Global ‘blackout’ of Windows systems

Today, banks, airports, TV stations, hospitals, and numerous other services and companies worldwide reported major disruptions due to issues with Microsoft systems. These issues disrupted their operations, affected millions of people, and caused nearly 1,400 flight cancellations.

This has caused widespread disruption at airports in multiple countries, with many employees unable to access their computers and numerous businesses only accepting cash. In the UK, Sky News temporarily ceased operations, and doctors were unable to access patient records.

The incident is not related to a security breach or cyber attack

Microsoft has confirmed that the issue has been resolved. It was caused by a defect in the CrowdStrike application’s ‘content update’ feature, which protects Windows from malware. Experts have indicated that it could take days to fully resolve the disruption. This means that, even though the problem has been addressed, users and companies cannot simply restart their systems to apply the update without the defect.

In Greece, the Heraklion airport was affected, with some flights unable to depart because they are managed by the system experiencing issues. According to the Heraklion airport director, flight arrangements are being handled manually, but with many incoming flights, this is causing significant pressure on the system, as reported by Cretalive.

Complete chaos at @Ryanair bag drop at @STN_Airport Queues are not respected, instructions are confusing, no information available. pic.twitter.com/0Zks7KPLO9

— Rafa de Miguel (@demiguelr) July 19, 2024