CrowdStrike’s president recently accepted the “Most Epic Fail” award during the 2024 Pwnie Awards at this year’s DefCon hacking conference.
As reported by TechCrunch, CrowdStrike had a notable presence at the cybersecurity event, setting up one of the largest booths and giving away free t-shirts and action figures to attendees.
Supporters have lauded the company’s response to the incident, which rendered millions of Windows machines inoperable until a manual fix was applied in safe mode. Despite the issue, CrowdStrike President Michael Sentonas accepted the award, candidly admitting it was “definitely not something to be proud of.”
Sentonas expressed genuine remorse for the disruption caused to global digital infrastructure, from transport to retail, acknowledging that “[CrowdStrike] got this horribly wrong […] and it’s crucial to own up to it when you make mistakes.”
“Our mission is to protect people,” he continued, “and we failed in this instance. It’s important everyone understands that these errors cannot be repeated.”
While these words resonated with the audience, it remains to be seen whether the company’s actions will match its contrition.
