A glitch with Microsoft Windows is said to have caused computer systems to crash around the world, crippling airport and communications operations.
Countries around the world have been hit by a powerful IT outage, crippling air traffic control systems, banks, and broadcasters. Windows 10 users are said to have borne the brunt of the crisis, with media reports and experts attributing the failures to a recent update of CrowdStrike, a web/cloud-based anti-virus which has caused computers to crash.
Problems have so far been reported in Australia, New Zealand, India, and Japan, with the monitoring site Down Detector also showing outages at the Microsoft Store and Amazon, as well Delta and Ryanair airlines, among others.
- 19 July 202412:15 GMT CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has told NBC that his company is “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected” by the outage. He confirmed that the crash was caused by a software bug in an update which conflicted with Microsoft systems.
“We’ve identified it very quickly… The systems come back online as they are rebooted,” he said, adding that CrowdStrike is working with its customers to help them return to normal operations. At the same time, he was unable to say how long exactly it will take to achieve this.
- 11:54 GMTSeveral major Chinese airlines have told CGTN that their operations were not affected by worldwide disruption as they use different IT systems.
- 11:45 GMTThe UK government has held an emergency meeting following the global IT outage, a Downing Street spokeswoman said, adding that UK authorities were “working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue.” She confirmed that newly elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not chair the meeting but is being kept in the loop, explaining that he had a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
- 11:35 GMTTesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk has branded the Microsoft outage the “biggest IT fail ever.” He also laughed at a meme comparing Microsoft to the Secret Service following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, concluding that neither was secure.
- 11:23 GMTMicrosoft has said, as quoted by Reuters, that the underlying cause of the global outage has been fixed, but acknowledged that the residual impact continues to affect some of its apps and services.
- 11:18 GMTThe White House National Security Council spokesperson told CNN that the Biden administration is aware of the outage and is “looking into the issue and impacts” of the incident.
- 10:56 GMTDubai International Airport says it has returned to normal operations after some of its check-in procedures were affected by the global outage. It noted that “airlines promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly.”
- 10:34 GMTAround 30% of McDonald’s outlets in Japan have been forced to suspend operations due to the outage, Kyodo News has reported, citing the local branch of the fast-food giant. It is not yet clear when services can be resumed in full, it added.
- 10:31 GMTRussia’s Ministry of Digital Development said the Microsoft outage was further proof that the country needs to continue weaning itself off foreign software, especially when it comes to critical infrastructure.
- 10:24 GMTThe Kremlin’s IT systems have not been affected by the Microsoft outage, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Flight and railway authorities in Russia have also confirmed that their operations continue unimpeded.
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