NEW YORK. A widespread software update malfunction wreaked technological havoc around the globe on Friday, leading to grounded flights, disruptions at financial institutions and news outlets, and significant issues for hospitals, small businesses, and government offices.
The outage, traced to a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, predominantly impacted customers using Microsoft Windows, the world’s leading operating system for personal computers. The issue was not related to hacking or cyberattacks, CrowdStrike confirmed. The company has since apologized and is working on a fix.
The technical glitch caused a cascade of disruptions. Thousands of flights were canceled, and tens of thousands more were delayed, affecting airports across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The summer travel season saw long queues and significant disruptions as airlines struggled with check-in and booking systems. Although the situation began to improve by late afternoon Eastern Time, residual cancellations and delays persisted due to the aftereffects.
Local TV stations in the U.S. faced broadcasting interruptions, and various state and local government agencies encountered problems with courts, motor vehicle departments, unemployment agencies, and emergency call centers. While many systems were recovering as the day progressed, the initial impact was significant.
Hospitals experienced serious disruptions to their appointment systems, leading to postponed patient visits and canceled surgeries. Alison Baulos reported that her 73-year-old father’s heart surgery in Paducah, Kentucky, was canceled due to the outage. “It does really make you just realize how much we rely on technology and how scary it is,” Baulos said. A phone message left with Baptist Hospital went unanswered.
Financial institutions also faced issues. American Express had temporary difficulties processing transactions, and TD Bank addressed online complaints about account access. Minor inconveniences were felt elsewhere, such as trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing lengthy lines at some locations.
In Times Square, New York City, several giant electronic billboards displayed blue “recovery” screens shortly before 12:30 a.m., and some remained dark later in the day.
James Bore, a cyber expert, warned of the risks inherent in widespread software reliance. “All of these systems are running the same software,” Bore noted. “When things inevitably go wrong — and they will — they go wrong at a huge scale.”
Germany’s IT security chief, Claudia Plattner, indicated that a quick resolution was unlikely. “We can’t expect a very quick solution,” she said. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz acknowledged the severity of the issue and apologized, stating, “We are deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this.”
CrowdStrike’s update involved “the Falcon sensor,” a product designed to block online attacks. The company’s 29,000 customers face a laborious manual fix, which may take several days or longer. Forrester analyst Allie Mellen described the situation as a major challenge given the scale of CrowdStrike’s operations.
Microsoft’s Ann Johnson confirmed that customers are receiving necessary support but could not estimate how long the recovery would take. In Alaska, the state court system resumed operations after a 12-hour repair, and Iowa’s critical technology systems were back online by mid-afternoon.
Despite the widespread impact, Capital Economics projected minimal effect on the global economy. However, cybersecurity experts cautioned against potential exploitation by bad actors, with Gartner analyst Eric Grenier warning, “Attackers will prey on organizations as a result of this.”
CrowdStrike reassured customers that its Falcon systems and security scanning were unaffected. As global systems begin to recover, the outage remains a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in our interconnected digital infrastructure.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
