A global IT outage has caused chaos at airports, banks, railways, and businesses around the world. It has disrupted a wide range of services and affected millions of people.
In one of the most extensive IT crashes that have impacted companies and institutions worldwide, air transport came to a halt, hospitals were affected, and many workers could not access their computers. In the UK, Sky News was temporarily taken off the air, and the NHS GP booking system went down.
Root Cause
Microsoft’s Windows service was at the center of the outage, with experts linking the problem to a software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike that impacted computer systems globally. Experts noted that recovery from the outage could take days as every PC may need to be fixed manually.
Overnight, Microsoft confirmed it was investigating issues with its services and apps. The organization’s service health website warned of “service degradation” that could prevent users from accessing many of the company’s popular services, used by millions of businesses and individuals worldwide.
Impact
Among the affected firms was Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, which stated on its website: “Potential disruptions across the network (Fri 19 July) due to a global third-party system outage … We advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.”
In the US, flights were grounded due to communications problems linked to the outage. American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines were among the carriers affected. Berlin Airport temporarily halted all flights on Monday, while in Australia, Melbourne Airport advised customers it was “experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines.”
A passenger at Gatwick Airport, the UK’s second-largest, described the scene at the travel hub as “bedlam,” with staff handing out water to the stranded.
GP practices in the UK reported being unable to access patient records or book appointments due to the outage. Surgeries also took to social media to report being unable to access the EMIS Web system. It is understood that NHS hospitals were unaffected by the outage. The National Pharmacy Association also confirmed that UK services could be impacted.
Elsewhere in the UK, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern parent company – warned passengers to expect delays due to the issue. According to the service status monitoring website Downdetector, users reported problems with the services of Visa, BT, major supermarket chains, banks, online gaming platforms, and media outlets.
Expert Analysis
Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey, said the outage appeared to be caused by an IT product called Crowdstrike Falcon. This product monitors the security of large networks of PCs and downloads monitoring software to every machine.
“The product is used by large organizations that have significant numbers of PCs to ensure everything is monitored. Sadly, if they lose all the PCs, they can’t operate or only at a much-reduced service level,” said Woodward, who added that resolving the problem could take days.
“The major frustration is that fixing the issue will require manual intervention on every affected PC. That will mean enormous delays in recovering and disruption for days to come,” he said.
