Investors have continued to punish US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike which was responsible for a devastating global tech outage last week that affected millions of computers powered by Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Shares of CrowdStrike plunged 13 per cent on Monday to end around A$395.88. It continued its loss-making streak, with more than 30 per cent in its share price having been eroded since Friday.

Microsoft said that it estimated around 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than 1 per cent of all Windows machines, were affected by the outage.

CrowdStrike’s Falcon software which the company describes as award-winning, AI-powered cybersecurity that protects small and medium businesses from ransomware and data breaches, is believed to have been at the root of the problem.

CrowdStrike’s chief security officer Shawn Henry acknowledged the impact that the incident has had on the company’s reputation. “We let down the very people we committed to protect, and to say we’re devastated is a huge understatement,” he said. “The confidence we built in drips over the years was lost in buckets within hours, and it was a gut punch.”

Here in Australia, thousands of businesses including NBN, Bendigo Bank, Foxtel, National Australia Bank, Australia Post, Suncorp, Xero, Commonwealth Bank, MYOB, ME Bank, Optus, Telstra Amazon, Westpac, Google, ANZ and Microsoft in Australia were hit by the outage which caused a potential loss of hundreds of millions in revenue by these organisations who had invested in their software.

As ChannelNews reported earlier today, several retailers in Australia who were impacted by the recent CrowdStrike patch disaster have moved to lodge insurance claims with legal experts warning that they may have limited options with the big US company forcing Australian companies to sign contracts that are governed by New York governing law and arbitration.

Already, some of CrowdStrike’s rivals stand to benefit from its reputational loss. Sentinel One, for example, saw its shares rise more than 8 per cent on Monday.

Tech analysts have warned though that switching costs are high for companies that want to move away from CrowdStrike in favour of another cybersecurity provider, and the options of the rivals that they could turn to are also limited.

CrowdStrike still has a long way to go to make amends, though the more worrying factor for now is the immediate impact its business model is facing. “The globally disruptive nature of this event will likely have an impact on CrowdStrike’s financial and operational performance… Time spent on damage control is time spent on not selling,” JPMorgan analysts said.