Planes have been grounded as several airports are hit by a global IT outage, with Windows PCs shutting down and broadcasters and businesses also taken offline.
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What we know
Businesses including banks, airlines, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters and supermarkets have been taken offline following a mass global outage.
Major US airlines have been grounded.
The outage appears to be affecting Windows PCs globally. Users on the subreddit for cyber security firm Crowdstrike reported issues in India, the United States and New Zealand.
Users in Australia began reporting issues early this morning, stating they had been locked out of their workstations.
Microsoft taking ‘mitigation actions’ after service issues
Microsoft says it is taking “mitigation actions” after service issues, it has said.
It says its outage started at about 6pm Eastern Time (11pm last night UK time).
The company says it is investigating issues with cloud services in the US, and an issue impacting several of its apps and services.
CrowdStrike tech support message says aware of reports of crashes on Windows
IT security firm Crowdstrike is running a recorded phone message saying it is aware of reports of crashes on Microsoft’s Windows operating system relating to its Falcon sensor.
“Thanks for contacting Crowdstrike support,” it says.
“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows… related to the Falcon sensor.”
Planes grounded in US
Major US carriers including American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have issued ground stops due to communication issues.
This comes less than an hour after Microsoft said it had resolved its cloud services outage that impacted several low-cost carriers, although it’s not entirely clear whether there is a direct link between Microsoft issues and the ground stops.
The FAA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Trains in UK affected
Trains in the UK have told customers to expect delays amid “widespread IT issues”.
Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern – all four of Govia Thameslink Railway’s brands – said they were experiencing problems.
“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.
“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.
London Stock Exchange affected
The London Stock Exchange is among the businesses that have been affected by the global outage of IT systems around the world.
A statement posted on the exchange’s website early this morning said that a technical issue was being investigated with the publication of RNS – the exchange’s Regulatory News Service – announcements.
It said: “RNS news service is currently experiencing a 3rd party global technical issue, preventing news from being published on www.londonstockexchange.com. Technical teams are working to restore the service. Other services across the Group, including London Stock Exchange, continue to operate as normal.”
India also hit by Microsoft IT Outage
By Neville Lazarus, India reporter
The global outage of the internet has affected the Indian subcontinent as well.
Airlines have suffered disruptions in their operations and a number of flights have been halted.
In a statement on X, SpiceJet said: “We’re currently facing a technical issue in providing updates on flight disruptions. Our team is actively working to resolve this issue. We regret for any inconvenience caused and will update you once the issue is resolved. Thank you for your patience and co-operation.”
Ryanair check-in affected by outage
Europe’s largest airline Ryanair has said it is experiencing “disruption across the network” due to the ongoing global outage.
The Irish carrier has advised passengers to “arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time”.
“If you’re due to travel today and have not already checked-in for your flight, you can do so at the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this global third-party IT outage.”
Airports across Europe report difficulties
The effects of the computer outage are being seen at airports across Europe.
Schipol airport in Amsterdam, one of the busiest in Europe, says the computer failure is having an impact on flights “to and from” Schipol and that is it now analysing that impact.
Hong Kong airport ‘in chaos’ and Australian broadcasters down
South China Morning Post in Hong Kong is reporting that an IT breakdown has left the international airport in “chaos”.
It says check-in is being done manually but flights are still taking off.
The airport has started emergency procedures to keep flights moving.
There were delays at Australian airports and Virgin Airlines was experiencing problems. Telecomms company Telstra was also disrupted, Nicole said.
What could be behind the outages?
While the world gets to grips with this major outage – many are left wondering how and why this has happened.
Although nothing is confirmed at this time, both Microsoft and Crowdstrike have said they are investigating issues.
Data privacy expert at law firm Gordons, Lauren Wills-Dixon, says: “We don’t yet know the cause of these outages, but it appears this is linked to Microsoft and Crowdstrike which would explain disruption across sectors and globally.
“Outages can be created by several causes and Microsoft has named a ‘technical issue’ rather than a cyber incident.
“We’ll likely find out more as the hours progress, but this shows just how reliant we are on certain tech, how much trust organizations put in them and their security practices, and also the chaos that downtime can cause.”
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