Are we acting like Linux couldn't have the same thing happen to it? There are plenty of things that can break boot.

Yeah, it's a crowd strike issue. The software is essentially a kernel module, and a borked kernel module will have a lot of opportunities to ruin stuff, regardless of the OS.

Ideally, you want your failure mode to be configurable, since things like hospitals would often rather a failure with the security system keep the medical record access available. :/. If they're to the point of touching system files, you're pretty close to "game over" for most security contexts unfortunately. Some fun things you can do with hardware encryption modules for some cases, but at that point you're limiting damage more than preventing a breach.

Architecture wise, the windows hybrid kernel model is potentially more stable in the face of the "bad kernel module" sort of thing since a driver or module can fail without taking out the rest of the system. In practice.... Not usually since your video card shiting the bed is gonna ruin your day regardless.