CrowdStrike Outage Sparks Global Chaos with Airline, Bank, and Other Disruptions

A wave of IT outages swept across the globe Friday morning, causing thousands of flight cancellations and stalling internal and external systems across various industries, including hospitals, banks, stock exchanges, and other institutions, as some Microsoft-based computers ceased to work.

CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology firm that provides cloud workload protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services, said the outage was not due to a cyber attack but was caused by a software issue that has been identified. A fix has been deployed, but the recovery process varies: while some systems can be fixed and back up and running immediately, others could take hours or longer to be fully operational. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz explained to CNBC that for some customers, resolving the issue will take more than just rebooting their systems.

CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not affected. Kurtz emphasized the importance of communication through official channels and assured that CrowdStrike’s team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of their customers.

Government and Health Service Outages

Several states in the U.S. experienced disruptions in emergency communication services. In Phoenix, Arizona, the outage impacted the Phoenix Police Department’s computerized 911 dispatch center, although the 911 center remained operational. Alaska also faced issues with many 911 and non-emergency call centers not functioning correctly across the state, and New Hampshire saw some 911 services down overnight, which have since been restored.

New York City officials confirmed that emergency services were fully operational and unaffected by the outages. However, some Department of Justice (DOJ) computers were impacted, though law enforcement activities in the field were not affected. The DOJ Office of the Chief Information Officer described the issue as “significant” with no estimated time for restoration.

Online actors and hackers have already started exploiting the situation, attempting to infiltrate corporate and government IT networks by distributing malware disguised as bogus software fixes for the CrowdStrike problem.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alerted hospitals and law enforcement that multiple government agencies, including the secretary’s operations center, were affected. Hospitals around the country reported disruptions; Mass General Brigham in Boston canceled all elective surgeries, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio also experienced issues.

Transportation Delays and Cancellations

The D.C. Metro system faced internal system issues, and New York City’s mass transit system saw some customer information systems temporarily offline, though bus and train operations were not impacted. Globally, IT outages were reported in many countries, including at Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom.

Airlines began to slowly come back online, but delays and cancellations continued. In the U.S., American Airlines, United, and Delta requested a global ground stop from the FAA, resulting in the cancellation of at least 2,019 flights and delays of 5,373 flights by noon Friday. Delta and American Airlines were among the hardest hit, with Delta reporting 331 cancellations and 194 delays.

Passengers at airports expressed frustration and uncertainty. One passenger at SeaTac Airport in Washington reported a two-hour delay on the tarmac before deplaning, emphasizing the distress caused to those with urgent travel needs.

The FAA informed air traffic controllers to communicate the issues to airborne pilots, allowing in-air flights to continue to their destinations, but grounding others during the outage.

Corporate and Government Response

CrowdStrike’s stock price plummeted nearly 15% on Friday morning amid the global IT outage, hitting its lowest level since May. The White House stated that President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation, with his team engaged across the interagency to provide updates and assistance as needed.

American Airlines, United, and other affected companies are working with CrowdStrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, apologizing to customers for the inconvenience. The widespread impact of the outage underscores the critical role of cybersecurity and IT infrastructure in the modern world.