MANILA, PHILIPPINES - JULY 19: Long queues of passengers form at the check-in counters at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, amid a global IT disruption caused by a Microsoft outage and a Crowdstrike IT problem, on July 19, 2024 in Manila, Philippines. A significant Microsoft outage impacted users globally, leading to widespread disruptions, including cancelled flights and disruptions at retailers globally. Airlines like American Airlines and Southwest Airlines reported difficulties with their systems, which rely on Microsoft services for operations. The outage affected check-in processes and other essential functions, causing frustration among travellers and lines to back up at many affected airports worldwide. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Whew! Tech employees likely woke up to their worst nightmare on Friday (July 19). A software update initiated by CrowdStrike caused a global tech outage for Microsoft programs overnight. The outage led to thousands of canceled flights and disrupted operations at banks, hospitals, and media outlets, per the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz and Microsoft have already addressed the global outage in separate statements. Keep scrolling for the latest updates on the IT failure.
For context, CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity company that Microsoft employs. In an emailed statement to AP, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw blamed the global outage on an update glitch. Shaw reportedly wrote, “a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of Windows systems globally.”
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike’s George Kurtz spoke on the ‘Today’ show on Friday morning about the global tech outage. He apologized for the outage, saying CrowdStrike is “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies.”
“It could be some time for some systems that won’t recover,” Kurtz said. “It is our mission…that every customer is recovered and we’re not going to relent until we get every customer back to where they were and we continue to protect them, and keep bad guys out of their systems.”
CEO Kurtz added that the outage only affected the Microsoft operating system across the global. However, not every Microsoft Windows system experienced it.
Additionally, both companies have assured the public that the issue was not related to a cyberattack. Meanwhile, Microsoft has been keeping its customers briefed on the situation via social media, X in particular.
As of 10:43 a.m. ET, Microsoft shared that they’ve “completed [their] mitigation actions,” leading to some recovery of their programs.
“We’ve completed our mitigation actions and our telemetry indicates all previously impacted Microsoft 365 apps and services have recovered. We’re entering a period of monitoring to ensure impact is fully resolved. For more information, see MO821132 within the admin center,” their X post said.
As mentioned, flights in the United States, Europe, and Asia were grounded, causing crowded airports. The outage also spread as far as Brazil and Australia. Healthcare services, including surgeries, were disrupted. 911 services were out. Additionally, some TV stations in the U.S. were unable to air their local news this morning, per AP.
According to Oxford University professor and former cybersecurity expert Ciaran Martin, the outage highlights how fragile the global digital ecosystem is.
“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” she told AP.
Though some of these issues are slowly being resolved, many predict it will take time and likely cost lives, especially with interrupted procedures at hospitals and police stations.
Other cybersecurity experts cited by AP predict that getting all systems back online will take more than several hours and could extend into days. Early Friday morning, shares for CrowdStrike were reportedly down 10 percent.
This is a developing story.
