IT meltdown ‘is biggest ever & what we feared with Y2K’ as EVERYTHING from flights to TV & healthcare plunges into chaos
THE global tech meltdown plaguing millions of people today is set to be the “largest IT outage in history”, warns an online security expert.
A major tech blunder at Microsoft has left airports, hospitals, major businesses, newsrooms and television networks all plunged into chaos – with the end reportedly being far from sight.
The tech issues have affected people’s ability to access Microsoft 365 apps and services across Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania.
Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike, the firm behind the crash, say they have found the issue behind the global outage as a flawed anti-viral update.
The problem has been identified and isolated with a fix already being deployed, their President & CEO George Kurtz said on X.
Millions have already been affected from holidaymakers stuck sleeping at airports to staff being unable to log on to systems at work.
What we know so far…
- Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike sent out a flawed anti-viral update which affected Microsoft Windows systems around the world
- Airports, businesses, banks, newsrooms, television networks, supermarkets, ships and more have been plunged into chaos
- Planes were even made to remain in the air on Friday morning
- Britain woke up to chaos with NHS appointments cancelled, mayhem at supermarkets and huge airport queues
- Friday’s Sky News breakfast show was wiped off computer and TV screens completely
- Microsoft uses CrowdStrike to handle its system updates – with the tech company looking to fix the outage “urgently”
- CrowdStrike said the problem is related to their “Falcon Sensor” and they have reverted back to an older system to avoid further disruption
- The company confirmed it was not a hack or cyber attack
Experts have even claimed the cost of such a colossal issue could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Top Australian web security consultant, Troy Hunt, is now fearing the worst in the coming days if all of the issues aren’t fixed soon.
He said on X: “I don’t think it’s too early to call it: 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.”
The feared Y2K calamity, also known as the “Millennium Bug”, was a computer programming shortcut that many feared could cause online chaos at the turn of the new millennium.
It comes as a top security expert warned the issues “may last days”.
The CEO of StickmanCyber Ajay Unni said: “It may take a number of hours, even days, [before systems all come back online].
“Especially as it’s a Friday afternoon. People have gone home and gone away for the weekend.
“If you don’t have resources, then this could take a very long time to fix and come back to business as usual.”
'Trail of destruction'
By Jamie Harris Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
This is probably one of the biggest outages that I have witnessed in my career as a technology journalist.
It’s been so far reaching, affecting multiple countries and multiple sectors, from aviation, healthcare, travel, rail travel, media.
So this is a really huge outage and it’s been going on now for several hours.
We’ve seen Sky News go off air and other broadcasters struggling, banking systems, GP, systems, airlines – you name it.
People across the world have been saying that they’ve been getting the dreaded “blue screen of death” which we’ve all seen before and is not ideal for people logging into work on a Friday morning.
Glitches happen all the time and are usually brief but with this one it has gone on for hours. Nobody really seems to know when it’s going to end and so there’s just a trail of destruction in its path.
The situation just shows how dependent we are on technology these days.
Experts are still trying to ascertain exactly what caused this – and crucially how to fix it – but many have pointed the blame at US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Part of the problem is so many large companies are dependent on so few companies to manage IT resources.
So if one goes down, then essentially, it’s a domino effect, and everyone else suffers.
Senad Arun, founder of cyber research company Imperum, described the chaos as “CrowdStrike Doom’s Day”.
Another leading cybersecurity expert called the incident “unforgivable”.
Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, said: “The big question is, how the hell did that get through testing? How did it get launched onto the world?
“That’s just unforgivable that something as embedded as that, which can cause such problems… it can’t have been thoroughly tested before it was launched or they would have seen it.”
GLOBAL CHAOS
In the UK, GP surgeries confirmed they are unable to access patient records or let people book appointments.
Several practices have all taken to social media to report issues accessing the EMIS Web system.
One GP practice in Oxfordshire has asked patients with “routine concerns” to wait until Monday amid an IT outage.
Concerning reports are also saying 911 emergency lines are down in several US states.
Brits have since been told to prepare for major travel disruptions throughout the day.
I don’t think it’s too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history
Troy Hunt
Ryanair sent out a message to passengers urging them to arrive at least three hours early in case of any disruptions or cancellations.
They claimed the issues were down to a “third party IT issue, which is outside Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network”.
London Stansted Airport, Ryanair‘s hub in the UK, and Edinburgh Airport have been forced to do some check-ins manually – causing big delays.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) also told passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
The parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern issued the alert across social media.
Gatwick Express urged passengers to be wary of short-notice cancellations throughout the next few hours.
Elsewhere in Europe, almost all Spanish airports are reporting technical faults and delays – leaving holidaymakers stranded.
Schipol airport in Amsterdam – one of the busiest on the continent – say computer failure is impacting flights “to and from” the Netherlands.
Germany has also been bracing for a huge backlog of passengers due to delayed flights.
It comes as families are set to flock to sunny hotspots across Europe and the world with school’s breaking up today.
The Gdańsk Baltic Hub, the largest Polish container terminal, has also issued a message telling people to avoid the dock at all costs due to outages.
Americans have also been hit with travel chaos as all American Airlines flights have been grounded due to the outage.
