A major internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Airlines and airports in the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
At the heart of the massive disruption is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
CrowdStrike has said a fix is on the way.
Several businesses locally are seeing some impacts, such as the Reno-Tahoe International Airport that told us passengers may see residual delays from other affected airports.
Also, some local hospitals may be affected. 2 News Nevada got this statement Northern Nevada Health System -
“Northern Nevada Medical Center, Sierra Medical Center and our freestanding emergency departments have been impacted by the global IT issues that are impacting numerous businesses across the country. This issue is not cybersecurity related. As we work to restore our systems, we advise patients that wait times for outpatient services may be delayed. We apologize for any delays our patients may experience.”
Renown Health says it is not affected but says many of its third-party vendors are affected.
“Renown Health remains ready to care for the community during the worldwide software outage affecting CrowdStrike customers. Renown is not a customer of CrowdStrike, but many of our third-party vendors are dealing with the outage. Patient care is not impacted at any Renown location including urgent cares, and our emergency rooms continue to accept ambulances and care for trauma patients. CrowdStrike has advised that this is not caused by ransomware or a cyberattack and no patient health information has been compromised at Renown.”
Flights at RNO are being affected by global outages reported by Microsoft.
— Reno-Tahoe Int’l Airport (@RenoAirport) July 19, 2024
Passengers can expect delays. Check with your airline directly on flight status before heading to the airport. Some flight status tools on our website may also be affected. https://t.co/Y3zDMxklwu
The Nevada Gaming Control Board is closely monitoring today’s worldwide tech outage. NGCB agents are offering assistance to any Nevada gaming licensees impacted by the outage.
— Nevada Gaming Control Board (@NevadaGCB) July 19, 2024
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— Krispy Kreme (@krispykreme) July 19, 2024
Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates have canceled hundreds of flights
DALLAS — Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates canceled more than a quarter of their schedule on the East Coast by midafternoon Friday, aviation data provider Cirium said.
More than 1,100 flights for Delta and its affiliates have been canceled.
United and United Express had canceled more than 500 flights, or 12% of their schedule, and American Airlines’ network had canceled 450 flights, 7.5% of its schedule.
Southwest and Alaska do not use the CrowdStrike software that led to the global internet outages and had canceled fewer than a half-dozen flights each.
The White House is in contact with CrowdStrike executives
The White House says it is in regular contact with executives at CrowdStrike, which makes the software tied to the global internet outage. President Joe Biden is continuing to receive updates, officials said.
Federal agencies also are assessing the effects of the CrowdStrike outage on U.S. government operations, the White House said.
A disturbing reminder of vulnerability
“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, a professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and former Head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.
DownDectector, which tracks user-reported disruptions to internet services, recorded that airlines, payment platforms and online shopping websites across the world were affected — although the disruption appeared piecemeal and was apparently related to whether the companies used Microsoft cloud-based services.
Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused by the outage because systems we’ve come to rely on at critical times are not going to be available. Hospitals, for example, will struggle to sort out appointments and those who need care may not get it.
“There are going to be deaths because of this. It’s inevitable,’’ Bore said. “We’ve got so many systems tied up with this.”
Microsoft 365 posted on social media platform X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
CrowdStrike said in an emailed statement that the company “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.”
It said: “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
The Austin, Texas-based company's Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15% in premarket trading early Friday.
A recording playing on its customer service line said, “CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks.
Broadcasters go dark, surgeries delayed, ‘blue screens of death’
Meanwhile, governments, officials and companies across the world scrambled to respond.
New Zealand's acting prime minister, David Seymour, said on X that officials in the country were “moving at pace to understand the potential impacts,” adding that he had no information indicating it was a cybersecurity threat.
The issue was causing “inconvenience" for the public and businesses, he added.
On the Milan stock exchange, the FTSE MIB index of blue-chip Italian stocks could not be compiled for an hour, though trading continued.
Major delays reported at airports grew on Friday morning, with most attributing the problems in booking systems of individual airlines.
In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
Airlines and railways in the U.K. were also affected, with longer than usual waiting times.
In Germany, Berlin-Brandenburg Airport halted flights for several hours due to difficulties in checking in passengers, while landings at Zurich airport were suspended and flights in Hungary, Italy and Turkey disrupted.
The Dutch carrier KLM said it had been “forced to suspend most” of its operations.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport warned that the outage was having a “major impact on flights” to and from the busy European hub. The chaotic morning coincided with one of the busiest days of the year for Schiphol.
Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled — although flights were still operating.
In India, Hong Kong and Thailand, many airlines were forced to manually check in passengers. An airline in Kenya was also reporting disruption.
Australia bears brunt of outages in Asia
While the outages were being experienced worldwide, Australia appeared to be severely affected by the issue. Disruption reported on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.
National news outlets — including public broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels for hours. Some news anchors went on air online from dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.”
Hospitals in several countries also reported problems.
Britain’s National Health Service said the outage caused problems at most doctors’ offices across England. NHS England said in a statement said the glitch was affecting the appointment and patient record system used across the public health system.
Some hospitals in northern Germany canceled all elective surgery scheduled for Friday, but emergency care was unaffected.
Israel said its hospitals and post office operations were disrupted.
In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing nationwide service disruptions as customers reported they were unable to make payments using their bank cards in stores. The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down as well.
Shipping was disrupted too: A major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland, the Baltic Hub, said it was battling problems resulting from the global system outage.
What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is a U.S. cybersecurity company that provides software to companies around the world and across industries. It bills itself as being the globe's most advanced cloud-based security technology provider.
“We stop breaches,” the cybersecurity firm writes on its website.
According to the company's website, CrowdStrike was founded in 2011 and launched in early 2012. CrowdStrike listed on the Nasdaq exchange five years ago. Last month, the Austin, Texas company reported that its revenue rose 33% in the latest quarter from the same quarter a year earlier — logging a net profit of $42.8 million, up from $491,000 in the first quarter of last year.
CrowdStrike has a partnership with Amazon Web Services and its “Falcon for Defender” security technology is designed to supplement Microsoft Defender to prevent attacks.
Is there a fix?
Disruptions on Friday have continued hours after CrowdStrike first identified the issue. But both the company and Microsoft say that they're working to get systems back online.
In an emailed statement, Crowdstrike said that it was “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts" — adding that a fix “had been deployed” for the identified issue.
Microsoft 365 posted on social media platform X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”
Spokesperson Frank X. Shaw later added that the company was “actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery.” Both CrowdStrike and Microsoft are also appearing to engage IT personnel on official online channels, such as Reddit.
While the problem is fixable, it requires some expertise. Some cybersecurity experts warn of bad actors who may reach out claiming they can help. Smaller companies or organizations with less IT resources are particularly at risk.
Gartner analyst Eric Grenier noted that those impacted should make sure they're talking to trusted organizations as they work towards recovery. “Attackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this," he said.
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