Global tech outage caused by software update disrupts air travel, health care and shipping
Travelers wait in Terminal 1 for check-in at Hamburg Airport, in Hamburg, Germany, Friday July 19, 2024. A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)
By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY, ELAINE KURTENBACH, DAVID McHUGH and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A global technology outage caused by a faulty software update grounded flights, knocked media outlets offline, and disrupted hospitals, small businesses and government offices on Friday, highlighting the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a handful of providers.
The trouble with the update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected customers running Microsoft Windows. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.
Businesses and governments experienced hours-long disruptions and scrambled to deal with the fallout.
Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed around the world, leading to long lines at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Airlines lost access to check-in and booking services in the heart of the summer travel season.
Several local TV stations in the U.S. were prevented from airing the news early Friday, and some state and local governments reported problems at courts, motor vehicles departments, unemployment agencies and other offices.
Affected hospitals had problems with appointment systems, forcing them to suspend patient visits and cancel some surgeries.
Alison Baulos said her 73-year-old father’s emergency heart surgery in Paducah, Kentucky was canceled Friday morning because of the tech outage, leaving her family scared and worried.
“So if anything happens, it would be as a result of not having the surgery this morning,” Baulos said in an interview. She said her father was waiting at Baptist Hospital to find out what will happen next. A phone message left with the hospital was not immediately returned.
Elsewhere, people experienced minor inconveniences, including trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing long lines to form at some of the coffee chain's stores.
A disturbing reminder of vulnerability
Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused. “All of these systems are running the same software," Bore said. "We’ve made all of these tools so widespread that when things inevitably go wrong — and they will, as we’ve seen — they go wrong at a huge scale."
The head of Germany’s IT security agency, Claudia Plattner, said “we can’t expect a very quick solution.” A forecast for when exactly all systems will be up and running is difficult, but “it won’t be hours,” she added.
CrowdStrike said in a recording on its customer service line that the problem was related to “the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks. The company says it has 29,000 customers.
In an interview on NBC’s “Today Show,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized, saying the company was “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies.”
“We know what the issue is” and are working to remediate it, Kurtz said.
Shares of the company, which is based in Austin, Texas, fell nearly 10% on Friday. Microsoft's stock price fell more than 3%.
Though the outage's impact could be felt far and wide, the forecasting firm Capital Economics said it was likely to have little impact on the world economy.
Cybersecurity experts said those affected by the outage also needed to be wary of bad actors reaching out claiming they can help. “Attackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this,” said Gartner analyst Eric Grenier.
Air travel delayed everywhere
Most airlines attributed the problems to their booking systems. Thousands of flights were affected in the U.S. alone, though by late morning on the East Coast airlines said they were beginning to mitigate problems and resume some service.
Airlines and railways in the U.K. experienced long wait times. And airports across Europe suspended landings or halted takeoffs for several hours due to difficulties in checking in passengers.
Saskia Oettinghaus, a member of the German Olympic diving team, was among those stuck at the Berlin Airport.
“We are on our way to Paris for the Olympic Games and now we are at a standstill here for the time being,” Oettinghaus said.
Other athletes and spectators traveling to Paris were delayed, as were their uniforms and accreditations, but Games organizers said disruptions were limited and didn’t affect ticketing or the torch relay.