Major IT outages were reported around the world Friday as vital systems including airports, banks, health services, and broadcasters were hit with disruption.
All flights from Delta, United, and American Airlines were grounded in the morning due to a communication issue, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. American Airlines, which says it was able to get its operations “safely” re-established as of 5 a.m. ET, cited a “technical issue” with cybersecurity company CrowdStrike “impacting multiple carriers,” according to ABC News.
Delta says it has “resumed some flight departures” but expects additional delays and cancellations Friday. United similarly said “some” of its flights are resuming but many customers traveling Friday “may experience delays.”
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CrowdStrike, which is used by businesses around the globe to secure Microsoft Windows computers and servers, released a support note early Friday acknowledging a so-called “Blue Screen of Death”(BSOD) issue when Windows machines were booted up, according to The Verge. “We have widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts, occurring on multiple sensor versions,” the note reportedly read.
Problems weren’t just reported in the U.S. In Australia, Melbourne Airport said it was “experiencing a global technology issue” affecting check-in procedures for some of its airlines. The travel chaos was also reported in Europe, with airports in Berlin and the U.K. caught up in the snafu. London Gatwick Airport said it was being affected by “the global Microsoft issues.” Asian airlines were affected.
But the problems spread beyond the travel sector. Sky News was unable to broadcast live TV in the U.K. and Australia, while Capitec—South Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers—said it too was “experiencing nationwide service issues.” Banks in New Zealand and Australia were also hit and the London Stock Exchange said it was investigating “a third-party global technical issue” which was affecting its news service, though it said the exchange itself remained operating normally.
Mass General Brigham, the largest hospital group in Massachusetts, canceled all non-emergency surgeries and hospital visits as its clinical systems—including those for patient health records and scheduling—became inaccessible.
At least two hospitals in Germany similarly canceled non-emergency surgeries, according to the BBC. Local healthcare centers in the U.K. reported issues with a system used for booking appointments and storing patient records. Israel’s Health Ministry said its own hospitals were also being affected by a “malfunction” with software.
Alaska’s 911 and non-emergency call centers “are not working correctly across the State of Alaska,” according to a post on the Alaska State Troopers’ Facebook page. It blamed a “nationwide technology-related outage” for the problem.
“Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Daily Beast in a statement. “We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery.”
CrowdStrike separately told The Daily Beast in a statement it is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.” “Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted,” the statement continued. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. 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,” the statement added.
