Microsoft IT outage live: Travellers still stranded as experts warn problem is likely to happen again

It could take weeks for global tech infrastructure to fully recover, experts warn

Huge airport queues as global IT outage causes chaos at Heathrow

CrowdStrike said a significant number of the over 8.5 million devices affected from Friday’s botched software update are back online.

The outage led to over 1,500 cancelled flights in the US and dozens more across the UK for the third day in a row, leaving passengers stranded across airports.

Hospitals, GPs, pharmacies, banks, supermarkets and millions of businesses have also been impacted.

CrowdStrike said the outage was caused by a defect in an update to its “Falcon” cybersecurity defence software for Windows hosts.

Over the weekend, Microsoft released a recovery tool to help repair Windows machines hit by the glitch that affected over 8.5 million devices.

However, experts warned that it could take weeks for global tech infrastructure to fully recover.

“Even if we could guarantee it could be fully fixed on Monday GPs would still need time to catch up from lost work over the weekend, and NHSE should make clear to patients that normal service cannot be resumed immediately,” David Wrigley, deputy chair of GPC England at the BMA, said.

Key Points

• Aviation chaos continues with dozens more cancellations on UK-Europe flights
• Microsoft releases recovery tool to help repair Windows machines hit by CrowdStrike issue
• CrowdStrike gives update on ‘automatic fix’, reveals Australian home affairs minister
• As many as 8.5 million Windows devices affected by IT glitch
• Australia warns of malicious websites after cyber outage
• National Lottery app and website goes down across UK amid global IT outage

[22 July 2024 04:31 · Vishwam Sankaran]

Over 1,500 US flights cancelled for third straight day

More than 1,500 flights were cancelled for the third straight day in the US yesterday amid a global tech outage due to CrowdStrike’s botched software update.

Thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports across the US as nearly 1,600 flights travelling within or out of the US were cancelled, and about 8,500 delayed on Sunday, data from flight tracking website FlightAware.com suggests.

Delta Air Lines chief Ed Bastian said the company is still working to recover its system and restore operations.

“Canceling a flight is always a last resort, and something we don’t take lightly,” Mr Bastian said.

[22 July 2024 04:00 · Tara Cobham]

CEO of Crowdstrike confirms issue ‘not a security or cyber incident’

The CEO of Crowdstrike, the company at the centre of the global IT outage, confirmed that the issue affecting millions of Windows devices “was not a security or cyber incident”.

Posting on the social media platform X on Friday afternoon, George Kurtz said: “Our customers remain fully protected.”

[22 July 2024 03:00 · Tara Cobham]

GPs need time to recover from global IT outage, warns BMA

Normal GP service “cannot be resumed immediately” after Friday’s global IT outage caused a “considerable backlog”, ​the British Medical Association has warned.

The trade union for doctors said GPs would “need time to catch up from lost work over the weekend”, adding that NHS England should “make clear to patients” this was the case.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said its GP committee would continue to talk to NHS England and patient record system supplier EMIS to secure a “better system of IT backup” to ensure the “disaster” was not repeated.

Sam Hall reports:

[22 July 2024 02:00 · Tara Cobham]

Recap: Watch as Sky News malfunctions amid Microsoft outage affecting millions

[22 July 2024 01:00 · Tara Cobham]

What would really happen if we were hit by a complete tech wipeout?

Power outages and internet disruptions are on the minds of many at the moment as a worldwide Windows glitch has taken much of the world’s infrastructure offline. Flights are grounded and TV channels including Sky News have been taken off air. Everything from banks and payment companies to airlines and train companies said they would see delays and technical issues caused by a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

It is something the former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, warned of when he made the case for us to all think about how prepared we are for prolonged disruption during a cyberattack. While, George Kurtz, the founder and chief executive of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, has made it clear there was no possibility that this power outage was a cyber-attack it has certainly focussed our minds.

It is also a reminder of the smash Netflix hit Leave the World Behind which pondered the stark, post-apocalyptic depiction of the immediate aftermath of an attack. In the movie, the first time anyone notices that something is wrong is when they discover their mobile phone coverage is out, and their wifi disappears, but it takes a push notification on their TV screens for the characters to learn that an attack has been launched.

Chris Stokel-Walker reports:

[22 July 2024 00:00 · Tara Cobham]

The IT outage proves we can’t simply turn the internet off and on again

It’s our powerlessness that is so shocking. This morning, millions of people were left staring at a blue computer screen bearing a glum emoji and the message: “Your device ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting some error info, and then we’ll restart for you.”

This “blue screen of death” was not selective. Supermarkets, banks, airlines, hospitals – these and many more businesses, organisations and individuals across the globe, rich and poor, were caught up in the chaos. For hours, the world effectively more or less halted as Microsoft customers using Windows 10 suffered an IT outage.

Apparently it was caused by a glitch in an update issued by CrowdStrike – ironically, a cybersecurity firm. It took a while, but they reported that if customers deleted the update and restarted their computer, normality could quickly be restored.

Chris Blackhurst writes:

[21 July 2024 23:00 · Tara Cobham]

Watch: Huge airport queues seen on Saturday as global IT outage causes chaos at Heathrow

[21 July 2024 22:00 · Tara Cobham]

BMA warns normal GP service ‘cannot be resumed immediately'

The British Medical Association has warned that normal GP service “cannot be resumed immediately” after the global IT outage caused a “considerable backlog”.

Dr David Wrigley, deputy chairman of GPC England, the representative body for GPs at the BMA, said: “Friday was one the toughest single days in recent times for GPs across England. Without a clinical IT system many were forced to return to pen and paper to be able to serve their patients.

“While GPs and their teams worked hard to look after as many as they could, without access to the information they needed much of the work has had to be shifted into the coming week.

“GPs have been pulling out all the stops this weekend to deal with the effects of Friday’s catastrophic loss of service and, as their IT systems come back online, we thank them and their staff for their hard work under exceptionally trying circumstances.

“We also thank patients for bearing with general practice in this unprecedented situation.

“The temporary loss of the EMIS patient record system has meant a considerable backlog.

“Even if we could guarantee it could be fully fixed on Monday, GPs would still need time to catch up from lost work over the weekend, and NHSE (National Health Service England) should make clear to patients that normal service cannot be resumed immediately.

“The BMA’s GP committee will continue our dialogue with both EMIS and NHSE, both to make sure that the coming week can be used to recover as quickly as possible and to urgently work on securing a better system of IT backup so that this disaster is not repeated in future.”

[21 July 2024 21:00 · Tara Cobham]

Who is CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz?

On Friday, tech outages swept the world from hospitals and airlines, to banks and courts. Flights were grounded, payments delayed and hospitals across the world reported problems.

A worldwide glitch, which affected major companies including Microsoft, took much of the world’s infrastructure offline. The problems stemmed from a global software update sent out by cybersecurity specialists, CrowdStrike.

Crowdstrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, later issued a statement reassuring customers that the outage was not “a security incident or cyber attack.”

Mike Bedigan reports:

[21 July 2024 20:00 · Tara Cobham]

When will the Microsoft issue be fixed?

Experts have warned it could take weeks for systems to fully recover from a global outage which has seen disruption including flight delays and cancellations.

A flawed update rolled out by CrowdStrike, one of the world’s largest cybersecurity providers, knocked many offline around the world on Friday, causing flight and train cancellations and crippling some healthcare systems.

Here is a closer look at what we know about the incident: