Global Tech Outages Disrupt Airlines, Businesses, and Critical Infrastructure
A series of unexpected tech outages have disrupted airlines, banks, businesses, and critical infrastructure in multiple countries. The root cause of these disruptions appears to be a software update issued by CrowdStrike that is specifically affecting Windows machines.
Impacted Companies and Services
Major US carriers including Delta, United, and American Airlines have had flights grounded due to the outages. International airlines like Virgin Australia and Qantas have also reported tech disruptions. Airports across Europe and Asia-Pacific were affected as well.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all Delta, United, and American Airlines flights due to a communication issue.
Banks such as those in Australia faced issues with their systems. Businesses worldwide reported disruptions to their operations. TV broadcasters like Sky News were unable to broadcast for hours.
Causes and Solutions
The outages appear to stem at least partly from a software update issued by CrowdStrike, according to experts. The CEO of CrowdStrike, George Kurtz, said that the IT issue causing a global outage has been identified and that a fix has been deployed.
However, manual fixes are required for each system affected by the update. This makes it time-consuming and difficult to resolve for large companies.
Impact on Airlines
The outages caused significant disruptions to airline operations. Delta, United, and American Airlines had over 600 flights canceled as of mid-Friday morning.
Conclusion
since the issue was first reported, IT teams around the world have been working tirelessly to resolve the issues. While some progress has been made, it is clear that this will be a long and challenging process for many companies.