Additional Coverage:
- Mass IT outage: here’s a list of all the companies and operations affected (businessinsider.com)
Passengers at Madrid’s Barajas Airport faced delays Friday due to an IT outage. Photo: ELENA RODRIGUEZ/Reuters
A significant global IT crisis has thrown flights, banks, retailers, and media organizations into chaos. This widespread technical interruption is tied to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Notably affected are airlines across the U.S. and Europe, numerous supermarkets, and some emergency 911 response lines.
The origins of the issue appear connected to CrowdStrike, as highlighted by a recent Microsoft X update. This update from early Friday noted ongoing efforts for service improvements and ongoing mitigation actions.
Affected sectors include:
Airlines: Major U.S. airlines such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines were forced to ground flights due to technological problems. Both Delta and American resumed operations by 7 a.m.
ET after temporary ground stops. United halted departures as it worked to restore its systems, although flights already in the air continued to their destinations.
American attributed the disruptions to technical problems with CrowdStrike, affecting multiple airlines. Other budget carriers like Frontier, Allegiant, and Spirit also paused operations temporarily.
Flight disruptions extended to Europe with airlines like Ryanair, KLM, British Airways, Wizz Air, Turkish Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa, and Qantas all reporting issues.
911 Lines: In Alaska, emergency and non-emergency call centers experienced functionality problems, as stated in a Facebook post by the Alaska State Troopers which asked for public patience.
Airports: UK’s major airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, and Luton experienced disruptions, prompting advisories about possible delays. Gatwick Express reported impediments in accessing train driver diagrams, potentially leading to last-minute cancellations.
Healthcare: Numerous hospitals and doctors’ offices faced setbacks, particularly with the NHS’ EMIS system in the UK, which is crucial for booking appointments and patient management. This issue reportedly did not affect emergency services, and the NHS advised the public to adhere to their scheduled appointments unless instructed otherwise.
Public Transport: In New York City, the NYCT subway updates on train arrival times were unavailable due to the outage, though train services continued running.
Media: Sky News in the UK resorted to airing archived footage after being struck by the outage.
Financial Services: The London Stock Exchange reported issues with its RNS news service due to a third-party global tech problem, although other operations were unaffected.
Retail and Dining: Fast-food chain McDonald’s had to shut down several stores in Japan, and reports indicated global system issues affecting checkout processes at Woolworths stores and hotel check-ins at the Ocean Park Marriott in Hong Kong.
Logistics: FedEx and UPS both issued warnings about potential delivery delays tied to the outage.
Government Services: Several U.S. state driver services reported difficulties, with agencies in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina all impacted by the outage, resulting in service unavailability.
This incident has had a broad impact, touching various sectors globally as companies and services work to restore normal operations.
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- Mass IT outage: here’s a list of all the companies and operations affected (businessinsider.com)