Major technology disruption disrupts global business

A global technology outage grounded flights, paralyzed banking and hospital systems and shut down media on Friday, causing massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted reliance on software from a handful of providers.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the issue causing the outage was not believed to be a security incident or cyberattack and that a fix was underway. The company said the issue occurred when an incorrect update was deployed to PCs running Microsoft Windows.

But hours after the problem was first discovered, the chaos continued and escalated.

With many travelers away for the summer, long lines have formed at airports in the United States, Europe and Asia as airlines are unable to check in and book flights. Australian news media, whose telecommunications were severely affected, were forced to go off the air for several hours. Hospitals and doctors' offices experienced problems with booking systems, while banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages with their payment systems or websites and apps.

Some athletes and spectators arriving in Paris ahead of the Games were delayed, but Olympic organizers said the disruption would be limited and would not affect ticketing or the torch relay.

Disturbing vulnerability reminder

“This is a very, very disturbing illustration of the fragility of the world's core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, a professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and the former head of the UK's National Cyber ​​Security Centre.

Network expert James Boal said the real harm will be caused by outages, as systems that people rely on at critical moments will be unavailable. For example, hospitals will have difficulty scheduling appointments, and people who need care may not get it, which will lead to deaths, he said.

“All of these systems run the same software,” Bol said. “We’ve made all these tools so widespread that when things inevitably go wrong — and as we’ve seen, they will — they go wrong on a massive scale.”

Claudia Plattner, head of Germany's IT security agency, said, “These problems will continue for some time – we cannot expect a solution soon.” Predicting when all systems will be up and running is difficult, but “it won't be a few seconds.” hours,” she added.

Microsoft posted on social media platform

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

CrowdStrike said in an emailed statement that it is “actively working with customers affected by the flaw discovered in a single content update for Windows hosts.”

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” it said.

Shares of the Austin, Texas-based company, which trades on Nasdaq, fell nearly 15% in early premarket trading Friday.

A recording played on its customer service hotline said, “CrowdStrike has been made aware of reports of a Microsoft port crash related to the Falcon Sensor,” referring to one of its products used to thwart online attacks.

Broadcasters go off air, surgeries delayed, 'blue screen of death'

New Zealand's acting prime minister, David Seymour, said on

He added that the problem caused “inconvenience” to the public and businesses.

On the Milan stock exchange, Italy's blue-chip FTSE MIB index was unavailable for an hour, but trading continued.

Airports reported an increase in major delays Friday morning, with most attributed to issues with individual airlines' reservation systems.

In the United States, United, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines said at least some flights had resumed after severe disruptions, but delays would continue.

UK airlines and rail are also affected, with waiting times longer than usual.

In Germany, Berlin Brandenburg Airport was grounded for several hours due to difficulties in checking in for passengers, Zurich Airport suspended landings, and flights from Hungary, Italy and Turkey were also disrupted.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said it had been “forced to suspend the majority” of its operations.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport warned that the power outage had a “significant impact” on flights to and from the busy European hub. The chaotic morning coincided with one of Schiphol Airport's busiest days of the year.

There are reports of widespread problems at Australian airports, with some passengers stranded as online check-in services and self-service kiosks are disabled, increasing the number of flights and leaving some passengers stranded, although flights are still operating.

Australia particularly affected by power outages

While power outages are occurring across the globe, Australia appears to be severely affected by the problem. Outages reported on the DownDetector website include NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo banks, Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone calls such as Telstra provider.

National news outlets, including public broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia, were unable to carry the news on television and radio channels for several hours. Some news anchors broadcast live online in dark offices, with “blue screens of death” displayed in front of their computers.

Hospitals in some countries have also reported problems.

NHS England said the blackout was causing problems for most doctors' offices in England. NHS England said in a statement that the glitch was affecting booking and patient recording systems used across the public health system.

Some hospitals in northern Germany canceled all elective surgeries scheduled for Friday, but emergency care was not affected.

Shipping has also been disrupted: Baltic Hub, a major container hub at the Baltic Sea port of Gdansk in Poland, said it was dealing with problems caused by disruptions in the global system.