Widespread technology outage disrupts flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world

https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-crowdstrike-outage-australia-
internet-banks-media-0a5f792b6571b37a35181d64028fefc4

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted 
flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday.

Escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said 
it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps 
and services.

The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, 
recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and 
airlines including American Airlines and Delta.

News outlets in Australia reported that airlines, telecommunications 
providers and banks, and media broadcasters were disrupted as they lost 
access to computer systems. Airlines in the U.K., Europe and India 
reported problems and some New Zealand banks said they were offline.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the 
impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more 
expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in 
service availability.”

The company did not respond to a request for comment. It did not explain 
the cause of the outage further.

New Zealand’s acting prime minister, David Seymour, said on X that 
officials in the country were “moving at pace to understand the potential 
impacts” of the global problem.

“I have not currently received any reporting to indicate these issues are 
related to malicious cyber security activity,” Seymour wrote. The issue 
was causing “inconvenience” for the public and businesses, he added.

Israel’s Cyber Directorate that it was among the places affected by the 
global outages, attributing them to a problem with the cybersecurity 
platform Crowdstrike. The outage also hit the country’s post offices and 
hospitals, according to the ministries of communication and health.

Meanwhile, major disruptions reported by airlines and airports grew.

In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and 
Allegiant had all been grounded. Travelers at Los Angeles International 
Airport slept on a jetway floor, using backpacks and other luggage for 
pillows, due to a delayed United flight to Dulles International Airport 
early on Friday.

Airlines, railways and television stations in the United Kingdom were 
being disrupted by the computer issues. The budget airline Ryanair, train 
operators TransPennine Express and Govia Thameslink Railway, as well as 
broadcaster Sky News are among those affected.

“We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a 
global third party IT outage which is out of our control,’’ Ryanair said. 
“We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours 
before their scheduled departure time.”

Edinburgh Airport said the system outage meant waiting times were longer 
than usual. London’s Stansted Airport said some airline check-in services 
were being completed manually, but flights were still operating.

Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew 
and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-
service booths were disabled. Passengers in Melbourne queued for more than 
an hour to check in, although flights were still operating.

Airline operations in India were disrupted, affecting thousands.

The privately-owned IndiGo airlines told the passengers on X that the 
Microsoft outage on Friday impacted airline operations in India, 
inconveniencing thousands of passengers.

Several airlines made statements on X saying that they were following 
manual check-in and boarding processes and warned of delays due to 
technical problems.

Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said in a statement that the outage was 
affecting some airlines at the city’s airport and they had switched to 
manual check-in.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport said on its website that the outage was 
having a “major impact on flights” to and from the busy European hub. The 
outage came on one of the busiest days of the year for the airport, at the 
start of many people’s summer vacations.

In Germany, Berlin Airport said Friday morning that “due to a technical 
fault, there will be delays in check-in.” It said that flights were 
suspended until 10 a.m. (0800GMT), without giving details, German news 
agency dpa reported.

Zurich Airport, the busiest in Switzerland, suspended landings on Friday 
morning but said flights headed there that were already in the air were 
still allowed to land. It said that several airlines, handling agents and 
other companies at the airport were affected, and that check-in had to be 
done manually in some cases, but that the airport’s own systems were 
running.

At Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, some US-bound flights had posted 
delays, while others were unaffected.

Australia appeared to be severely affected by the issue. Outages reported 
on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, 
and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and 
phone providers such as Telstra.

Hospitals in Britain and Germany also reported problems.

Several practices within the National Health Service in England reported 
that the outage had hit their clinical computer system that contains 
medical records and is used for scheduling.

“We have no access to patient clinical records so are unable to book 
appointments or provide information,” Church Lane Surgery in Brighouse in 
Northern England said on the social media platform X. “This is a national 
problem and is being worked on as a high priority.”

The NHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In northern Germany, the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital, which has 
branches in Kiel and Luebeck, said it had canceled all elective surgery 
scheduled for Friday, but patient and emergency care were unaffected.

News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable 
to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns 
of Windows-based computers. Some news anchors broadcast live online from 
dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.”

In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing 
“nationwide service disruptions” as customers reported they were unable to 
make payments using their bank cards at grocery stores and gas stations.

The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down.

An X user posted a screenshot of an alert from the company Crowdstrike 
that said the company was aware of “reports of crashes on Windows hosts” 
related to its Falcon Sensor platform. The alert was posted on a password-
protected Crowdstrike site and could not be verified. Crowdstrike did not 
respond to a request for comment.


-- 
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.  
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden 
fiasco, President Trump.  

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed 
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.