it as fraud because of high usage rates,’ CNN reported.
While the gift cards were meant to be a good will gesture, not actual restitution for lost profits, CrowdStrike has been silent about whether it will pay its customers back.
However, lawsuits to get the money back are expected in the near future.
The tech business has already been hit with a complaint over DEI– alleging it sidelined its white, male employees under a diversity-hiring scheme.
A conservative legal action group alleges that CrowdStrike favors women and minorities for jobs and promotions in coding, programming and other areas through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.