A Major Global Computer Outage Affects Various Industries
A worldwide computer outage has affected companies from different sectors, causing major disruptions in healthcare, transportation, and finance services.
The problem has been attributed to a security update from CrowdStrike that affected Windows devices, requiring fixes on millions of computers.
Airlines and airports have reported severe disruptions, and delays are expected in many airports.
One of the most significant computer outages ever recorded has hit companies worldwide, ranging from airlines to financial and media groups, causing major disruptions.
Thousands of workers, from Tokyo to London, were unable to log into their computers on Friday, affecting various sectors such as finance, healthcare services, public transportation, and emergency services.
Origin of the Major Computer Outage
The outage has been attributed to a security update from the American group CrowdStrike, which caused a problem with Microsoft’s Windows. Desktop computers and servers are affected, suggesting that millions of machines will need to be fixed to fully resolve the issue. “I think it’s not too early to say: this will be the biggest computer outage in history,” said Troy Hunt, a renowned security consultant, on social media. “Essentially, this is what we all feared with the Y2K bug, except this time it actually happened.”
Impact in Australia and Europe
Australian businesses were the first to report issues, with operations of retailers such as Woolworths and 7-Eleven being affected. Sydney Airport stated that a “global technical outage” had affected its operations.
In Europe, airlines and airports have also warned of disruptions. The United States Federal Aviation Administration stated that Delta, United, and American Airlines had requested that flights be grounded. This outage comes at a particularly bad time for European travel, with Friday being projected as the busiest day for departures from the UK since October 2019.
Reaction from Microsoft and CrowdStrike
Microsoft indicated that it was aware of an issue affecting Windows devices running the CrowdStrike Falcon agent, which could “get stuck in a reboot state.” This appears to have contributed to the problems experienced by some of its cloud computing customers. “We can confirm that the affected update has been withdrawn by CrowdStrike,” Microsoft added.
CrowdStrike is one of the largest global providers of endpoint security software, used by companies to monitor security issues across a wide range of devices, from desktop PCs to payment terminals. CrowdStrike’s stock fell by 16% and Microsoft’s by 2% in pre-market trading.
George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, stated that the company is “working with customers impacted by an issue found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” “This is not a security incident or a cyber attack,” he added. “The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.”
Consequences for Businesses and Users
However, the incident is far from resolved. Disruptions in airlines and airports worldwide have escalated. In Europe, Dutch carrier KLM stated that the issues had “made it impossible to manage flights” and that the company had suspended “most” of its operations. Other airlines and airports have indicated that they are still functioning but have warned passengers of possible delays.
The London Stock Exchange Group stated that its service for company announcements was experiencing a “global third-party technical issue, preventing the release of news,” according to a statement on the company’s website. The group clarified that other systems, including the stock exchange, were operating normally.
David Rhodes, Chairman of Sky News, stated on X that the British broadcaster “was unable to broadcast live television this morning, currently apologizing to viewers for the interruption.” Sky News broadcasting has since resumed.
In China, some workers welcomed an early start to the weekend as their employers told them to go home. “Thank you, Microsoft, for an early vacation” briefly became the most searched term on the microblogging site Weibo Friday afternoon, with users posting photos of the error blue screens displayed on their Windows computers.
