Global Tech Outage: How the world almost went blank on Friday

On Friday, a massive global tech outage sent shockwaves through businesses and institutions across the globe, leaving a trail of disruption in its wake.

The chaos erupted after an update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused widespread crashes of machines running Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft announced later on that they had “fixed” the underlying cause, but residual effects were still plaguing some Office 365 apps and services. Despite ongoing recovery efforts, the fallout was extensive and multifaceted.

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Key Impacts:

• Transport Turmoil: Major airlines including Delta, United, and American Airlines were grounded in the U.S., while airports in Sydney, Melbourne, and across the UK, Germany, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines experienced severe disruptions. Amsterdam’s Schiphol and all Spanish airports reported significant flight delays.
• Financial Fracture: Banks like South Africa’s Capitec Bank and Absa, as well as Australia’s Commonwealth Bank, faced outages that affected customer transactions. The London Stock Exchange encountered a technical glitch that delayed trading updates.
• Media Mayhem: Broadcasters such as Sky News in the UK and Australia’s ABC and Network Ten saw their systems crippled, leading to off-air apologies and service interruptions.
• Government Gridlock: In the UK, medical booking systems were down, and the UAE’s Foreign Ministry warned users against conducting transactions. Australia’s Victoria police and New Zealand’s parliamentary systems were also hit.
• Corporate Collapse: Amazon’s AWS reported connectivity issues affecting Windows EC2 instances and Workspaces. Companies scrambled to maintain operations amidst the chaos.

Authorities, including Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator and France’s cybersecurity agency, indicated that there was no evidence of a cyberattack in the global tech outage, attributing the outage to a technical issue within CrowdStrike’s software.