What We Know About the Global Microsoft and Crowdstrike Outage
July 19, 2024
A massive tech failure has caused travel chaos around the world, with banking and healthcare services also badly hit.
Flights have been grounded because of the IT outage – a flaw which left many computers displaying blue error screens.
There were long queues, delays and flight cancellations at airports around the world, as passengers had to be manually checked in. Hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.
Cyber-security firm Crowdstrike has admitted that the problem was caused by an update to its antivirus software, which is designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks
Microsoft has said it is taking “mitigation action” to deal with “the lingering impact” of the outage.
Crowdstrike is known for producing antivirus software, intended to prevent hackers from causing this very type of disruption.
According to Crowdstrike boss George Kurtz, the issues are only impacting Windows PCs and no other operating systems, and were caused by a defect in a recent update.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said.
“This is not a security incident or cyber-attack.”
What exactly was wrong with the update is yet to be revealed, but as a potential fix involves deleting a single file, it is possible that just one rogue file could be at the root of all the mayhem
Crowdstrike’s Mr Kurtz, speaking to NBC News, said it was the firm’s “mission” to make sure every one of its customers recovered completely from the outage.
“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies,” he said.
He has since told CNBC that while some systems can be fixed quickly, for others it “could be hours, could be a bit longer”.
Crowdstrike has issued its fix. But according to those in the know, it will have to be applied separately to each and every device affected.
Computers will require a manual reboot in safe mode – causing a massive headache for IT departments everywhere.
Something important to note here, is that personal devices like your home computer or mobile phone are unlikely to have been affected – this outage is impacting businesses.
Microsoft is advising clients to try a classic method to get things working – turning it off and on again – in some cases up to 15 times.
The tech giant said this has worked for some users of virtual machines – PCs where the computer is not in the same place as the screen.
“Several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting step at this stage,” it said.
It is also telling customers with more in-depth computing knowledge that they should delete a certain file – the same solution one CrowdStrike employee has been sharing on social media.
But this fix is intended for experts and IT professionals, not regular users.
The problems have emerged across the world, but were first noticed in Australia, and possibly felt most severely in the air travel industry, with more than 3,300 flights cancelled globally.
- UK airports saw delays, with long queues at London’s Stansted and Gatwick.
- Ryanair said it had been “forced to cancel a small number of flights today (19 July)” and advised passengers to log-on to their Ryanair account, once it was back online, to see what their options are.
- British Airways also cancelled several flights.
- Several US airlines, notably United, Delta and American Airlines, grounded their flights around the globe for much of Friday. Australian carriers Virgin Australia and Jetstaralso had to delay or cancel flights.
- Airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam and Delhiwere also impacted.
Meanwhile, the problems have also hit payment systems, banking and healthcare providers around the world.
Railway companies, including Britain’s biggest which runs Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern, warned passengers to expect delays.
In Alaska, the 911 emergency service was affected, while Sky News was off air for several hours on Friday morning, unable to broadcast.