- Global IT outage disrupts services worldwide
- Caused by Crowdstrike software update
- Microsoft services and apps affected
- Flights, banks, and hospitals impacted
A global IT outage has caused mayhem at airports, banks, railways, and businesses worldwide, taking a wide range of services offline and affecting millions.
Air transport stopped, hospitals were impacted, and many employees could not use their computers in one of the most pervasive IT outages ever to strike companies and institutions worldwide.
Microsoft’s Windows service was at the center of the outage, with analysts blaming it on a software upgrade from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike that damaged computer systems worldwide. According to experts, the blackout could last many days because each PC may need to be manually repaired.
Overnight, Microsoft confirmed that it was investigating a problem with its services and apps. The company’s service health website warned of “service degradation” that could prevent users from accessing many of the company’s most popular services, which are used by millions of businesses and people worldwide.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, reported potential network delays on Friday, July 19, due to a global third-party system outage. To minimize any problems, we recommend that passengers arrive at the airport three hours before their departure.
Flights in the United States were grounded due to communication issues that appear to be related to the outage. The carriers affected included American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines. On Monday, Berlin Airport temporarily paused all flights, while Melbourne Airport in Australia informed clients that it was “experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines.
A traveler at Gatwick Airport, the UK’s second-largest, described the situation as “bedlam,” with personnel handing out water to those stranded.
Due to the outage, GP offices in the UK have reported being unable to access patient records or book appointments. Surgeries used social media to report that they couldn’t use the EMIS Web system. The disruption is not expected to impact NHS hospitals. The National Pharmacy Association has also confirmed that UK services may be interrupted.
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In the UK, the parent company of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great No, cautioned passengers to expect delays due to the issue. According to the service status monitoring website Downdetector, customers have reported problems with Visa, BT, major retail chains, banks, online gaming sites, and media sources.
Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey, said the disruption looked to have been caused by Crowdstrike Falcon. This IT product monitors the security of extensive PC networks and downloads monitoring software to each computer.
“The product is used by huge businesses with a large number of PCs to ensure everything is monitored. Unfortunately, if they lose all of the PCs, they will be unable to operate or will operate at a significantly reduced service level,” said Woodward, adding that resolving the issue may take days.
“The main frustration is that resolving the issue will necessitate manual intervention on each afflicted PC. That will result in significant delays in recovery and disruption for days to come,” he said.
Woodward also stated that an IT problem was a more plausible cause than a cyber-attack.
