A wave of IT outages hit the world on Friday morning, causing some Microsoft-based computers to stop functioning, leading to the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights and halting internal and external systems across a range of industries, including hospitals, banks, stock exchanges and other institutions.
CrowdStrike, a US cybersecurity technology company that provides cloud workload protection, threat intelligence and cyber-attack response services, said the outage was not the result of a cyberattack, but rather a software issue that had been identified and patched.
While some systems can be repaired and put back into operation quickly, others “could take hours or even longer” to fully return to service, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in an on-air interview with CNBC. Some customers will need more than a system reboot to complete the repairs.
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers affected by the flaw found in the single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not affected,” Kurtz said Friday.
“We have directed customers to our support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide full and ongoing updates on our website. We also encourage organizations to get in touch with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is committed to ensuring security and stability for CrowdStrike customers,” Kurtz said.
Alaska State Troopers told ABC News that 911 service has been suspended across the state.
Some Department of Justice computers were affected by the outage, but there are no indications that it has impacted law enforcement operations in the field, a source told ABC News. A notice sent out by the Justice Department’s Chief Information Officer’s Office said the issue was “significant” and that there was no expected recovery time.
DOJ warned users that they were among those at affected companies and government agencies around the world, and that the DOJ’s Office of the Chief Information Officer was actively working with component CIOs and technical teams to troubleshoot possible workarounds.
Non-government officials working on the issue told ABC News that law enforcement agencies have already reported online actors and hackers attempting to infiltrate corporate and government IT networks by distributing emails containing malware disguised as fake software fixes for the CrowdStrike issues.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also issued alerts to hospitals and law enforcement, reporting that “multiple government agencies” are affected, including the Secretary’s Operations Center, though the issues are beginning to resolve.
Several hospitals across the country have also been affected by IT outages. Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, canceled all elective surgeries on Friday, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Avondale, Ohio, also reported some outages.
The DC Metro system was also affected, telling ABC News that some of its internal systems were down and that its IT teams were working to resolve the issue.
New York City’s public transport system, the largest in the United States, said bus and train services were not affected by the global outage, although some MTA customer information systems were temporarily offline.
Global IT outages have been reported in many countries around the world, including at Berlin Airport in Germany, the London Stock Exchange, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Gatwick Airport in the UK.
In a statement posted on social media on Friday morning, Microsoft said it was “investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
Airlines are now gradually starting to resume operations, but it is expected that it will take some time before they are fully restored and operational. Expect delays and cancellations throughout the morning and early afternoon.
More than 1,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. after American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines asked the FAA to ground all flights, according to an FAA alert Friday morning.
Delta and American Airlines have the highest number of cancellations and delays so far, with Delta recording 331 cancellations and 194 delays, though Delta’s latest update shows it has resumed departing some flights.
“Nobody here knows anything. The gate agent said we know as much as they do,” an airline passenger whose flight was delayed two hours on the tarmac from Washington’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and passengers were kicked off the plane, told ABC News. “I feel so bad for the employees and those who have to care for sick loved ones or attend funerals. Thankfully, we’re not those people.”
The FAA instructed air traffic controllers to inform pilots in the air that airlines were currently experiencing communications problems, while flights already in the air were allowed to continue flying, although American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta flights had not taken off during the outage.
“We are aware of the Crowdstrike technical issue affecting multiple airlines. American Airlines is working with Crowdstrike to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologizes for any inconvenience caused to customers,” American Airlines said in a statement obtained by ABC News.
“A third-party software issue is affecting computer systems around the world, including at United,” United said in a statement Friday morning. “All aircraft are remaining at their origin airports while we work to restore systems. Flights already in the air are continuing to their destinations.”
The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the CrowdStrike outage and that his team was in contact with the company and affected organizations.
“His team is working across agencies to provide sector-by-sector updates throughout the day and stands by to provide assistance as needed,” the White House said.
CrowdStrike shares plummeted at the start of trading on Friday amid a global IT outage affecting customers around the world. Shares were down nearly 15% on Friday morning, dropping to their lowest level since May.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
–ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Josh Margolin, Joe Simonetti, Zunaira Zaki and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
