Wachiwit
CrowdStrike, the cyber security firm responsible for last week's global tech outage, is thanking its partners for their extra work in the aftermath of the crash with $10 Uber Eats gift cards.
Social media users began posting screenshots of the gift cards and an accompanying CrowdStrike email online on Tuesday, with some complaining that the credit didn't work when they tried to redeem it.
A spokesperson for CrowdStrike confirmed to Business Insider that the company sent the vouchers to its partners who are part of the Accelerate Program, meaning they sell and manage CrowdStrike for customers.
"CrowdStrike did not send gift cards to customers or clients," the spokesperson said. "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."
Screenshots shared with BI by an employee at a cloud reseller, who asked not to be named for fear of professional repercussions, show an Uber Eats voucher that CrowdStrike provided on Tuesday afternoon, a second email saying the voucher had been canceled about four hours after the initial email, and a third email reinstating the voucher.
The first email, which was addressed to CrowdStrike partners, was signed by Daniel Bernard, chief business officer at the company.
"We recognize the additional work that the July 19 incident has caused. And for that, we send our heartfelt thanks and apologies for the inconvenience," Bernard wrote.
The email included technical updates about the company's cloud services and a QR code for Uber Eats.
"To express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or late-night snack is on us!" Bernard wrote.
The anonymous Cloud reseller also shared screenshots with BI of an email from Uber Eats showing that the voucher was "discontinued by the provider" about four hours after the initial CrowdStrike email and "no longer available to use."
About four hours after the Uber Eats voucher was canceled, the source got another email with a $10 credit and the message, "You've been sent a Oops! Error occurred. Enjoy $10 from CrowdStrike! Uber eats voucher!"
The source said the follow-up voucher worked when he redeemed it.
Several Reddit users and X posters shared similar stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, expressing frustration over their difficulty redeeming the gift cards.
The CrowdStrike spokesperson told BI that Uber flagged the gift cards as fraud because so many people were redeeming them. The company did not immediately answer a follow-up question about how many vouchers were sent out.
The Friday outage impacted operations worldwide, with flights grounded, TV networks forced off the air, and medical procedures canceled.
CrowdStrike said a "defect" in an update for Windows was responsible for the outage.
The source who shared screenshots of the Uber Eats emails said he was "sort of watching it unfold from the sidelines," adding that the outage had "no impact to me or anything I do at work."
A cyber insurance executive told BI last week that the outage might have cost the economy "tens of billions of dollars." Many of the businesses impacted by the outage are already looking to recoup their losses.
CrowdStrike, meanwhile, only owes its customers a refund of subscription fees, a cybersecurity lawyer told BI last week, citing the company's terms and agreements.
