A global IT outage caused major infrastructure across the world to grind to a halt on Friday.
Institutions ranging from airports to GP surgeries suffered disruption after their computer systems were taken offline.
CrowdStrike, the firm at the centre of the outage, said it was “deeply sorry” for the incident but warned it would take “some time” for systems to be fully restored.
What happened?
CrowdStrike confirmed the issue was caused by a “defect in a single content update for Windows hosts”. In other words, this was a flaw in a software update pushed out to customers using Microsoft Windows PCs, which crashed.
CrowdStrike is one of the world’s largest cybersecurity providers, providing antivirus and cyberattack prevention tools to thousands of businesses.
Read more: Microsoft has serious questions to answer after what could be the biggest IT outage in history (Sky News)
What was affected?
The NHS was at the centre of the outage in England, as it caused disruption “in the majority of GP practices” as well as pharmacies. Several ambulance services reported increased pressure and higher call volumes after GP services were affected, while some NHS external providers also faced system issues.
Large queues formed at airports across the UK as airlines reported being unable to process passengers and resorted to manually checking in customers.
Meanwhile, Sky News was briefly knocked off air and many retailers reported issues with taking digital payments.
Read more: Thousands of GP practices in England affected by global IT outage (PA Media)
How long will it take to resolve?
George Kurtz, chief executive of CrowdStrike, said a fix had been deployed for the bug, but added it could take “some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover”.
Given the scale of devices and businesses impacted, it could take several days for every impacted computer to be fixed and returned to normal use, particularly at smaller firms with fewer resources.
Essentially, signs of disruption are likely to remain throughout Friday and into the weekend.
Read more: What is Crowdstrike? The $80 billion company linked to ‘largest IT outage in history’ (The Independent)
What did Crowdstrike and Microsoft say?
Kurtz said "it is our mission to make sure that every customer is fully recovered, and we’re not going to relent until we get every customer back to where they were, and we’ll continue to protect them and keep the bad guys out of their systems".
Microsoft chief communications officer Frank Shaw said: "Earlier today, a Crowdstrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of Windows systems globally. We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery."
Read more: Opinion - IT meltdown shows how horrifyingly exposed we are to total economic collapse (The Telegraph)
Read more
Are global IT outages becoming more frequent? What the experts say (Yahoo News)
What are air passengers entitled to during IT outage flight disruption? (PA Media)
Millions risk not being paid on time as IT outage hits payroll systems (The Telegraph)
Yahoo News has ended its live coverage for the day. Read below to catch up on all the developments from the day:
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER66 updates
Harriet Sinclair
Heathrow 'working hard' to get passengers moving after IT outage
Heathrow Airport has said it is “working hard” to get passengers “on their way” following a major global IT outage.
“We continue to work with our airport colleagues to minimise the impact of the global IT outage on passenger journeys.
“Flights continue to be operational and passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight information,” a spokesperson for the airport said.
Harriet Sinclair
Incident shows how much we depend on IT systems, cabinet minister says
Amid the chaos of the global IT outage, cabinet minister Pat McFadden said it had showed just how dependent people are on IT systems.
Asked about the need for back-up systems after GP surgeries were hit, McFadden told the BBC: “What this incident shows is just how dependent we are on IT systems. And when something like this happens, how fast and how widespread the effects are.
“It’s really important, because we’re so reliant on these systems, that the fix is put in place as soon as possible.”
Harriet Sinclair
Friends stranded at airport since 4am
Hannah McCloud and Katie Dunham have been waiting in Gatwick Airport since 4am after they were kicked off their flight before it took off following the IT outage.
The 23-year-olds said they had already got comfortable on their 7am flight to Barcelona when air stewards told them to get off the plane due to the technical glitch causing havoc in airports worldwide.
The pair from Bexley, south-east London, were all set for a £600 four-night all-inclusive holiday in the Spanish city, but said they were now considering holidaying in the UK because of the chaos. McCloud, who works in marketing, said: “We got checked in, our luggage went on board and then we got off the plane.”
Dunham, who also works in marketing, said: “We were then told that the flight was cancelled. We were told that we would get rebooked on a different flight, but we’ve not heard anything so far. There’s no staff from our airline here.”
