Massive information technology (IT) outage has disrupted businesses and institutions in multiple countries, throwing airports, airlines, rail companies, government services, banks, stock exchanges, supermarkets, telecoms, health systems and media outlets into chaos.
The cause of the outage was not immediately clear, but it came hours after Microsoft said it was addressing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services, Aljazeera media network report.
The global technical outage impacted computers running Microsoft Windows across the world on Friday.
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According to several media, airline operations, terminal services, telecommunications companies, TV and radio broadcasters, supermarkets and other critical infrastructure have been taken offline after all Windows machines suddenly BSoD’d (Blue Screen of Death).
Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike added that the cause is currently under investigation.
Some experts attributed the disruption to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm whose software is used by industries around the world to protect against hackers and outside breaches.
The problem appeared to result in crashes of machines running the Microsoft Windows operating system.
CrowdStrike said in a recorded phone message that it was aware of reports of Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashing.
Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said, “CrowdStrike seems to have had some sort of mandatory update to its software that went horribly wrong.”
“It has been a quite extraordinarily dysfunctional, disruptive morning from an IT point of view – or indeed mid-afternoon if you’re in Australia where the first signs of a real problem began to emerge, according to Hull.
“Essentially it happens as you’re sitting in front of your terminal. If your terminal is a Microsoft Windows terminal, it suddenly goes to a blank blue screen. It’s called the ‘blue-screen-of-death’ error. You are locked out of your operating system,” Hull said.
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According to an update by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States, major airlines Delta, United and American Airlines were grounded on Friday morning due to a communication issue.
In Australia, flight information screens at Sydney airport went blank.
The airport said that flights were arriving and departing but that travellers should expect delays.