The fallout from the ‘most serious IT outage the world has ever seen’ is continuing to hit Britain tonight – with planes and trains grounded, the NHS disrupted, shops closed, football teams unable to sell tickets and banking platforms knocked offline.
The devastating technical fault caused Windows computers to suddenly shut down, prompting departure boards to immediately turn off at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Edinburgh on the busiest day for British airports since Covid.
Stemming from a faulty update pushed out by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, the problem has been identified and is gradually being fixed – but with knock-on effects for travellers and patients as systems come back online.
The global IT meltdown has threatened to affect people’s paychecks due to employers and banks relying on CrowdStrike.
The Texas-based company admitted responsibility for the outage which has seen GP appointments halted, flights cancelled or delayed and online chaos created for banking programs.
The Global Payroll Association (GPA) warned yesterday that millions of workers around the world ‘risk going without their wages’ due to the worldwide outage.
Airline passengers around the world prepare to spend the night in airports
With CrowdStrikes claiming it could be ‘some time’ before the Microsoft outage is resolved and with over 5,000 flights globally already impacted – passengers across the world are now preparing to spend the night sleeping in their terminals.
Pictured: Weary passengers at Heathrow Airport as the IT outage continues to delay flights
CrowdStrike’s CEO releases statement addressing the Microsoft outage
CrowdStrike’s CEO George Kurtz has issued a statement on the company’s website addressing today’s outage.
Mr Kurtz wrote: ‘Valued Customers and Partners.
‘I want to sincerely apologize directly to all of you for today’s outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority.
‘The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a security or cyberattack.
‘We are working closely with impacted customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored, so you can deliver the services your customers rely on.
‘CrowdStrike is operating normally, and this issue does not affect our Falcon platform systems. There is no impact to any protection if the Falcon sensor is installed. Falcon Complete and Falcon OverWatch services are not disrupted.
‘We will provide continuous updates through our Support Portal and via the CrowdStrike blog. Please continue to visit these sites for the latest updates.
‘We have mobilized all of CrowdStrike to help you and your teams. If you have questions or need additional support, please reach out to your CrowdStrike representative or Technical Support.
‘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.
‘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.’
CrowdStrike’s CEO withdraws from a sports car race this weekend
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has withdrawn his car from a professional sports car race in America this weekend.
Kurtz, who co-founded the company in 2011 and owns a five per cent stake, also drives for the CrowdStrike Racing team in the Fanatec GT Challenge America series in a high-speed Mercedes-Benz AMG GT racing car.
However, Sportscar365 reports the team has withdrawn from an event at Virginia International Raceway this weekend. A stewards’ note confirmed the car had been withdrawn ‘at the request of the competitor’.
Number of flights cancelled worldwide due to CrowdStrike gaffe tops 5,000
More than 5,000 flights were cancelled across the world because of the CrowdStrike error, according to an aviation analytics firm.
Figures from Cirium, reported by the BBC, suggest 5,078 flights – 4.6% of those scheduled – were canned because of the errors. Of those, 167 departures and 171 arrivals in the UK were affected.
New York City billboards go blank
Images show billboards in New York go blank as the global IT outage continues.
Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, said a ‘handful’ of billboards in the area remained offline earlier on Friday, AP reported.