WELLINGTON, New Zealand (NEWSnet/AP) — Microsoft users, including banks and airlines, reported widespread software problems Friday, starting in Australia and then expanding worldwide.

The issue affected access to Microsoft 365 apps and services, and the technology company said it was gradually fixing the issue.

With it being overnight in much of the world when the issue happened, the website Down Detector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, was one of the first places to track recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the CrowdStrike outage and his team has been in touch with CrowdStrike and impacted entities, according to the White House.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report they are working with the software companies and various agencies to assess the impact of the outages.

 

What Happened

 

This was not a cyberattack, but a software issue.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company was working to fix problems created for Windows users of its tools by a recent update in a post on the social media platform X.

 

“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on NBC’s “Today Show” Friday. “We know what the issue is” and are working to remediate it.

He said the system was sent an update and the update had a bug in it causing a problem to Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

“It was only the Microsoft operating system” that was affected, though it didn’t happen on every Microsoft Windows system, he said.

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.”

Impact in the U.S.

 

Airport delays were widespread in the U.S., as the Federal Aviation Administration said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.

More than 300 flights were delayed and more than 100 flights were cancelled so far on Friday at the three major airports in the New York city area — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty in New Jersey, according to airline tracker Flight Aware.

Local news media are reporting long lines and system disruptions for passengers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, which is a Delta hub; and at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 

In the meantime, officials in some U.S. states, including Alaska, Virginia and Iowa, warned of 911 problems in their areas.

Alaska State Troopers warned that many 911 and non-emergency call centers across the state were not working correctly and shared alternate numbers for areas where 911 wasn’t working.

In Virginia, the City of Fairfax Police Department said on social media that it was experiencing technical difficulties with its phone systems, including 911. The department shared a non-emergency number for callers and said 911 could still be used, but calls would not go directly to the dispatch center.

The New Hampshire Emergency Services and Communications reported a temporary interruption early Friday. Around 1 am., New Hampshire 911 telecommunicators reported not being able to answer incoming 911 calls that they could see on their computer systems, the agency said in a news release. Calls that couldn’t be answered were returned to make sure people got the help they needed. By 3:30 a.m., calls and texts to 911 were being received on a backup system and the system has been fully restored, officials said.

In Iowa, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office warned on social media that phone lines were down. The department said that 911 calls might be routed to neighboring counties, but emergency calls would be promptly redirected to the sheriff’s office.

The outage prevented some TV stations in the U.S. from airing local news early Friday.

KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, aired national news network Scripps News instead of local news until about 5:35 a.m., the stations said on its website. IT teams and engineers worked through the night to resolve the glitch, the station said. Other local stations owned by Scripps and other companies reported similar problems. Scripps spokesman Michael Perry said in an email that as of 8 a.m. EDT, 90% of stations were able to air local news.

In Texas, Harris Health System, which runs public hospitals and clinics in the Houston area, said it had to suspend hospital visits “until further notice” on Friday due to the outage. Elective hospital procedures on Friday were being canceled and rescheduled. Clinic appointments were initially impacted, but they returned to normal later Friday.

“Some services may not be available due to the current CrowdStrike incident. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this disruption,” the health system said.

Maryland’s Judiciary has announced that all Maryland courts, offices and facilities will be closed to the public on Friday because of the outage, but will be available for emergency matters.

The Social Security Administration says its local offices will be closed Friday.

The Ohio Turnpike reported connections its EZ Pass electronic toll paying system were disrupted.

Impact in Canada

 

In Canada, the tech outage grounded some flights, disrupted hospitals and backed up border crossings on Friday.

Porter Airlines said it is cancelling its flights until noon Eastern time due to the outage. Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, said there is no major impact to its operations.

University Health Network, one of Canada’s largest hospital networks, said some of its systems had been impacted and some patients may experience delays.

Windsor Police reported long delays at both the Canada-United States border crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.

Impact in Australia

 

Given the timing of the incident, Australia was one of the first regions to see the impact.

News outlets in Australia reported that airlines, telecommunications providers and banks, and media broadcasters were disrupted as they lost access to computer systems. Some New Zealand banks said they were also offline.

Australian outages included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.

News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers.

Impact in Europe

 

Some Olympic delegations’ arrivals have been delayed because of the outage, as well as delivery of uniforms and accreditations, Paris Olympics organizers said in a statement.

Britain’s National Health Service says a global internet outage is causing problems at most doctors’ offices across England.

NHS England said in a statement said the glitch was hitting the appointment and patient record system used across the public health system. The state-funded NHS treats the vast majority of people in the U.K.

The NHS said the issue was affecting the majority of family doctors’ practices, but was not the 999 number used to call for ambulances in emergencies.

The U.K. television station Sky News began broadcasting again after the outage knocked it off the air during the morning.

The news anchor referred to printed notes after getting back on the air. Sky News was able to deliver news on its app and website during the broadcast outage.

Baltic Hub, a major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland, says it is battling problems resulting from the global system outage. The hub’s entry gates were temporarily closed on Friday morning and they suspended business.

The London Stock Exchange says it is experiencing disruptions from the technology outage that has created chaos around the globe. The LSE says its regulatory news service was not working Friday morning but the outage had not affected trading.

Impact in Africa

 

In South Africa, at least two major banks said they experienced service disruptions as customers complained they weren’t able to make payments using their bank cards at grocery stores and gas stations or use ATMs.

Both banks said they were able to restore services hours later.

Southern African regional airline Airlink also reported that its IT network and telephone lines were down because of what it called a global network outage, but said flights were not affected.

Impact in Asia

 

The automated border control system at Bangkok’s two airports have been affected by the tech outage, according to Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Thailand’s airport authorities.

The ground operation of several airlines at six major Thai airports has also been disrupted, he added. He encouraged passengers to come to the airports at least 4 hours before their departure time.

Airports in Singapore and Malaysia were also reporting similar issues, with long queues and passengers worried about missing their flights due to the long check-in process.

Singapore Post also reported technical disruptions to its services, as did Malaysia’s railway company KTM.

At Hong Kong’s airport, hundreds of travellers were queuing for manual check-in around the counters of budget airline HK Express, which said that its global e-commerce system was affected by Microsoft’s service outage.

Jetstar Japan said it has canceled 28 flights, most of them domestic, due to a software problem that stalled the airline’s boarding procedures at airports across the country including Narita.

This is a breaking news situation; NEWSnet will continue to follow the story.

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