Global Cyber Outage Causes Chaos, Disrupting Airlines, Banks, Media, Telecoms and More
Click to viewA massive technology outage has disrupted businesses and institutions in multiple countries on Friday, throwing airports, airlines, rail companies, government services, banks, stock exchanges, supermarkets, telecoms, health systems and media outlets into chaos.
Some experts attributed the disruption to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm whose software is used by industries around the world to protect against hackers and outside breaches. “CrowdStrike seems to have had some sort of mandatory update to its software that went horribly wrong,” reported Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull.
According to an alert sent by CrowdStrike to its clients and reviewed by Reuters, the company’s "Falcon Sensor" software is causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the "Blue Screen of Death."
In the United States, major airlines Delta, United and American Airlines were grounded on Friday morning due to a communication issue, according to an update by the Federal Aviation Administration.
In Australia, flight information screens at Sydney airport went blank. The airport said that flights were arriving and departing but that travellers should expect delays. Airports in the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Malaysia and the Philippines also reported disruptions to services.
Media companies also saw their broadcasts severely disrupted. Government services were also hit.
A UK government security source told the Reuters news agency that the outage was not being treated as “a malicious act.”
Sources: 1 | 2