Microsoft outage: In an unprecedented situation, Microsoft users worldwide have experienced an outage, which impacted various services, including Microsoft Teams, Windows 365, and OneDrive, according to reports. Computer malfunctions grounded flights, halted operations at banks and stock exchanges, and impacted payment systems and even emergency services.
The pandemonium lasted roughly six hours before Microsoft acknowledged the issue and reported progress in restoring services, with several functionalities gradually coming back online. According to Microsoft's Service Health Status updates, a configuration change within its Azure cloud platform is believed to be the culprit.
A new Crowdstrike (cybersecurity software firm) update is being cited as the cause of the outage, which has impacted Windows-based desktops and laptops. The glitch is causing users to see the Blue Screen of Death error messages, and there are widespread reports of disruptions in international airlines, banks and media outlets.
Which services were disrupted across the world?
Aviation sector
- Several airports and airlines across the world reported disruptions in services and warned of delays, cancellations or switched to manual check-in due to the massive IT outage. Airports in Delhi, Bengaluru, Patna and Hyderabad were also affected by the outage.
- Berlin airport temporarily halted all flights due to a technical fault, Spanish airport operator Aena reported a computer systems incident and Portugal's Lisbon Airport also experienced disruptions. Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and Brussels airport were affected as well.
- Dutch airline KLM said it could not handle flights on Friday and that it suspended most of its operations. Air France, KLM's parent company, also said that its operations were disrupted. Turkish Airlines is experiencing problems with ticketing, check-in, and booking and the several airline check-in systems went offline at the Budapest Airport.
- Major US carriers including American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines halted flights on Friday citing communication issues while Frontier and Spirit too cancelled some flights. American Airlines later said it had re-established operations. Australia's national airline Qantas and Sydney airport said flights were delayed but still flying.
Financial services
- Australia's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, said some customers had been unable to transfer money due to the service outage. Several major oil and gas trading desks in London and Singapore were struggling to execute trades due to a cyber outage on Friday, industry sources told Reuters on Friday.
- Australia-based investment banking company Macquarie Capital was unable to provide liquidity for unexpired warrants on HKEX due to technical problems. South Africa's Capitec said card payments, ATM and app services were fully restored following significant nationwide disruptions linked to CrowdStrike.
- London Stock Exchange Group's Workspace news and data platform suffered an outage on Friday that affected user access worldwide, causing disruption across financial markets. German insurer Allianz experienced a major outage that is impacting employees' ability to log on to their computers. Some German banks are facing disruptions amid reports of global outages.
Media outlets
- Britain's Sky News was back on air on Friday after an hour-long outage, but operating at minimal capacity and without many of its usual services.
- Australia's state broadcaster ABC said it was experiencing a "major network outage", without giving a reason. Regular programming at Sky News Australia was disrupted.
- Some news outlets in the UK including CBBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation children's channel) were also impacted.
Emergency and healthcare services
- UK's National Health Service (NHS) said bookings of doctors' appointments and patient records were disrupted, but emergency services had not been affected. Several hospitals in the Netherlands had to scale down their operations because of the power outage, as per reports.
- Copenhagen's fire department said it was experiencing problems receiving automatically transmitted fire alarms following the outage, and urged people to call 112 in case of a fire. Two hospitals in the northern German cities of Luebeck and Kiel have cancelled elective operations scheduled for Friday.
Other disruptions
- In the United Arab Emirates, some electronic systems of the foreign affairs ministry had been affected by the outage, the ministry said on social media.
- Australia's telecommunications company Telstra Group was facing disruptions to some of its systems, a spokesperson with the telecom firm told Reuters. New Zealand's parliamentary computer systems were also affected, according to Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, head of the parliamentary service.
- The Paris Olympics organising committee said the cyber outage was slowing its operations, but the impact was limited and ticket sales were unaffected. The Baltic Hub container terminal in the Polish city of Gdansk said it was hit by a global outage in Microsoft systems and was working to solve the issue.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said the underlying cause for the outage of its 365 apps and services has been fixed, but the residual impact of cybersecurity outages continues to affect some customers. CrowdStrike is among the most popular cybersecurity companies in the world, counting more than 20,000 subscribers around the world, the company's website shows.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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