Is the image of the Blue Screen of Death on the Sphere real?

The Sphere Blue Screen of Death image went viral but was revealed to be altered.

When people worldwide tried to log into their systems on Friday morning, many were met with Microsoft’s booting error page, famously known as the ‘Blue Screen of Death’. The error continued to appear.

From the Sphere to fake cyberattack stories, misinformation is spreading fast during the CrowdStrike outage.

Sphere blue screen of death shared widely on social media was altered

The image was widely shared on X, gathering millions of views. The image seemed to show the Sphere — the flashy new addition to the Las Vegas skyline with 580,000 square feet of programmable LEDs — displaying the blue screen of death.

They got the vegas ball. It’s all over. We lost. pic.twitter.com/0EskhDXYxD

— aaron (@aaronoleary) July 19, 2024

However, a representative for the Sphere stated that the photo was digitally altered, TechCrunch reported. The Sphere was not affected by the CrowdStrike outage, which has impacted Windows computers worldwide.

It might be easy to think this photo is real, especially with blue screens of death appearing in airports and hospitals worldwide. However, some clues suggest this vaporwave dream isn’t true.

For one, the only “evidence” we have of the Sphere being affected is this single altered image, yet publications like the Daily Mail and the Express Tribune reported it as fact.

Meanwhile, on the Sphere’s YouTube livestream, viewers can clearly see that the Sphere is functioning normally, despite how amusing it might have been to imagine a “BSOD sphere” as real.

A possible Sphere outage, while funny to think about, isn’t a big deal. But it shows how easily false information can spread online during times of global confusion and panic.

CrowdStrike software update causes widespread IT outages

Businesses worldwide experienced IT outages, the most extensive IT disruptions in recent years. The outage was related to a software update from the well-known cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

It impacted Microsoft Windows computers across various industries, such as airlines, banks, retailers, brokerage firms, media companies, and railway networks. The travel sector appeared to be among the hardest hit, according to online reports.

CrowdStrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, confirmed on X that a “defect” in a content update for Windows hosts caused the outage and that it wasn’t due to a cyberattack. He also mentioned that a fix was being rolled out and that Mac and Linux hosts were unaffected.

Before the CrowdStrike update, Microsoft did have a Microsoft 365 service disruption overnight. However, a spokesperson told TechCrunch that the current CrowdStrike outages are not related to that issue.