A significant IT outage swept across the globe on Friday morning, causing severe disruptions at airports, airlines, banks, and other institutions as some Microsoft-based computers failed to operate.
CrowdStrike, a leading American cybersecurity firm known for its cloud workload protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services, confirmed that the outage was not a result of a cyberattack. Instead, the disruption was due to a software issue, which has since been resolved.
"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed," said CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz on social media Friday morning. He advised affected customers to check the support portal for the latest updates and to communicate through official channels. "Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that American Airlines, United, and Delta requested a global ground stop on all flights. As of 6:25 a.m. ET, at least 540 flights in the U.S. had been canceled.
“Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American. As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," American Airlines stated.
The FAA instructed air traffic controllers to inform pilots of ongoing communication issues within airlines.
A passenger at SeaTac Airport in Washington, whose flight was delayed for two hours before deplaning, told ABC News, "No one here knows anything, the gate agents said we all know as much as they do. I feel awful for the employees and those that have a sick loved one they need to get to or funerals; thankfully that's not us."
Flights already airborne were allowed to continue to their destinations, but no new American, United, or Delta flights took off during the outage.
United Airlines confirmed, "A third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United. While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations."
The outage affected various global entities, including Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom.
"We're investigating an issue impacting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services," Microsoft announced on social media.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) also experienced some computer issues, although law enforcement activities in the field were unaffected. The DOJ's Office of the Chief Information Officer was actively working on potential solutions with technical teams.
Additionally, hospitals across the country, including Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale, Ohio, reported disruptions. Mass General Brigham canceled all elective surgeries on Friday.
This global IT outage highlights the widespread dependence on technology and the ripple effects of such disruptions on daily operations across multiple sectors.