Global services affected by IT outage
Trains
- Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – urged passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”
- Gatwick Express – warned travellers they are “currently experiencing widespread IT issues”
- South Western Railway – all ticket vending machines are currently non operational – buy tickets online
- National Rail – some train operators are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice train cancellations
- TransPennine Express – some TPE stations and systems are having IT issues – buy tickets online
- New York City’s MTA system affected
- Washington D.C Metro trains – delayed
Airports and airlines
- Manchester Airport – delays for those checking-in for Swissport flights
- London Gatwick – passengers may experience some delays while checking in and passing through security but should still arrive for their normal check-in time
- Ryanair – advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions
- Edinburgh Airport – wait times longer than usual
- Stansted Airport – some airline check-in services reverted to being done manually, but main operational systems are unaffected and flights are still operating as normal
- Luton Airport – running manual systems
- Heathrow Airport – affected but flights operational – check with airline on latest journey information
- American Airlines – all flights cancelled
- United and Delta – no flights taking off
- Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines – flights grounded
- Frontier and SunCountry – affected by outage
- San Francisco Airport – passengers reporting suspended flights
- Mumbai Airport – check-in desks shut down for IndiGo, Akasa and Spice Jet flights
- Australian airline Qantas – flights grounded
- Schipol Airport in Amsterdam – flights to and from the Netherlands affected
- Spanish airport association AENA – reported issues at 42 airports
- Rome’s Fiumicino Airport affected
- Ibiza Airport – empty due to IT outage
- Hamburg Airport in Germany affected
- BER Berlin Airport – Long queues
- The Hague Airport in Rotterdam – travellers experiencing longer wait times
- Narita International Airport in Narita, east of Tokyo – check-in delays
- Palma Mallorca Airport affected
- Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok – longer queues reported
- Hong Kong Express Airways passengers delayed at Hong Kong International Airport
Television Networks
- Sky News – Friday morning breakfast show unable to air but now back on screens with reporter reading from printed notes
- Paramount Global channels including MTV, VH1, CMT and Pop TV – bumped offline.
Britain’s GPs
- The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire – without access to their IT systems
- Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands – affected ability to book/consult with patients this morning
- Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside – stated there has been a “big effect” and delays on the phone expected
- Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire – appointments needing to be cancelled and rearranged
- Hulme Hall Medical Group, in Stockport – unable to offer any appointments
- Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, Oxfordshire – continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday
- Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley – no access to the clinical system, EMIS Web
- The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) confirmed the IT outage is disrupting community pharmacies
- A surgery in Putney, southwest London – Displaying an error message online to patients who attempt to book
Global hospitals
- Two German hospitals have been forced to cancel emergency operations
- The hospitals, in the northern German cities of Luebeck and Kiel, cancelled all elective operations scheduled for today
Supermarkets and restaurants
- Morrisons are affected
- Some Waitrose and Co-op are now cash only
- Gails and Waterstones experiencing some issues
- Wetherspoons pubs – only accepting cash
- Woolworths and Coles supermarkets in Australia – self service machines not working
Events
- Manchester United ticket release postponed – morning’s ticket release will be postponed until midday and website will remain unavailable
Banks and supermarkets in Australia including Beyond Bank Australia have also been experiencing issues this morning.
Various Microsoft services in Japan and New Zealand are also battling tech issues.
Flights in the air are set to stay airborne until the issue is resolved, say the Federal Aviation Administration.
Major airlines United and Delta operators have also said no flights will take-off.
More travel woes have affected Australia with their largest airline, Qantas, being badly hit as flights have been grounded and travellers left in the dark.
Mumbai Airport is the latest victim of the tech issues with check-in desks reportedly down for IndiGo, Akasa and SpiceJet flights.
Thousands of people have also reportedly been locked out of their banks due to the outage.
Online services and transactions across banks in Australia have been affected with Beyond Bank Australia saying it was “experiencing intermittent issues”.
They warned customers may face trouble using their cards and accessing any online accounts.
The London Stock Exchange is also affected, claim worrying reports.
So-called Blue Screen of Death errors (BSOD) have appeared on laptop and computer screens across the world for Microsoft users.
The blue screen essentially forces laptops and computers to suddenly shut down and restart.
However, users say they are getting the screen several times back to back, shutting them out of their PC completely.
Self-service screens are also reportedly showing the BSOD in stores throughout Australia such as Woolworths and Coles.
What is CrowdStrike?
THE global cyber outage affecting TV channels, banks, hospitals, airports and emergency services appears to relate to an issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
IT security firm CrowdStrike ran a recorded phone message on Friday – saying it was aware of reports of crashes on Microsoft’s Windows operating system relating to its Falcon sensor.
A prerecorded message said: “Thanks for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows… related to the Falcon sensor.”
The Falcon system monitors the computers it is installed on and detects hacks and bugs before responding to them.
CrowdStrike, headquartered in Austin, Texas, says it is a global security leader which provides an advanced platform to protect data.
A CrowdStrike update on Friday is said to have caused a critical error in Microsoft operating systems, affecting millions worldwide.
The company regularly updates systems with new anti-virus software
Toby Murray, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia said: “If Falcon is suffering a malfunction then it could be causing a widespread outage for two reasons .
“One: Falcon is widely deployed on many computers, and two: because of Falcon’s privileged nature.
“Falcon is a bit like anti-virus software: it is regularly updated with information about the latest online threats.
“It is possible that today’s outage may have been caused by a buggy update to Falcon.”.
Cyber expert Troy Hunt told Australian TV network Seven: “It looks like they’ve pushed a bad update, which is presently nuking every machine that takes it.”
