A massive global tech outage is causing major disruption to all types of industries on Friday morning. This includes banks, media, and also airlines. It seems like the stuff of a Hollywood disaster movie. But people are discovering to their confusion that this crisis is all too real.
According to CNN, "All flights from several major US airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines, were grounded Friday morning due to a communication issue - part of a massive debacle impacting businesses worldwide." This had a major impact on travelers. Likewise, some struggled to access their banks online and use credit/debit cards as payment.
Microsoft said on X that "the underlying cause" of the outage has been repaired, but impacts are still being felt to "some Microsoft 365 apps and services." They wrote, "The underlying cause has been fixed, however, residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services. We're conducting additional mitigations to provide relief. More details can be found within the admin center under MO821132 and on."
Massive Global Tech Outage Caused By Update
The Washington Post reported that "Microsoft said it was aware of an issue impacting Windows programs running cybersecurity technology from CrowdStrike."
"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," CrowdStrike's CEO said early Friday of the massive global tech outage. "CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack."
The CEO continued, "We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they're communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."
The incident is not thought to be a cyberattack, according to the Associated Press. It appears to be a tech issue. However, plenty of people are angry about the issues. Several called on CrowdStrike's CEO to apologize. One wrote, "not even an apology? Bold strategy." Another wrote, "Where's the apology to users, George?"
Yet another wrote, "Was the falcon agent update not tested on a Windows machine prior to being pushed wide?"