McCloud added: “We’re just waiting. We’re going to see if things clear up and if anything changes. We were first aware that the system was down before we got on the plane. We boarded manually, but they stopped boarding halfway through.”
Asked if she was prepared to stay the night at Gatwick airport, McCloud said: “I don’t know – we’ll see how late it goes. Probably not.”
Dunham said: “There’s no point [in going to Barcelona] if we can [only] get a flight on Sunday when we’ve got to fly back on Tuesday.
McCloud added: “Maybe we’ll go somewhere in this country, but we’ll see what happens.”
The pair said they would be seeking a refund for the flights.
Harriet Sinclair
Global IT outage could last for 'some time' as problems continues around the world
The CEO of the cybersecurity firm behind the IT outage around the world has apologised to everyone effected by the problem.
But he admitted it could be "some time" before everything is back online. George Kurtz revealed it was a "defect" in an update that has caused problems for Microsoft Windows users but Mac and Linux have gone untroubled.
Read the full story from the Herald Scotland.
See AlsoMicrosoft tackles catastrophic global IT outage as 'CrowdStrike' security blames update bug for grounded flights and moreMike Terpstra on LinkedIn: Widespread Global Tech Outage Disrupts Flights, Banks, Hospitals and Media…Microsoft outage: What is CrowdStrike and why users are getting Windows blue screens502 Bad Gateway error & how to fix it | T-Mobile 5G Home InternetHarriet Sinclair
Increased demand on ambulance services amid IT outage
South Central Ambulance Service said it was experiencing increased demand on its 999 and NHS 111 services due to the global IT issues.
In a post on X, it said: “As usual, our 999 team will be prioritising patients in a serious or life-threatening condition.
“Patients not requiring such an immediate response may have to wait longer than usual to be seen by our ambulance team.
“If you have an urgent, not emergency, medical need rather than call 999 please make use of other local services, such as urgent treatment centres which remain open across our region until late this evening.
“You can also use 111 online, or call 111, to get advice and help.”
Harriet Sinclair
Government services 'largely unaffected now'
Officials will hold another meeting on Friday to discuss the IT outage, Pat McFadden said, as he indicated government services are “largely unaffected now”.
The cabinet minister told the BBC: “Cobra officials met this morning. I’ve been kept updated about the situation throughout the day, the prime minister has been kept informed. We will have a further meeting later today to make sure we are across the situation.
“But as far as government services goes, the online services that government provides, these are largely unaffected now, and it’s important that’s the case because a lot of vulnerable people depend on these services.”
Harriet Sinclair
Watch CrowdStrike CEO's apology following IT outage
The CEO of CrowdStrike says a single faulty content update was responsible for the outage.
The CEO CrowdStrike, George Kurtz, said "we're deeply sorry for the impact we've caused" and explains the issues were caused by a single faulty content update.
His apology comes as businesses across the world have been affected by a mass IT outage.https://t.co/zAU97JY0op pic.twitter.com/CFQmWk4OUK
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 19, 2024
Harriet Sinclair
Why it's taking time for companies to recover from the CrowdStrike IT outage
Major airlines, banks, and supermarkets are experiencing widespread disruption linked to an IT outage after Microsoft reported problems linked to an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
CEO George Kurtz said on X post the outage was not caused by a cyberattack or security incident and that the issue "has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."
He told NBC News that CrowdStrike was rebooting its operations but that "it could be some time for some systems — it [won't] just automatically recover."
Read the full story from Business Insider.
Harriet Sinclair
Scottish Government Resilience Room activated
The Scottish Government Resilience Room has been activated to assess the impact of the IT outage across the country.
Scottish government systems are “functioning normally” and there has been “minimal impact” on NHS services across the sector.
A spokesperson said: “In response to worldwide IT issues, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (Sgorr) has been activated to asses any potential impacts across Scotland.”
The statement added: “We are aware of impacts at Edinburgh Airport and would urge those travelling today to check with their operator.
“Impact is being experienced by a limited number of UK rail operators but at the moment ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper service is unaffected.
“Sgorr will continue to liaise with partners and ministers will be kept updated throughout the day.”
Harriet Sinclair
Ryanair tells passengers to leave airport
Ryanair urged passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave the airport.
The airline said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to cancel a small number of flights today due to this global third-party IT outage.
“Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to see their options.
“A full list of cancellations is available at http://ryanair.com. If your flight has been cancelled, we kindly request that you leave the airport as the IT outage means we cannot currently assist passengers at the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this global third-party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed.”
Shops report not being able to take card payments
A number of shops have reported not being able to take card payments amid the worldwide IT outage.
Customers across the country have faced issues with trying to pay using their cards, with some shops putting up “cash only” signs on their doors.
A spokesman for the supermarket Morrisons said there were some “isolated incidents” with payment systems this morning, which have now been resolved and systems are working normally.
Microsoft has serious questions to answer after what could be the biggest IT outage in history
There are serious questions of course for CrowdStrike.
But also Microsoft: what due diligence do they perform on third party providers and on individual updates before they're released across their globally dominant system?
Read analysis from Sky News here
IT outage fixes 'could still take some time' - as cybersecurity company CEO apologises for chaos
'Budapest!' Manual check-ins at Gatwick
Passengers at Gatwick Airport are being checked in manually on specific flights to ease long queues.
The global IT glitch has led to long queues for the check-in desks at the airport, with some passengers standing still for several hours.
In response, airport staff have started to check passengers onto specific flights in order of intended departure time.
One member of staff could be heard shouting “Budapest” amid a large crowd of people urging the relevant passengers to come forward.
What are air passengers entitled to during IT outage flight disruption?
Thousands of passengers have suffered flight delays and cancellations on Friday due to the IT outage.
Here are 10 key questions and answers from PA Media on assistance and compensation.
€50 confusion at Gatwick
A traveller at Gatwick Airport said there was “confusion” as staff initially tried to charge customers €50 to issue new boarding passes as passengers were unable to access their passes virtually.
Carlos Neto, 38, told the PA news agency his Wizz Air flight to Faro to visit family was scheduled for 7.40am but left at around 9am due to delays caused by the systems failure.
Neto, a dancer from New York, said staff initially told passengers they would be charged €50 to issue new boarding passes, before realising there was an IT issue and issuing boarding passes for free, which “made everyone late”.
He said “the entire system was confusing” to passengers as the departure screen incorrectly said “gate closed” even though the gate was remaining open until all passengers arrived.
He added: “The lines were very long because passengers from other flights were then also delayed. Because no one explained what was happening I think it created more confusion.”
Mass IT outage shows how exposed services are, says expert
Friday's outage has been described as an unprecedented sign of how exposed services are with a potential overreliance on certain operating systems.
The major disruption could prompt a rethink on whether the most resilient operating systems are being used and whether it is “lazy” to stick with what we know, according to cybersecurity expert Dr Harjinder Lallie.
The associate professor at the University of Warwick described the situation as an IT “catastrophe”.
He told PA: “The worldwide IT outage experienced this morning is unprecedented in the range and scale of systems it has impacted.
“This IT catastrophe highlights the need for greater resilience, a greater focus on back-up systems, and possibly even a need to rethink whether we are using the most resilient operating systems for such critical systems.”
A recap of what has happened
The chief executive of CrowdStrike, George Kurtz, confirmed the issue was caused by a “defect in a single content update for Windows hosts”. In short, a flaw in a software update pushed out to customers using Windows PCs.
CrowdStrike is one of the world’s largest cybersecurity providers, providing antivirus and cyberattack prevention tools to businesses.
The flaw in its update caused many Windows PCs to crash, with many displaying the so-called “blue screen of death” and becoming unusable.
IT infrastructure at businesses and institutions around the world collapsed, taking many businesses and their online services offline.
This has particularly impacted the transport, financial and healthcare sectors, with airlines and airports, train services, pharmacies and GP surgeries and even the London Stock Exchange affected.
More queues at Birmingham Airport
How long will the issue take to be rectified?
This remains unclear.
Given the scale of devices and businesses impacted, it could take several days for every impacted computer to be fixed and returned to normal use, particularly at smaller firms with fewer resources.
Cybersecurity experts said it is good news that the issue has only impacted Windows users – CrowdStrike confirmed Apple Mac and Linux users were unaffected – and a fix having been deployed should mean larger IT departments can quickly begin restoring services.
But signs of disruption are likely to remain throughout Friday and into the weekend.
