Global IT Outage Causes Chaos Across Major Institutions
A widespread IT outage has thrown a multitude of global institutions into chaos, affecting hospitals, major banks, media outlets, and airlines. International airports in India, Hong Kong, the UK, and the US have reported issues, with several airlines grounding flights and experiencing delays. Emergency services have also been impacted, with some hospitals canceling surgeries and the US state of Alaska warning of potential 911 system unavailability.
Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike has identified the cause of the worldwide outage as a defective software update for its Microsoft Windows hosts. They have since deployed a fix and assured the public that it was not a cyberattack. Meanwhile, Microsoft has reported that the majority of services have been restored following an investigation into the issue affecting users’ access to various Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Companies are now scrambling to resolve the IT outages, with broadcast networks in Australia experiencing system failures and Sky News UK temporarily going off-air. Supermarkets have also been affected, with payment systems down in some locations. Hospitals in Germany and Israel, as well as GP services in the UK, have reported disruptions.
Travel plans worldwide have been disrupted, with flight, taxi, and rail services affected. Airports across Europe, the US, and the global south-east have reported system failures, forcing passengers to manually complete processes typically done by machines. BBC correspondent Samira Hussain described the scene at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India, as “absolute chaos,” with boarding passes and check-in bag stickers being handwritten.
The outage has also impacted airlines globally, with carriers in Hong Kong switching to manual check-in and airlines in the US issuing a “global ground stop” on flights. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported over 1,000 flight cancellations worldwide due to the outages. Airports in Tokyo, Berlin, Prague, and Zurich have also been affected.
Authorities in Australia and Alaska have attributed the outage to a technical issue with a third-party software platform, ruling out a malicious attack. While Alaskan officials have reported issues with 911 and non-emergency call centers, Australian triple-0 call centers remain unaffected. The situation continues to evolve as institutions work to restore services and minimize disruptions caused by the global IT outage.
