Microsoft CrowdStrike outage causes chaos for flights, hospitals and businesses worldwide

Hospitals, banks, airports, airlines and broadcasters around the world were hit by a massive, ongoing IT outage on Friday. Thousands of Windows PCs, which many businesses and organizations rely on as part of their critical internet infrastructure, were affected by the CrowdStrike outage. Perhaps most troubling, several U.S. states reported that their 911 emergency response centers were also affected.

The outage was attributed to a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which provides security for many Windows PCs and services around the world. In a statement Friday morning, CrowdStrike said the issue had been “identified, isolated, and a fix implemented.”

Microsoft Regional Director Troy Hunt called it “the largest IT outage in history” in a message on X.

“Today, a CrowdStrike update caused a number of IT systems to be shut down globally. We are actively supporting customers to help them recover,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Many services and businesses are still affected, including hospitals and flights, even though the original cause of the outage has been fixed by CrowdStrike. Here’s how to fix your Windows PC that’s been hit by the CrowdStrike blue screen of death. CrowdStrike also outlined all the steps people can take to fix their PCs in his statement“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” the company added.

Read more: Stuck During the Global Outage? See if Your Credit Card Has These Travel Protections and Insurances

Microsoft first said on X that it was aware of an issue impacting people’s ability to access 365 services late Thursday. In an update issued around 1 a.m. PT (4 a.m. ET), the company said“Multiple services continue to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress.” The company did not immediately respond to request for further comment. In an updateAccording to the report, some people solved the problem by restarting their computers up to 15 times.

The London Stock Exchange was also shut down due to the outage.

The last time there was such a widespread internet outage was when a service called Fastly went offline in 2021. It’s a reminder of how much of the internet is supported by shared infrastructure, making it vulnerable to widespread problems like this. While many companies’ stock prices fell after Friday’s outage, it also impacted many people on an individual level, from disrupting vacation plans to preventing access to emergency services.

“Today, a single outage too often leads to a system-wide failure, affecting industries such as health care, airlines, banks and auto dealerships,” said the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Lina Khan said in a thread on X. “Millions of people and companies are paying the price. These incidents show how concentration can create fragile systems.”

Are hospitals affected by the outage?

Hospitals across the U.S. reported problems with their IT systems Friday morning, affecting many patients. “A major global software outage has affected many of our systems at Mass General Brigham, as well as many large companies across the country,” a spokesperson for Massachusetts General Hospital said told Newsweek“Due to the seriousness of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits are cancelled today.”

In the UK, medical services have also been hit, including the National Health Service appointment booking system and pharmacies, which have struggled to accept payments.

Does 112 work?

Across the US, state troopers reported that 911 lines were out of service starting in 1999. AlaskaUnconfirmed reports suggest some lines in Minnesota, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio and New Hampshire were also affected.

Many people reported problems via the Down Detector Websitewith outages appearing to peak around midnight PT. If you live in one of the affected states, contact your local state police or police department for alternate emergency numbers. Alaska State Troopers issued an update later Friday, saying that their service had been restored as of 4:23 a.m. local time.

Television channels around the world have been affected by the outage, with Sky News in the UK broadcasting from a telephone after its studio equipment broke down. The Paris Olympics organising committee also said it had been affected by the outage but had contingency plans in place.

Are there still flights on the ground?

Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled on Monday, and real-time data shows that only 23% of flights depart on time starting at 5 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Here’s how to track your flight status right from your iPhone’s text messages, and three steps to take when your flight is canceled or delayed.

Airports from New Zealand to the UK reported problems in the early hours of Friday morning, particularly with their scanning technology, which failed to register passengers’ boarding passes. In India and Northern Ireland, departure boards and boarding passes were handwritten. Airlines, including European budget carrier Ryanair, reported problems with online check-in. Ryanair advised all passengers to arrive at least three hours early for their flight.

In the US, the Federal Aviation Authority has a number of flights grounded from American Airlines, United and Delta. Many U.S. airlines have not yet released statements on how they expect the day to unfold, but it may be wise for passengers planning to fly out of U.S. airports today to contact their airlines before they depart and also arrive earlier than normal to allow extra time to check in.

Delta

The major airlines operating in the US have been issuing regular updates, with Delta saying in a statement: “Delta has resumed some flights after a supplier technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. The issue necessitated a pause in Delta’s global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed.” The airline added that more cancellations and delays were expected on Friday, but that a travel waiver had been issued, allowing customers who were scheduled to travel today to rebook their flights at a low or no cost, depending on the date.

American Airlines

In a statement about X, American Airlines said: “We are aware of a technology issue with a vendor that is impacting multiple airlines. American is working with the vendor to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” In an updated statement to CNET, it said that as of 5 a.m. ET, it had managed to “safely restore our operation.”

United Airlines

United Airlines said in a statement that “a third-party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United.” The airline initially said all flights would be held at their departure points, but was able to resume flights later Friday morning.

“We are resuming some flights, but expect disruptions to service throughout Friday,” a company spokesperson said. “We have issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans through United.com or the United app.”

KLM

Dutch airline KLM said the outage had made it “impossible” to handle flights and that the company had to largely suspend operations until the problem was resolved. In an update on X, the airline added: “Customers should expect delays and cancellations. We urge passengers to stay away from the airport if their flight is not departing or is severely delayed. We realise this is very inconvenient for customers, especially as the busy summer season has just started.”

Work is underway to resume operations and passengers are asked to monitor KLM.com or the airline’s app for updates.

What is CrowdStrike?

The company at the root of the outages isn’t actually Microsoft at all. The source of the problem has been identified as a faulty update released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Founded 11 years ago in Austin, Texas, CrowdStrike is often called upon by organizations after major cybersecurity breaches to investigate what went wrong. These include the Sony Pictures hack in 2014 and several events targeting the Democratic National Committee between 2015 and 2016.

Many enterprises around the world rely on CrowdStrike for critical cloud workload protections. In this case, CrowdStrike released an update for Windows PCs (it confirmed that Mac and Linux users were not affected) that contained a single defect. PCs displayed a “blue screen of death,” indicating a critical error, and were forced into a bootloop, making them unable to boot.

Making matters worse, there doesn’t appear to be a universal, easy fix for the problem. Most affected PCs will need to be manually reset to a previous point in time, one at a time. Until they can be powered back on, they won’t be able to receive the latest update from CloudStrike. “We’re directing customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide full and continuous updates on our website,” a CrowdStrike spokesperson said.

“We further encourage organizations to ensure they communicate with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels,” they added. “Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the safety and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

In a letter posted CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz issued an online message to customers and partners late Friday evening saying he would like to “sincerely apologize to all of you for today’s outage.”

“All CrowdStrike employees understand the severity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and implemented a fix so we could diligently focus on restoring customer systems, our highest priority,” Kurtz wrote. “The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted. This was not a cyberattack.”

Kurtz had confirmed Earlier on Friday on X that the outage was caused by an issue with a Falcon content update for Windows Hosts. “We have mobilized all of CrowdStrike to assist you and your teams,” he added. “If you have questions or require additional assistance, please contact your CrowdStrike representative or Technical Support.”