The global tech outage caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Microsoft has disrupted airlines, businesses, and border crossings worldwide. The issue affected Microsoft Windows computers of corporate customers, including many airlines. Air travelers faced significant delays as the outage grounded flights across various airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Allegiant Air.
Passengers shared images of crowded terminals in both Europe and the United States on social media. Airlines reported that the outage impacted critical systems used for checking in passengers and calculating aircraft weight, which is essential for takeoff. Health care providers in the U.S., Canada, and England experienced service disruptions.
Harris Health System in Houston suspended hospital visits, and elective procedures were canceled or rescheduled. Patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and hospitals throughout New England faced delays, although emergency departments remained operational. The University Health Network in Canada continued clinical activity but warned of potential delays, while Britain’s National Health Service reported issues across doctor’s offices.
Border crossings into the U.S. were also affected. At the San Ysidro Port of Entry, pedestrians faced three-hour waits, and even cars with Trusted Traveler program approvals waited up to 90 minutes. Windsor Police reported delays at the U.S.-Canada border, impacting crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System noted that some employees living in Tijuana, Mexico, could not reach work, potentially affecting service. Several businesses felt the impact of the outage. Starbucks customers found they couldn’t order ahead through mobile or online platforms, though the coffee chain assured that most stores and drive-thrus remained operational.
Microsoft, the U.S. cybersecurity company responsible for the faulty update, provides software to companies worldwide and is known for its advanced cloud-based security technologies. The company stated that it was working on resolving the issues and implementing a fix across affected industries. The global outage highlights the vulnerability of modern systems heavily reliant on a few key technology providers.
Efforts are underway to ensure such disruptions are minimized in the future, but the event serves as a reminder of the interconnected nature and relative fragility of today’s digital world. The CEO of Crowdstrike, the prominent cybersecurity firm behind the worldwide IT outages, has admitted that it could take “some time” before all systems are fully operational again. While the problematic software bug has been fixed, the process of manually rebooting each affected Microsoft computer is expected to be time-consuming.
This severe disruption has led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and has impacted critical services including banking, healthcare, and media. In the UK, GPs have struggled to access patient records, pharmacies have experienced downtime, and several TV channels have been taken off the air. Despite some indications that the situation is improving, the exact timeline for complete resolution remains uncertain.
Crowdstrike has acknowledged that the outage was prompted by an update to its antivirus software, which protects Microsoft Windows devices from cyber threats. While the company has resolved the update issue, full system recovery is still pending. Over 5,000 flights have been canceled globally due to IT failures.
Airports faced long queues as airlines resorted to manual check-ins.
CrowdStrike’s impact on global operations
Several healthcare providers and banks reported difficulties in accessing critical systems, affecting their operations.
Various media outlets, including TV channels, faced disruptions, adding to the chaos. United Airlines has announced the resumption of some flights but warned of continued schedule disruptions. The airline has issued a “travel waiver” to make it easier for passengers to change their plans.
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz has been addressing the crisis, stating that “nothing is more important” than restoring customers’ trust. In communication with clients, he has apologized for the disruption and assured that efforts are underway to restore all systems. Kurtz also warned against potential exploitation by “bad actors” and promised full transparency on the issue.
The ramifications of the IT disruption have been widely felt. Some UK supermarkets experienced temporary payment issues. While Morrisons and Waitrose faced brief disruptions, most other major chains, including Asda, M&S, Tesco, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, and Co-op, reported normal operations.
In New York City’s Times Square, some of the iconic billboards went blank, displaying error screens instead of their usual vibrant advertisements. As experts and technicians continue to work on restoring full functionality, the global community waits for the full impact of this unprecedented IT failure to subside. On July 18, an independent cybersecurity company released a software update that began impacting IT systems globally.
Although this was not a Microsoft incident, it affected our ecosystem significantly. Therefore, we want to provide an update on the steps we’ve taken with others to remediate the situation and support our customers. Since the event began, we’ve maintained ongoing communication with our customers, the company involved, and external developers to collect information and expedite solutions.
We recognize the disruption this problem has caused for businesses and the daily routines of many individuals. Our focus is on providing customers with technical guidance and support to safely bring disrupted systems back online. Steps taken include engagement with the cybersecurity company, providing guidance and instructions, deployment of engineers, collaboration with cloud providers, posting remediation documentation, and keeping customers informed through the Azure Status Dashboard.
We’re working around the clock, providing ongoing updates and support. Additionally, the cybersecurity company has helped us develop a scalable solution that will help Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure accelerate a fix for the faulty update. We have also worked with both AWS and GCP to collaborate on the most effective approaches.
While software updates may occasionally cause disturbances, significant incidents like this event are infrequent. We currently estimate that the update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, or less than one percent of all Windows machines. While the percentage was small, the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of the cybersecurity service by enterprises that run many critical services.
This incident demonstrates the interconnected nature of our broad ecosystem — global cloud providers, software platforms, security vendors, and other software vendors, and customers. It’s also a reminder of how important it is for all of us across the tech ecosystem to prioritize operating with safe deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist. As we’ve seen over the last two days, we learn, recover, and move forward most effectively when we collaborate and work together.
We appreciate the cooperation and collaboration of our entire sector and will continue to update with learnings and next steps.
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