On Friday morning, a wave of IT outages swept across the globe, causing widespread disruption. Over 1,000 flight cancellations were reported, and internal and external systems across various industries, including hospitals, banks, stock exchanges, and other institutions, were stalled. The outages were linked to malfunctions in Microsoft-based computers, severely impacting operations across these sectors.
CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology firm known for its cloud workload protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services, clarified that the outage was not due to a cyber attack but rather a software issue. The problem had been identified, and a fix was deployed. However, while some systems could be restored immediately, others might take hours or even longer to return to normal functionality. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz explained in an interview with CNBC that resolving the issue for certain customers would require more than just rebooting their systems.
At Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, long lines of passengers formed at check-in counters as the global IT disruption caused by the Microsoft outage and the CrowdStrike software issue took its toll. Kurtz emphasized that CrowdStrike was actively collaborating with customers impacted by the defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts, noting that Mac and Linux hosts were unaffected. He urged customers to stay updated via the support portal and assured them that CrowdStrike’s team was fully mobilized to ensure their security and stability.
In Alaska, the State Troopers reported 911 outages across the state. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) experienced computer disruptions, though law enforcement activities in the field remained unaffected. A notice issued by the DOJ Office of the Chief Information Officer described the issue as “significant” without a clear restoration timeline. Efforts to troubleshoot and find workarounds were underway, with law enforcement alerted to potential cyber threats from actors attempting to exploit the situation by distributing malware disguised as bogus software fixes for the CrowdStrike problem.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alerted hospitals and law enforcement about the impact on multiple government agencies, including the secretary’s operations center, even as the issue began to subside. Hospitals such as Mass General Brigham in Boston and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale, Ohio, faced disruptions, leading to the cancellation of some elective surgeries.
The D.C. Metro system was also affected, experiencing downtime in some internal systems. In contrast, New York City’s mass transit system reported temporary offline customer information systems, although bus and train operations remained unaffected. Global IT outages were reported in various countries, impacting locations such as Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom.
Microsoft acknowledged the issue in a statement released on social media, confirming that users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services was impacted. Airlines began gradually coming back online, but delays and cancellations persisted through the morning and into the early afternoon. American Airlines, United, and Delta requested a global ground stop on all flights from the FAA, resulting in over 1,000 cancellations in the U.S. Delta and American Airlines reported the highest rates of cancellations and delays, with Delta resuming some flight departures.
Passengers experienced significant delays, with some waiting for hours before being deplaned. The FAA informed air traffic controllers about the communication issues airlines were facing, allowing flights already airborne to continue while halting departures for American, United, and Delta.
Statements from American and United Airlines highlighted their efforts to resolve the technical issue with CrowdStrike and apologized for the inconvenience caused to their customers. President Joe Biden was briefed on the outage, with the White House closely monitoring the situation and coordinating across agencies to provide assistance as needed.
The stock price of CrowdStrike plummeted nearly 15% on Friday morning amid the global IT outage, reaching its lowest level since May. This significant drop reflected the widespread impact of the outages on its clients. The company continued to work diligently to restore services and support affected customers.
This is a developing story, and updates will continue to be provided as more information becomes available. Reporters Ahmad Hemingway, Josh Margolin, Joe Simonetti, Zunaira Zaki, and Helena Skinner from ABC News contributed to this report.