United States: Recently, IT outages swept the world on Friday morning when thousands of flights were canceled, along with the breakdown of internal and external systems of several industries, including hospitals, banks, and stock exchanges, when some Microsoft-based computers ceased to work.
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As per CrowdStrike, which is an American cybersecurity technology firm, the cause of the outage was not a cyber attack. It was caused due to software fault, which was later identified and fixed.
Moreover, according to the ABC News reports, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz explained that some of the systems could be fixed and run immediately; however, for others, it “could be hours, could be a bit longer.”
For some customers, it would have taken more than rebooting the system and fixing the issues to get back to normalcy.
Kurtz said, “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.”
He continued, “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.”
Disruptions in several state services
According to the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, several states faced a disruption in emergency communication services, as ABC News reported.
The outage in Arizona even affected the Phoenix Police Department’s computerized 911 dispatch center.
In Alaska, several 911 and non-emergency call centers were facing difficulties in functioning properly across the state, as Alaska State Troopers informed.
As notified by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, where significant system-wide connectivity issues impacted the court’s ability to conduct business. Therefore, the remote hearings are scheduled for Friday. Further dates will be announced to the parties now on short notice.
Moreover, the Department of Justice’s computer systems were impacted by the outage. The DOJ Office of the Chief Information Officer also released a notice indicating that the issue is “significant” and there is no restoration time.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has also alerted hospitals and law enforcement while mentioning the “multiple government agencies” disrupting their activities, including the secretary’s operations center.
Disruption in transportation and communication
According to reports, the DC Metro system has also felt the effects, where some of its internal systems shut down.
New York City’s mass transit system, the largest in the US, informed that the global outage had no impact on bus and train operations in the city, although some MTA customer information systems did go offline temporarily.
Furthermore, the global IT outage has been reported in various countries, impacting several essential services such as the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Airports in Germany and the United Kingdom.
In the statement by Microsoft on Friday morning, it informed about the ongoing investigation to sort the issue, which is impacting the user’s ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.
According to the reports, the airlines are returning to normal functioning; however, it is expected to take some more time before they are back up and fully operational, adding to delays and cancellations further into the early afternoon.