IT glitch cause delays in flights, business operations globally

A significant Microsoft outage on July 19, 2024 impacted users globally, leading to widespread disruptions, including cancelled flights and disruptions at retailers globally. Airlines like American Airlines and Southwest Airlines reported difficulties with their systems, which rely on Microsoft services for operations. This photo shows flight delays on a flight information board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 11, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Air travel, banking, media and hospital systems are just some of the industries affected by a bug in a software update that has scrambled business operations for many globally Friday morning.

Many of those who use Microsoft Windows are likely experiencing a “blue screen of death” or an error page. The issue is due to a single bug in a software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which provides antivirus software for Microsoft users.

The company pushed out an update to the software overnight, and at 1:30 a.m. EST, CrowdStrike said its “Falcon Sensor” software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, Reuters reported .

CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz released a statement early Friday morning on X , saying that the incident was not a security concern or a cyberattack. He added that the issue has been identified and that the company has been deploying a fix.

“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website,” Kurtz said.

The bug was causing major delays and cancellations at airports across the globe. Flight tracking data site FlightAware noted nearly 24,000 delays and 2,300 cancellations globally by 9:30 a.m. Friday. While some airlines have been able to resume operation of their digital systems, others are finding analogue solutions in the meantime.

As of 1:30 p.m., 44 flights into or out of Rhode Island International T.F. Green Airport in Warwick were delayed, according to FlightAware. Five flights were canceled.

Despite the tech issues, T.F. Green is still fully operational , said spokesperson John Goodman.

“However, we advise that travelers check with their airline regarding arrivals and departures,” Goodman said in a statement. “The TSA checkpoint at the airport is open as are all airport parking and concessions.”

While some airlines have been able to resume operation of their digital systems, others are finding analogue solutions in the meantime.

Breeze Airways Vice President Marketing Angela Vargo told Rhode Island Current crews at T.F. Green are using physical copies of manifests and boarding passes to check guests aboard their flights.

“We have not canceled flights and we do not intend to do so,” she said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it was monitoring the situation and suggested those experiencing travel delays and cancellations to use its FlightRights.gov website to help navigate their delays in travel.

Some states’ 911 and non-emergency lines were experiencing issues, including Alaska , Virginia and New Jersey .

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy released a statement early Friday morning saying that the state had activated its State Emergency Operations Center in response to the disruptions and has provided guidance to other agencies about how to work through the situation.

“We are also engaging county and local governments, 911 call centers, and utilities to assess the impact and offer our assistance.,” he said.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee assured the public that the state’s 911 system remained “fully operational.” However, the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles delayed the opening of its registry offices until noon because of the global IT disruption.

McKee’s press secretary, Olivia DaRocha, said the governor’s office has remained in close contact with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, which so far has not seen the need to fully activate the Emergency Operations Center; it is operating at a “monitoring status.”

“Our team at EMA has been conducting direct outreach to all local EMAs to check for issues or concerns in their community,” DaRocha said via email.

Effects felt throughout the day

At Lifespan, the largest health care system in Rhode Island , downtime introduced by the bug led to possible delays and appointment changes for nonessential procedures, said spokesperson Jessica Wharton in an emailed statement Friday morning. But by 4 p.m., Wharton wrote back with an update: “The situation has been contained and our hospitals are performing all procedures and surgeries.”

CVS stores and pharmacies were operating normally as of late Friday morning, said Tara Burke, a company spokesperson, in an emailed statement.

But Quest Diagnostics, a national laboratory services company with four locations in Rhode Island , was “operating with reduced capacity,” which meant longer wait times for some patients, said Jillian Flanagan, a company spokesperson. Customer service teams were unavailable as of Friday afternoon, Flanagan added.

Companies and agencies that don’t use Windows were immune to the outages. Rhode Island ’s government IT is managed by the Enterprise Technology Strategy and Services Office, although the level of IT uniformity across different offices is unclear. Brian Tardiff, Rhode Island ’s chief information officer, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Christina O’Reilly, the spokesperson for HealthSource RI, confirmed in an email that state employees at the health insurance marketplace “use a suite of software curated” by the enterprise technology office. The software suite includes CrowdStrike, which led to some staff members’ laptops getting affected — but only if they were left powered overnight, when the faulty update was released and downloaded automatically.

“None of our customer-facing operations were interrupted,” O’Reilly said.

In separate emails to Rhode Island Current, spokespeople for Community College of Rhode Island , Rhode Island College and University of Rhode Island all said their systems were unaffected by the CrowdStrike chaos.

Courts in Massachusetts and New York experienced disrupted service, as court transcription recording systems were not operational in some Massachusetts courthouses, the Associated Press reported.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which runs its driver’s license offices, also closed their offices for the day, with “no current estimate” on when they will reopen.

Around 4 p.m. EST, Kurtz released more statements on X, reiterating that the outage was not a security breach.

“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,” he said. “We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”

Kurtz said the company is working on a “technical update and root cause analysis” that they will share with customers, and shared a letter that was sent to customers and partners.

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates,” it said.

“Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike. As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again,” it continued.

With contributions by Rhode Island Current reporters Christopher Shea and Alexander Castro.

This story was updated Friday afternoon to reflect effects felt throughout the day.

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