A major Microsoft outage wreaked havoc worldwide, disrupting computer systems, grounding flights, and crippling banks, stock exchanges, payment systems, and emergency services.
Banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets have all been taken offline after encountering blue screen of death error screens on Windows workstations.
The outages are seemingly due to a CrowdStrike-related issue. Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity company, confirmed seeing these blue screens in various locations and is investigating the cause. The issue appears to be linked to its Falcon Sensor product.
Microsoft later posted that engineers had identified the issue as a content deployment problem and had reverted the changes.
Microsoft outage causes widespread disruptions across continents
Users on the subreddit for cyber security firm Crowdstrike reported issues in India , the United States, New Zealand, and other countries.
In the United States, many emergency 911 services and non-emergency call centers were disrupted due to the outage.
Sky News in the United Kingdom was also affected, with the channel going off air on Friday morning. Sky News sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao posted on X, “We’re obviously not on air – we’re trying.”
In Australia, Melbourne airport advised customers it was “experiencing a global technology issue which is impacting check-in procedures for some airlines” and suggested passengers “allow a little extra time to check-in.”
Meanwhile, a major UK train company warned passengers to expect disruptions due to “widespread IT issues.”
All four of Govia Thameslink Railway’s brands – Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern – posted on social media, “We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network.”
“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem. We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.”
“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected. We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.”
Impact on Australian businesses and broadcasters
On Friday afternoon, users in Australia reported being locked out of their workstations. Australian banking apps and supermarket systems were also affected. Broadcasters like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky News said they had trouble with their broadcasts due to the issue.
The Guardian reported that an email from Australia’s national broadcaster mentioned that Windows terminals nationwide were showing blue screens of death, causing problems for TV and radio studios.
Australia’s national cyber security coordinator, Lt Gen Michelle McGuinness, confirmed government advice suggested it was a third-party software issue. “I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” she posted on X.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”
Microsoft and the bigger picture
Microsoft on Friday reported users may not be able to access its 365 cloud-based app services. It was a rough day for the tech giant , with a cloud outage grounding airlines in the United States earlier in the day in what is believed to be an unrelated issue.
This IT outage shows how vulnerable businesses are in our connected digital world. Relying on third-party software means one problem can cause big disruptions across many sectors and countries.
As companies and cybersecurity experts fix these issues, it highlights the need for strong IT systems and backup plans to reduce the impact of such failures.
The incident also makes us question how strong our critical infrastructure is against tech failures and cyber threats. As businesses keep using more advanced technologies, having strong cybersecurity measures is more important than ever.
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