A global wave of IT outages disrupted numerous industries on Friday morning, causing thousands of flight cancellations and stalling systems in hospitals, banks, stock exchanges, and other institutions as some Microsoft-based computers failed.
CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity firm specializing in cloud workload protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response, confirmed that the outage was not a cyberattack but a software issue. The problem has been identified and a fix has been deployed.
Recovery Time Will Vary
Some systems can be immediately restored, but others may take “hours, could be a bit longer” to fully recover, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told CNBC in an interview. For some customers, more than just a system reboot is required to address the issue.
“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,” Kurtz stated earlier on Friday.
CEO Apologizes for Outage
In a letter to customers and partners, Kurtz apologized for the outage, attributing it to “a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts.”
“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives. Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates,” Kurtz said. “As this incident is resolved, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and the steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again,” Kurtz added.
Emergency Services Disrupted in Several States
According to a Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency memo obtained by ABC News, several states experienced disruptions in emergency communication services.
Portland’s mayor signed an Emergency Declaration affecting city servers and employee computers, including impacts on VPN connections and single sign-on cloud services. In Phoenix, Arizona, the outage impacted the Phoenix Police Department’s 911 dispatch center, although the center remained operational.
Connectivity Issues Across States
Alaska experienced issues with 911 and non-emergency call centers across the state, while 911 services in New Hampshire were down overnight but have since been restored. New York City officials confirmed that emergency services were fully operational and unaffected by the outages.
The Superior Court of Los Angeles County faced significant connectivity issues, disrupting remote hearings scheduled for Friday. Some Department of Justice computers were also affected, but law enforcement activities in the field were not impacted, according to a source.
Law Enforcement Warned of Malware Threats
Law enforcement was alerted to attempts by online actors and hackers to infiltrate corporate and government IT networks through malware disguised as software fixes for the CrowdStrike problem. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that multiple government agencies, including the secretary’s operations center, were affected.
Hospitals around the country experienced disruptions, with Mass General Brigham in Boston canceling all elective surgeries and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale, Ohio, reporting some issues. The Catholic Health system also faced delays but remained operational.
Global Outages Impact Major Institutions
The D.C. Metro system reported internal system outages, with IT teams working to resolve the issue. New York City’s mass transit system, the largest in the U.S., said bus and train operations were unaffected, though some customer information systems were temporarily offline.
Global IT outages were reported in several countries, 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 stated on social media Friday morning.
Thousands of Flight Cancelations
Airlines are gradually resuming operations, but delays and cancellations are expected to persist through the morning and early afternoon.
Thousands of flights were canceled in the U.S. after American Airlines, United, and Delta requested a global ground stop from the FAA, with FlightAware reporting 2,537 cancellations and 8,376 delays as of 4 p.m. ET Friday.
Delta and American Airlines Lead in Cancellations
Delta and American Airlines had the highest cancellation and delay rates.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International experiencing the most disruptions. Passengers reported long delays and a lack of information.
FAA Alerts Pilots to Communication Issues
The FAA instructed air traffic controllers to inform pilots of the ongoing communication issues. Flights already airborne continued to their destinations, but no American, United, or Delta flights took off during the outage.
“We’re aware of a technical issue with CrowdStrike that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with CrowdStrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “A third-party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United,” United Airlines said. “While we work to restore those systems, we are holding all aircraft at their departure airports. Flights already airborne are continuing to their destinations.”
White House Offers Support and Monitors Situation
President Joe Biden was briefed on the CrowdStrike outage, and his team is in touch with the company and affected organizations.
“The White House is in regular contact with CrowdStrike’s executive leadership and tracking progress on remediating affected systems. We have offered US government support. Our understanding is that this is not a cyber attack, but rather a faulty technical update. The White House has been convening agencies to assess impacts to the US government’s operations and entities around the country,” a senior Biden administration official told ABC News.
Stock Price Slashed
CrowdStrike’s stock price dropped nearly 15% on Friday morning amid the global IT outage.
It reached its lowest level since May.
