What's next?
When a major incident occurs, there is always a trail of takeaways to uncover.
As the immediate impacts of the global outage wind-down, here are some thoughts for CIOs and CISOs, as we go forward: https://t.co/BBVOHwK95F pic.twitter.com/snID7PSTNt
— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) July 30, 2024
A major internet outage affecting Microsoft disrupted flights, small businesses, and government offices on Friday, highlighting the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a handful of providers. The issue, caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, severely impacted services across multiple sectors worldwide. Air travelers became the face of the widespread technology outage.
Passengers posted pictures on social media of crowds of people stranded at airports in Europe and the United States.
Turns out Azure's 10 hour long mega outage yesterday was the result of a DDoS cyber attack.
And they did it just hours before Microsoft's reports quarterly earnings.
And 2 weeks after CrowdStrike.
That Earning Day must've been tough $MSFT https://t.co/ZwRQrAnIkd #Cloud #BigTech pic.twitter.com/HEYZdzQYhY— ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ #CNCFAmbassador ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ (@horovits) July 31, 2024
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Allegiant Air had all their flights grounded for varying lengths of time Friday morning. The outage affected systems including those used to check in passengers and calculate aircraft weightโnecessary information for planes to take off.
Many airlines issued waivers to let customers change travel plans. At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, many information screens continued to display error messages, greatly inconveniencing travelers.
New on @Forbes
Microsoft's Azure outage was triggered by a DDoS attack, due to an error in its protection mechanisms. Thanks @SeanWrightSec for commentshttps://t.co/PRiqYP3Sb0
— Kate O'Flaherty (@KateOflaherty) July 31, 2024
Los Angeles International Airport saw more than 70 flight cancellations by early morning, with passengers facing hours-long waits to get through security or rebook flights.
Health care providers across the U.S., Canada, and England also experienced service interruptions. Harris Health System in Houston, the Providence health system in the Pacific Northwest, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York had to cancel or reschedule appointments and elective procedures. In New England, the outage led some hospitals to cancel nonurgent surgeries and medical visits.
CrowdStrike software update causes disruption
Britain’s National Health Service experienced problems with appointment and patient record systems across most doctors’ offices but reported that emergency services remained unaffected. The outage extended to border crossings, delaying entry into the U.S. from both the north and south.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry experienced gridlock, with pedestrians waiting up to three hours to cross. Approved low-risk travelers under the SENTRI program waited up to 90 minutes. At the U.S.-Canada border, long delays were reported at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
Businesses worldwide faced significant interruptions. People attempting to order from Starbucks online or via their mobile app found they couldn’t do so. The coffee chain apologized and ensured that most stores and drive-thrus were still operational.
CrowdStrike, the source of the malfunction, said it was working on a fix. As one of the globe’s leading cloud-based security technology providers, the U.S. cybersecurity company has been a critical player in digital defenses since its founding in 2011. The widespread digital disruption due to the CrowdStrike update underscored the vulnerabilities in our increasingly digital-dependent world.
From grounded flights to delayed medical procedures and border entry hassles, the impact was felt globally, causing significant inconvenience and highlighting the imperative to bolster resilience in technological infrastructures.
