A widespread global outage has forced a diverse range of businesses to go dark, including banks, airlines, telecom providers, broadcast networks, and supermarkets, leaving them unable to operate online.
The outage is related to an issue in the most recent update, which is now being rolled back. The problem crashed Windows machines and servers, sending them into a loop of recovery so that they couldn’t restart.
According to an alert sent by global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike to its clients and reviewed by Reuters, the company’s Falcon Sensor software is causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the “blue screen of death”.
https://twitter.com/George_Kurtz/status/1814235001745027317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1814235001745027317%7Ctwgr%5E208387e6178f67c84b9a2ff03e03d051c054f939%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FGeorge_Kurtz%2Fstatus%2F1814235001745027317Major disruptions reported by airlines and airports grew.
CNN reported that major US airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines, experienced a system-wide ground stop on Friday morning due to a technical communication issue.
According to Reuters, a witness stated that passengers at Edinburgh Airport, Scotland, experienced difficulties utilizing automated boarding pass scanners due to security monitors displaying a “server offline” message, as reported by Sky News.
In the UK, Govia Thameslink Railway’s four brands – Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern – reported widespread IT failures, impacting their services.
Australia’s Telstra Group, a telecommunications company, has also been reported to be facing disruption.
Kenya Airways’ booking system was impacted, the airline said, warning customers to expect slower service than usual.
AFP reported that extensive IT disruptions have hit three Indian airlines, and a technical problem has suspended flights at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. all Spanish airports were also reported to be grappling with an IT outage, causing widespread travel disruptions.
Microsoft reacts
On X, Microsoft 365 acknowledged the issue that was affecting users and said on Friday morning: “We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
Not a ‘malicious act’
Amid the massive IT outage, there have been fears this could be something more sinister, a hugely debilitating global cyberattack, but experts said there’s nothing like such.
Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator said on Friday that it was aware of a “large-scale technical outage” affecting numerous businesses and services across the country.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies,” the agency said in a statement.
“There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”
France’s cybersecurity agency said Friday that there was no evidence that the global IT outage was “the result of a cyberattack.”
“The teams are fully mobilised to identify and support the affected entities in France and to understand… the origin of this outage,” ANSSI, the national cybersecurity agency said.
A UK government security source told the Reuters news agency that the outage was not being treated as “a malicious act”.
Outage caused by a single content update
Meanwhile, George Kurtz, the CEO of CrowStrike has given the reasons for the outage experienced globally, said it was caused by a defect found in a single content update for the Windows host.
While assuring that efforts are on the way to get it fixed, he said Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.
Posting on his verified X handle @George_Kurtz, he said; “CrowdStrike 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. This is not a security incident or cyberattack.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.
“We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
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