A global technology outage on Friday caused massive disruptions, grounding flights, knocking banks and hospital systems offline, and taking media outlets off the air. The incident highlighted the world's heavy reliance on software from a few key providers.
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, reported that the issue was not a security incident or cyberattack but resulted from a faulty update deployed to computers running Microsoft Windows. While a fix was being developed, the chaos continued and even worsened.
CrowdStrike said that the issue was not a security incident or cyberattack but a problem with an update.
Airlines in the U.S., Europe, and Asia lost access to check-in and booking services, creating long airport lines during the busy summer travel season. In Australia, telecommunications disruptions took news outlets off the air for hours. Hospitals and doctor’s offices struggled with their appointment systems, and banks in South Africa and New Zealand experienced outages affecting their payment systems, websites, and apps.
Some athletes and spectators heading to Paris for the Olympics faced delays, as did the delivery of their uniforms and accreditations. However, Games organizers noted that the disruptions were limited and did not affect ticketing or the torch relay.
The website DownDectector tracks user-reported internet outages and recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security, Amazon, and airlines, including American Airlines and Delta.
