'Largest IT outage in history' sparks global chaos

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."

The Financial Timesexplained that Crowdstrike is "one of the world's largest providers of 'endpoint' security software, used by companies to monitor for security problems across a huge range of devices, from desktop PCs to checkout payment terminals."

Troy Hunt, a security consultant, wrote on social media that "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," Hunt added.

The impacts of the outage cascaded rapidly. Wirednoted that "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," the outlet continued, "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."

As The New York Timesobserved, 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."