CrowdStrike chief ‘deeply sorry’ for global outage chaos and warns fix may take ‘some time’
Check in desks at Ryanair start to build in Dublin Airport Terminal 1 as a major Cyber problem effects many airlines and and companies around the world. Picture: Collins Photos
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is “actively working” to fix a “defect” in an update for Microsoft Windows users which sparked a global IT outage, the company’s chief executive has said.
CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz said Mac and Linux users were not impacted by the fault and it was “not a security incident or cyber attack”.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” Mr Kurtz wrote on X.
“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.”
In an interview with NBC’s in the US, Mr Kurtz said the company was “deeply sorry for impact that we’ve caused to customers”.
He added the firm is “working with each and every customer to make sure that we can bring them back online”, confirming a “bug” related to a software update was the cause of the outage.
Mr Kurtz said there had been a “negative interaction” between the update and Microsoft’s operating system, which had then caused computers to crash, sparking the outage.
The CrowdStrike founder could not give a timeframe for when the issue might be fully resolved, admitting it will be “some time” before all users who did not automatically reboot when receiving the company’s fix are back online.
Asked if he ever thought an outage of this scale was possible, Mr Kurtz said: “Software is a very complex world and there’s a lot of interactions, and always staying ahead of the adversary is a tall task.”
Major infrastructure including airlines, railways, banks and media outlets ground to a halt after computer systems were knocked offline, and devices were showing the so-called “blue screen of death”.
Users on the subreddit for cyber security firm CrowdStrike reported issues in India, the United States and New Zealand.
Microsoft says it is working to restore the outage and that a fix is coming.
"We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming," the company said in a statement this morning.
According to FlightAware, more than 1,629 flights have been cancelled around the world today with 18,892 delayed.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says Government IT systems have not been affected by the outages.
The HSE has said it has not been affected by the global IT outage that is causing chaos to airlines, health systems and banks today.
In a statement this morning, it said: “The HSE has not been impacted directly by these issues. We remain vigilant and our cyber teams continue to monitor the situation.”
Among the impacted firms was Ryanair, with the airline posting to its website: “Potential disruptions across the network (Fri 19 July) due to a global third party system outage.
“Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling across the network on Fri 19 July should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.
“We advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.
“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this third party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network.”
Aer Lingus has said Friday's global IT outage is "not significantly impacting" its services with flights mainly operating as normal, though with delays in some cases.
"A small number of Aer Lingus flights have been cancelled due to airport and air traffic control issues arising from the outage. Any further cancellations will be communicated directly to impacted customers," the Airline said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
Aer Lingus said that there may be some processing delays at airports, and advised its customers to allow extra time for check-in, security, immigration and boarding, and to check the Aer Lingus website for any updates.
Transport for Ireland (TFI) also appears to be experiencing technical difficulties due to the global outages.
In a statement, TFI confirmed that customers have been unable to access its TFI Live and Leap Top-up apps.
"There is a global outage affecting multiple countries at the moment. We don't have an estimated resolution time," it said.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused this morning."
NCT services are currently 'experiencing disruption' due to the outage.
NCTS are currently experiencing disruption across our Test Centre and Contact Centre Network due to a Global IT outage which is out of our control. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. #outage #microsoft
— NCTIreland (@NCTIreland) July 19, 2024
Systems at Apple HQ in Cork City were also impacted by the outage with employees unable to access systems early this morning.
Sky News has returned to air after the broadcaster was affected by the worldwide IT outages.
After welcoming viewers back to the channel, the morning anchor reported on the news saying: “A major global IT outage is hitting businesses worldwide, including here at Sky News.”
The presenters referred to printed out notes during the report as the broadcaster got back on its feet.
We’re obviously not on air - we’re trying 🤞@SkyNews Breakfast pic.twitter.com/ZKvVacRgUY
— Jacquie Beltrao (@SkyJacquie) July 19, 2024
Airports and other airlines around the world reported major issues processing passengers with long queues forming at terminals and some flights grounded.
A spokesperson for Heathrow said the airport was implementing contingency plans to “minimise” the impact of the global IT outage.
The spokesperson said: “Microsoft is currently experiencing a global outage which is impacting select systems at Heathrow.
“Flights are operational and we are implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys.
“Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.”
Edinburgh and Luton airports said the IT outage is causing longer waiting times, while London Stansted Airport said that some airline check-in services are being done manually as a result of the IT outage, but “flights are still operating as normal”.
In Europe, all air traffic has been halted in Berlin Airport until at least 10am (9am Irish time), and flights flying to and from both Schipol Airport in Amsterdam have been also been impacted.
Dutch airline KLM has also been forced to suspend a large part of operations due to the outages.
All of Spain's airports have also reported incidents this morning, though operations are continuing with manual systems, according to Spanish Airport operator AENA.
Several US airlines including United, and Delta, have been forced to ground flights as a result of the technical outage, according to .
Melbourne airport advised customers it was “experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines”, and advised passengers to “allow a little extra time to check-in”.
Melbourne Airport is experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines. Passengers flying with these airlines this afternoon are advised to allow a little extra time to check-in. Please check with your airline for flight updates. pic.twitter.com/pFjOjReMKX
— Melbourne Airport (@Melair) July 19, 2024
In Asia, Japan's Narita airport, around 60km from Tokyo, says that airlines including JetStar, Jeju Air, Qantas, HK Express and Spring Japan are all experiencing issues with their systems while in India, while a number of flights have also been temporarily halted.
A major UK train company warned passengers to expect disruption as it was suffering “widespread IT issues”.
All four of Govia Thameslink Railway’s brands — Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern — posted on social media: “We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network.
“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem. “We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.
“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.
“We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.”
Users in Australia began reporting issues early on Friday afternoon AEST, stating they’d been locked out of their workstations, while Australian banking apps and supermarket systems were also affected.
Australian broadcasters the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky News confirmed they were having broadcast difficulties as a result.
An email sent to staff at Australia’s national broadcaster, seen by Guardian Australia, said Windows terminals across the country are experiencing blue screens of death, causing issues with some TV studios and radio studios.
CrowdStrike reported blue screens of death being observed in multiple locations and said the cause is currently under investigation.
The company said the issue is related to its Falcon Sensor product, and engineering teams are working to resolve the issue, according to a support notice.
The company later posted that engineers had identified the issue as a content deployment problem and had reverted the changes.
Australia’s national cyber security coordinator, Lt Gen Michelle McGuinness, confirmed government advice suggested it was a third-party software issue.
“I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” she posted on X.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”
Microsoft on Friday reported users may not be able to access its 365 cloud-based app services. It was a rough day for the tech giant with a cloud outage grounding airlines in the United States earlier in the day in what is believed to be an unrelated issue.
- The Guardian and PA
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