AN INTERNET outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Airlines in the United States, Europe, Australia and India were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected by what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
The chief executive of the cybersecurity company at the heart of a worldwide Microsoft outage says it is working to fix a defect sent out in a Windows update.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike chief executive officer George Kurtz said on the social platform X. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Kurtz said there was a defect in a “single content update for Windows hosts.” Mac and Linux hosts were not affected.
The company referred customers to its support portal for updates.
In Norway, two pharmacy chains said they are having problems providing customers with their prescription medicine and are facing substantial connection delays due to the global network problems.
In France, Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations’ arrivals, as well as the delivery of some uniforms and accreditations, have been delayed because of the outage.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) said the global internet outage hit the appointment and patient record system used across the health service. The state-funded NHS treats the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom.
Airlines across the world, from Thailand to Australia, India, the United States and several European countries, reported disruptions to check-in systems and other issues that caused flights to be grounded or delayed.
With athletes and spectators from around the world heading to France for the Paris Olympics, the Paris airport authority says its computer systems ″are not impacted″ by the global outage, but several airlines and airports elsewhere are.
Other updates
Poland: Baltic Hub, a major container hub in Gdansk, suspended operations and closed entry gates due to the outage.
United Kingdom: Sky News experienced a broadcast interruption but managed to deliver news online and through its app. The channel later resumed broadcasting.
Italy: Milan’s stock exchange (Borsa Italiana) reported issues with updating the FTSE MIB index, which were later resolved.
Israel: The country’s Cyber Directorate, post offices, and hospitals were affected by the outage. Israeli authorities attributed the problem to the cybersecurity platform CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike acknowledged reports of crashes related to its Falcon sensor on Microsoft ports. They advised customers to monitor their support portal for updates. / AP