CROWDSTRIKE: Software firm at centre of global outage confirms it was not a cyberattack but due to a content update

A global technology outage has grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing it.

CrowdStrike attributed the massive global outage to “a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”, adding that Mac and Linux operating systems were not impacted.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” it said in a statement.

It said it was “actively working with customers” to fix the issue and referred them to the company’s support portal and website for updates.

The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta.

Major infrastructure including airlines, train companies, stock exchanges, banks and media outlets have been disrupted after their computer systems were knocked offline or leaving devices showing the so-called “Blue Screen of Death”.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability”.

The company did not respond to a request for comment. It did not explain the cause of the outage further.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on social media platform X the company “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said.

“Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

The outages rippled far and wide.

Around the world, banks, supermarkets and other major institutions reported computer issues disrupting services, while many businesses have been left unable to take digital payments.

The travel industry was among the hardest hit with airports around the world, including Tokyo, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Amsterdam, Berlin and several Spanish airports reporting problems with their systems and delays.

Airlines, including Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned of problems with their booking systems and other disruptions.

In the United States, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Allegiant Air grounded flights citing communication problems.

Airline operations in India were disrupted, affecting thousands, with several airlines saying they were following manual check-in and boarding processes and warned of delays.

In Britain, booking systems used by doctors were offline, multiple reports from medical officials on X said, train operators TransPennine Express and Govia Thameslink Railway were affected, and Sky News, one of the country’s major news broadcasters was off air for a number of hours, apologising for being unable to transmit live.

Banks and other financial institutions from Australia to India and South Africa warned clients about disruptions to their services, while LSEG Group reported an outage of its data and news platform Workspace.

Traders in oil, gas, power, stocks, currencies and bonds from London to Singapore struggled to operate.

Amazon’s AWS cloud service provider said in a statement that it was “investigating reports of connectivity issues to Windows EC2 instances and Workspaces within AWS”.

with Reuters and PA