CrowdStrike CEO’s PR blunder: Failing to say sorry right away

Most likely, though, the lack of contrition stems from the IT sector’s longstanding struggle to relate in a more personalised and less robotic way with the general public. — Bloomberg

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc chief executive officer George Kurtz co-wrote a book that’s commonly referred to as the bible of computer security. When it comes to crisis management, though, he’s on shakier ground.

In a post on social media platform X early July 19 morning about a botched software update that crashed countless computer systems globally, Kurtz made clear the incident was not a cyberattack, his firm had identified the problem, and deployed a "fix.” What he didn’t say – at least at first – was the magic phrase that public-relations experts advise all businesses to shout from the rooftops at times like this: "I’m sorry.”