Countries around the world have been hit by a powerful IT outage, crippling air traffic control systems, banks, and broadcasters. Windows 10 users are said to have borne the brunt of the crisis, with media reports and experts attributing the failures to a recent update of CrowdStrike, a web/cloud-based anti-virus which has caused computers to crash.
Problems have so far been reported in Australia, New Zealand, India, and Japan, with the monitoring site Down Detector also showing outages at the Microsoft Store and Amazon, as well Delta and Ryanair airlines, among others.
19 July 2024
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has told NBC that his company is “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected” by the outage. He confirmed that the crash was caused by a software bug in an update which conflicted with Microsoft systems.
“We’ve identified it very quickly… The systems come back online as they are rebooted,” he said, adding that CrowdStrike is working with its customers to help them return to normal operations.
At the same time, he was unable to say how long exactly it will take to achieve this.
Several major Chinese airlines have told CGTN that their operations were not affected by worldwide disruption as they use different IT systems.
The UK government has held an emergency meeting following the global IT outage, a Downing Street spokeswoman said, adding that UK authorities were “working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue.” She confirmed that newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not chair the meeting but is being kept in the loop, explaining that he had a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk has branded the Microsoft outage the “biggest IT fail ever.” He also laughed at a meme comparing Microsoft to the Secret Service following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, concluding that neither was secure.
Microsoft has said, as quoted by Reuters, that the underlying cause of the global outage has been fixed, but acknowledged that the residual impact continues to affect some of its apps and services.
The White House National Security Council spokesperson told CNN that the Biden administration is aware of the outage and is “looking into the issue and impacts” of the incident.
Dubai International Airport says it has returned to normal operations after some of its check-in procedures were affected by the global outage. It noted that “airlines promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly.”
Around 30% of McDonald’s outlets in Japan have been forced to suspend operations due to the outage, Kyodo News has reported, citing the local branch of the fast-food giant. It is not yet clear when services can be resumed in full, it added.
Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development said the Microsoft outage was further proof that the country needs to continue weaning itself off foreign software, especially when it comes to critical infrastructure.
The Kremlin’s IT systems have not been affected by the Microsoft outage, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Flight and railway authorities in Russia have also confirmed that their operations continue unimpeded.
Israel’s Health Ministry has said “a widespread worldwide malfunction in computer servers” has affected its hospitals and other services, stressing that it is not a cyberattack. It added that many of its medical institutions have “switched to manual work,” and that “there is no harm in the medical treatment of patients in the hospitals” affected by disruptions.
George Kurtz, the CEO of CrowdStrike cybersecurity firm, which is largely blamed for the outages, said that “the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.” “Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” he noted, adding that Mac and Linux hosts were not affected by the disruptions.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled globally amid the ongoing Microsoft crash, the BBC has reported, citing aviation analytics firm Cirium. It added that the number is set to rise. The report comes as social network users and media outlets share pictures and clips of people stranded in airport departure lounges.
The Australian government has activated the National Coordination Mechanism to address the outage, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said. He noted, however, that “there is no impact to critical infrastructure, government services or Triple-0 services at this stage,” referring to the country’s main emergency number.
Turkish Airlines has also said that it is “currently experiencing problems with ticketing, check-in, and reservation processes” due to the global technical issue.
Heathrow Airport has said that its flights remain operational despite the outage affecting some of its systems. It added that it is “implementing contingency plans to minimize any impact on journeys.”
Ryanair has advised all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time, while confirming disruptions in the IT systems.
British media reports that patients have experienced problems with booking appointments on the National Health Service (NHS) website. Wilmslow Health Center wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “all practices in the UK using the NHS commissioned GP computer system EMIS are currently without access to their IT systems,” adding that it anticipates the outage to “last for many hours.”
Microsoft 365, which includes a range of popular products such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, has said it “continue[s] to take mitigation actions” to address the outage.
The IT outage has caused many 911 and non-emergency call centers to go down in the US state of Alaska, local authorities have said.
Media outlets report long lines and delays, as well as scenes of “mild chaos” in numerous airports across Europe, Australia, India, and the US. Social media users have shared photos of boarding passes filled out by hand.
The outage has affected several media outlets, including the UK-based Sky News – which went off air – as well as the Australia-based ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9, and News Corp Australia.
Social media users are sharing photos of the so-called “blue screen of death” that bricked their PCs on Windows software, saying their systems did not load correctly.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded all flights by several major US airlines, including Delta, United and American Airlines, over a communication issue. However, all airborne flights will remain in the air.