A mass wave of IT outages disrupted the world Friday morning, shutting down airports, banks, airlines and a swath of other institutions as Microsoft ground to a halt.
At least 540 flights were cancelled across the U.S. on Friday morning as American Airlines, Delta, and United asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for global ground stop on all flights, according to ABC News. Outages also hit Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Gatwick Airport in the U.K., Google Cloud, Microsoft, various hospitals and some computers were reportedly impacted at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The outage was apparently caused by a software issue, and not a cyberattack, according to American cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. “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. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” the firm’s CEO George Kurtz said on social media.
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. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…
— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024
As of 5:50 am EST, the FAA had pinned a tweet telling followers that they are “closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines. Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved.” (RELATED: Boeing Whistleblower Dies From Sudden Illness: REPORT)
Flights that were already in the air were allowed to continue following the outage, but no other American, United, or Delta fights have left the ground at the time of writing. Videos and photos posted online show what appears to be countless people stranded at airports around the world as the weekend rolls in.
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: This Microsoft outage is now being reported as the biggest IT outage in history.
Here is a look at the Philadelphia airport filled with travelers that have had their flights delayed. There is still no proof that this was due to a hack. pic.twitter.com/AKeeFtaUep
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) July 19, 2024
Nightmare to fly today, this is just one line (not even all of it) for the help desk at @AmericanAir in Chicago O’Hare
You can repeats this across the entire airport and they are only getting larger
I was offered up to $1200 to give up my seat – hopefully we still take off pic.twitter.com/CFFkx9PTV4
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) July 19, 2024
Sydney Airport flight displays have all BSOD’d. #microsoft #crowdstrike pic.twitter.com/ZL9QwGdi1a
— techAU (@techAU) July 19, 2024
🚨 BREAKING: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in California Hit Amid Worldwide IT Outages… and this is just one example of what’s happening worldwide right now.
Only because of one company? Give me a break! 😂🎬🍿👌
This could be the beginning of the major cyber attack… pic.twitter.com/rbpJ5zPMke
— vegastar (@vegastarr) July 19, 2024
WATCH: Scenes from a busy afternoon at Changi Airport on Jul 19, 2024, as passengers and staff deal with check-in delays due to a worldwide IT outage. (Video: CNA/Wallace Woon, Marcus Mark Ramos) https://t.co/rgtWtyMGzA pic.twitter.com/8dXlGcjDXb
— CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) July 19, 2024
It’s chaos this morning at Detroit Metro Airport after a global outage is affecting Delta, United and American flights. Our @RyanHMarshall has the latest from DTW. pic.twitter.com/DfbWnCe9ZB
— WXYZ Detroit (@wxyzdetroit) July 19, 2024
“A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United,” United Airlines said in a Friday morning statement. “While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations.”
This is an evolving story, please check back for further updates.
