By D. Maan, Jadetimes News
Global IT Outage Disrupts Airlines, Hospitals, Media, and Banks
A massive IT outage has impacted a wide array of global institutions, including hospitals, major banks, media outlets, and airlines, severely hampering their ability to offer services. The outage has affected international airports in India, Hong Kong, the UK, and the US, resulting in grounded flights and significant delays.
Emergency services have also been disrupted, with some hospitals canceling surgeries. In the US state of Alaska, the 911 system may be unavailable. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has identified the cause of the outage as a defective software update for its Microsoft Windows hosts. "The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed," CrowdStrike stated, assuring that it was not a cyberattack. They also recommended that organizations communicate with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
Earlier, a Microsoft 365 service update indicated that they were investigating an issue affecting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services. As companies scramble to resolve the IT outages, many broadcast networks, including Sky News UK and several Australian networks, have experienced on air disruptions. Some supermarkets have also faced difficulties, with payment systems down and self checkout tills closed.
Hospitals in Germany and Israel, along with GP services in the UK, have reported disruptions. Travel plans worldwide have been thrown into disarray, with flights, taxis, and rail services affected. Airports across Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia have reported system failures, leading to manual processing of tasks typically handled by machines. At Hong Kong International Airport, some airlines have switched to manual check in processes, although flight operations have not been affected.
In the US, United, Delta, and American Airlines have issued a "global ground stop" on all flights, while Australian carriers Virgin and Jetstar have delayed or canceled flights. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, over 1,000 flights have been canceled globally due to the outages. Airports in Tokyo, Berlin, and Prague have also been affected, with Zurich's largest airport halting landings.
An Australian home affairs ministry spokesperson confirmed that the outage appeared to be related to a technical issue at a cybersecurity firm, and the country's cybersecurity watchdog reported no indications of a malicious attack. They stated, "Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third party software platform employed by affected companies."
In Alaska, officials reported that many 911 and non emergency call centers were not working properly. However, Australian authorities confirmed that the country's main emergency contact, triple 0 call centers, remained unaffected.
As the situation continues to unfold, affected organizations and cybersecurity experts are working diligently to restore normal operations and mitigate further disruptions.
