‘Largest IT outage in history’ causes global chaos: Flights grounded, hospitals and banks disrupted

As the global community grapples with the aftermath of what is being termed the largest IT outage in history, the focus remains on restoring normalcy and addressing the vulnerabilities exposed by this incident.

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A global technology outage attributed to a software update by the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike sparked chaos around the world Friday as flights were grounded and healthcare, banking, and ground transportation systems experienced major disruptions.

George Kurtz, the president and CEO of CrowdStrike, said in a statement Friday morning that the company is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”—a glitch that affected Microsoft users around the world. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Kurtz added. “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.”

CrowdStrike is one of the world’s largest providers of endpoint security software, used by companies to monitor for security problems across a wide range of devices, from desktop PCs to checkout payment terminals. Security consultant Troy Hunt wrote on social media, “This will be the largest IT outage in history. This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.”

The impacts of the outage cascaded rapidly. In the early hours of Friday, companies in Australia running Microsoft’s Windows operating system started reporting devices showing Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). Shortly after, reports of disruptions started flooding in from around the world, including from the U.K., India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S. TV station Sky News went offline, and U.S. airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.

The National Health Service in the United Kingdom was crippled throughout the morning on Friday, as a number of hospitals and doctors’ offices lost access to their computer systems. American Airlines, United, and Delta asked the FAA for a global ground stop on all flights, according to an alert from the FAA on Friday morning. As of 6:25 a.m. ET, at least 540 flights in the U.S. had been canceled. “Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” the statement read.

The FAA told air traffic controllers to inform airborne pilots that airlines were experiencing communication issues. “No one here knows anything, the gate agents said we all know as much as they do,” an airline passenger told ABC News, saying his flight from SeaTac Airport in Washington was delayed for two hours on the tarmac before passengers were deplaned. “I feel awful for the employees and those that have a sick loved one they need to get to or funerals; thankfully, that’s not us.”

Flights already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations, but no American, United, or Delta flights took off during the outage. “We’re aware of a technical issue with CrowdStrike that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with CrowdStrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

“A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United,” United Airlines said in a statement on Friday morning. “While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations.”

Global IT outages were also reported in many countries, including at Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. “We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services,” Microsoft said in a statement released on social media Friday morning.

Some computers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) were affected by the outage, though there was no indication that it was affecting law enforcement activities in the field. The DOJ alerted users that they were among the businesses and government users worldwide affected and that the DOJ Office of the Chief Information Officer was actively troubleshooting possible workarounds with Component CIOs and technical teams.

Hospitals around the country were also impacted. Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, canceled all elective surgeries on Friday, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale, Ohio, also reported some disruptions.

As the global community grapples with the aftermath of what is being termed the largest IT outage in history, the focus remains on restoring normalcy and addressing the vulnerabilities exposed by this incident. The situation is ongoing, and authorities and organizations worldwide are working to mitigate the impacts and prevent future occurrences.

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