Breaking: massive Windows outage plunges banks, airlines and more into chaos around the world
Banks, airlines, TV networks and more are suffering a massive IT outage seemingly caused by problems with Windows software. The problem appears to be global, but is particularly impacting Australia right now.
Down Detector is currently reporting huge spikes for everyone from Microsoft to Amazon to Delta in the US, and for Ryanair and Sky in the UK.
In the US, three major airlines have grounded their planes and have reportedly requested the Federal Aviation Administration issue a “global ground stop” as of the time of writing.
Delta, United and American Airlines are not currently flying, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s status page.
This story is developing – we’ll bring you all the latest details as we get them below.
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Far more worrying than TV news channels being down is the fact that doctor’s surgeries in the UK are apparently unable to book appointments.
“MAJOR ISSUE – NO ACCESS TO CLINICAL SYSTEM – NATIONAL PROBLEM” is how Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley, England reported it.
MAJOR ISSUE – NO ACCESS TO CLINICAL SYSTEM – NATIONAL PROBLEMWe have reported this problem to our clinical system provider and understand this is a nationwide problem. PLEASE CONTACT NHS 111 FOR MEDICAL HELP WHILE THE ISSUE IS BEING RESOLVED. pic.twitter.com/qVSMB8CdouJuly 19, 2024
Sky News is still down in the UK
If, like me, you turned on your TV this morning to watch Sky News, you’ll have been greeted with this worrying message instead.
The channel hasn’t been able to broadcast this morning due to the Windows workstations issues, during a time when it’d otherwise been reporting on, say, a massive global IT outage.
The presenter Jacquie Beltrao posted the below on X (formerly Twitter).
We’re obviously not on air – we’re trying 🤞@SkyNews Breakfast pic.twitter.com/ZKvVacRgUYJuly 19, 2024
The outage couldn’t come at a worst time as schools in the UK and several other European countries will break today for the summer holidays, probably the busiest day of the year for airlines. Hundreds of thousands of passengers will be expected to travel over the next 24 hours to destinations across the globe.
The incident also happens a day after CHAPS, the global payment system that governs high value transactions, went down, putting tens of billions of dollars of business on hold.
In terms of transport, it’s not just planes that are suffering as a result of this Microsoft/Crowdstrike issue – in fact, far from it.
In the UK, Thameslink trains has put a statement on X stating: “⚠️ We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network. Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.
We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.”
⚠️ We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network. Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations,…July 19, 2024
Airlines appear to be one of the hardest hit areas in this outage.
As well as the problems in the US, that have seen Delta and United ground flights, there are delays and problems everywhere from Japan – where the Narita airport outside Tokyo says JetStar, Jeju Air, Qantas, HK Express and Spring Japan all have issues with their systems – to India, where Delhi airport says some services have been temporarily impacted.
The Microsoft / CrowdStrike outage has taken down most airports in India. I got my first hand-written boarding pass today 😅 pic.twitter.com/xsdnq1PgjrJuly 19, 2024
That previous post was some eight hours ago, but one hour ago it stated that “Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions. More details can be found within the admin center under MO821132 and http://status.cloud.microsoft“
Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions. More details can be found within the admin center under MO821132 and https://t.co/Htn4qQEnspJuly 19, 2024
Microsoft’s Twitter account (Sorry, X, whatever) is reporting that it’s still investigating issues but that it is working on fixing them.
We’re investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services. More info posted in the admin center under MO821132 and on https://t.co/W5Y8dAkjMkJuly 18, 2024
An email sent to TechRadar and other publishers by Tesserent cyber solutions company appears to confirm that the issue is with CrowdStrike.
It states: “CrowdStrike have deployed a new content update which resolves the previously erroneous update and subsequent host issues. As your devices receive this update you may need to reboot for the changes to take effect and for the blue screen (BSOD) issues to be resolved.
“If hosts are still crashing and unable to stay online to receive the Channel File Changes, the following steps can be used to workaround this issue:
“Workaround Steps:
“1. Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
“2. Navigate to the C:WindowsSystem32driversCrowdStrike directory
“3. Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.
“4. Boot the host normally.”
TechRadar has not yet been able to verify those steps independently.
It seems the problem may stem from an update by the cybersecurity company Crowdstrike, which is causing Windows PCs to display the Blue Screen of Death, and to then be unable to reboot.
Microsoft’s own Service Status page states that everything is running normally right now, which clearly isn’t the case.
“We’re all good! Everything is up and running.”
However, earlier in the day Microsoft did report that users might not have been able to access Microsoft 365, its cloud-based app service.
The situation in the UK is every bit as severe, with Microsoft – and Microsoft 365 – Visa, BT and more all seemingly impacted by the outage.
Here’s what Down Detector is currently showing in the US – with multiple companies impacted across all manner of industries including transport, banking, media and more.
Good morning. Here’s the latest on the global IT outage taking place right now.
