The world was taken aback Friday after Microsoft confirmed that a massive, ongoing outage was linked to computer security firm CrowdStrike. While the Windows makers said the underlying cause had been fixed, many people could still see their work and travel disrupted throughout the day. Worse still, the infamous blue screen of death grounded planes, threw airports into chaos, and even impacted some health and emergency response services around the world.
It happened in the early hours of Friday morning. The first reports of the blue screen came from Australia, but soon after, reports emerged from India, Europe, Africa, and elsewhere. The issue is linked to a faulty update released by computer security giant CrowdStrike. The company released a statement On Friday morning, they announced that the issue was caused by “a flaw detected in a single content update for Windows hosts.” If you’re using Mac or Linux, congratulations, you’re not affected.
CrowdStrike said it has already rolled out a patch, but many users’ computers are still experiencing technical issues. Microsoft has been posting regularly on Twitter. The company says the underlying cause “has been fixed,” but “residual impact continues to affect some Microsoft 365 applications and services.” The outage also impacted Windows 365 Cloud PCs, and the Redmond tech giant said users may need to restore their cloud PC from a backup.
The underlying cause has been fixed, but residual impact continues to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services. We are implementing additional mitigations to provide relief. More details can be found in the admin center under MO821132 and at https://t.co/uFnnN6T3jN
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 19, 2024
THE New York Times has compiled a list of all the entities affected by the Windows outage. These include airlines and airports around the world, from Seoul’s massive Incheon Airport to South African banks and the London Stock Exchange.
The outage caused massive disruptions to emergency services. The UK’s National Health Service confirmed Around 5 a.m. Eastern Time, the error impacted its appointment and patient records systems. In the United States, Alaska State Police confirmed 911 call centers have been experiencing problems across the state. Police have asked residents to call other phone numbers in case of emergency.
Those planning to travel on Friday saw their morning turn into a complete mess. New York’s MTA said Train and bus services have continued to operate, but riders currently have no information on train schedules or other service disruptions. Airlines and airports across the United States are still working to restore service. Data from FlightAware shows that more than 2,000 flights have been canceled in the United States. More than 2,200 flights to, from and within the United States are currently delayed.
CrowdStrike has published workarounds to the impacted systems on Reddit. While we don’t have official details on the cause of the outage, Cable quotes IT professional Lukasz Olejnik who gave a vague explanation that the update impacted CrowdStrike’s Falcon security tools, which are supposed to block attacks on the system.
