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Tom Sanders and Sam CorbishleyPublished Jul 19, 2024, 8:12am|Updated Jul 20, 2024, 10:43am
The catastrophic IT outage that knocked hundreds of millions of computers offline, causing travel chaos and crippling healthcare systems, could take weeks to fix, experts have warned.
Airports, banks, supermarkets and other major institutions saw services disrupted yesterday due to a flawed update rolled out by CrowdStrike.
The tech firm’s chief executive George Kurtz said a fix had been deployed for a bug in an update which affected Microsoft Windows PCs, causing many to crash, some displaying the so-called ‘blue screen of death’.
IT infrastructure at businesses and institutions around the world collapsed, taking many businesses and their online services offline.
NHS England said ‘the majority of GP practices’ experienced disruption and ambulance services reported increases in 999 and NHS 111 calls from patients who were unable to contact other NHS providers.
The National Pharmacy Association said pharmacies had seen issues ‘including the accessing of prescriptions from GPs and medicine deliveries’.
Airlines reported being unable to process passengers and resorted to manually checking in customers at airports around the world with 167 flights departing from the UK and 171 incoming cancelled on Friday.
Aviation analytics company Cirium said 5,078 flights – or 4.6% of those scheduled – were cancelled globally.
Govia Thameslink Railway warned passengers to expect disruption because of ‘widespread IT issues’ while Sky News was forced off air briefly on Friday morning, while customers faced issues with attempting to pay using cards.
Mr Kurtz said he is ‘deeply sorry’ for the situation and said CrowdStrike was ‘actively working’ with those impacted.
Saying the issue had been ‘identified’ and that a ‘fix has been deployed’, he said his team was ‘fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers’.
In a letter to customers and partners, Mr Kurtz said: ‘We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this.
‘I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives.’
Industry expert Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned it could take ‘weeks’ for all computers and systems to be fully restored, while Mr Kurtz said it would take ‘some time’.
He told NBC: ‘Some of the systems that aren’t recovering, we’re working with them, so it could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover, but it is our mission to make sure that every customer is fully recovered and we’re not going to relent until we get every customer back to where they were and we’ll continue to protect them and keep the bad guys out of their systems.’
Cybersecurity experts said it is good news that the issue has only impacted Windows users and a fix having been deployed should mean larger IT departments can quickly begin restoring services, while Microsoft deputy chief information security officer Ann Johnson said they could not predict how long it would take to get all customers back online.
Signs of disruption are likely to remain into the weekend with the National Pharmacy Association warning pharmacy services are likely to see delays as outlets deal with a backlog of medicine deliveries while airports across the UK stressed that passengers should check with airlines for any delays or cancellations before travelling over the weekend.
This live blog has now ended
Sam Corbishley
This live blog has now ended – the latest news on the outage can be found here.
CEO warns people not to fall for bad actors taking advantage of outage
Sarah Hooper
CEO of Crowstrike, the company behind the massive IT outages across the world, has issued a statement about today’s events.
George Kurtz said: ‘We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives.
‘Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates.
‘Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike.
‘As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again.’
Times Square goes dark during Microsoft outage
Sarah Hooper
Times Square has also been affected by the power outage – the usually bright advertisem*nt screens are turned off as they attempt to fix the tech issue.
Photos of queues in Lisbon’s Airport
Sarah Hooper
Problem is no ‘Terminator’ scenario but instead a ‘costly IT error’, expert says
Sarah Hooper
Dr Paul Parry, Associate Head, School of Computing and Digital Technologies at Sheffield Hallam University, stressed that huge efforts will be being made to reduce disruption across the world.
He told Metro: ‘First investigations indicate, thankfully, that this is not a malicious attack, but the result of an error in a software patch by an anti-virus supplier. We all update our computers and phones on a regular basis, and much of this now happens behind the scenes, so users don’t have do anything, but in this case, the update was faulty and has caused countless computers to fail.
‘We’ve seen reports of airlines around the world being unable to process departures, flights grounded, and airports in the UK and across Europe and Asia being affected. It’s not only airlines either – banks in Germany, supermarkets in the UK, the 911 emergency service in the US state of the Alaska, are all affected. And the list appears to be growing.
‘The good news is that the virus company has issued a solution, but the vast number of computers affected – which could be millions – make this is extremely large job. You can imagine armies of IT personnel frantically engaged in applying the fix, but it will take time.
‘There’s no need to be too concerned though, unless you’re directly affected by it; it’s not a “Terminator” scenario where Skynet is trying to take over the world’s machines.
‘This is just another unfortunate, and probably very costly IT error that escaped when it shouldn’t have.’
Cybersecurity experts say outages could take ‘weeks’ to fix- and urge public to ‘remain calm’
Tom Sanders
Industry expert Adam Smith of the BCS(the Chartered Institute for IT) has warned that it could take ‘weeks’ for all computers and systems to be fully restored.
Mr Smith told reporters: ‘The fix will have to be applied to many computers around the world. So if computers are getting blue screens and endless loops, it could be more difficult and take days and weeks.
‘Microsoft Windows isn’t the main OS for mission-critical systems, that’s Linux – and so this could have been much worse.’
Meanwhile, fellow BCS cyber security expert Dan Card has urged people to ‘remain calm’ while businesses respond to the global IT outage.
‘It looks like a bug to a regular security update, rather than any form of ‘mega cyber attack’, but this is still causing worldwide challenges and is likely to require a large number of people to take manual remedial steps,’ he said.
‘Companies should make sure their IT teams are well supported as it could be a difficult and highly stressful weekend for them as they help customers.
‘People often forget the people that are running around fixing things.’
Visa unaffected by today’s chaos
Tom Sanders
Visa, the card services company, says it has been unaffected by today’s disruption.
A spokesperson said: ‘There is no indication of any impact on Visa’s ability to process payments from this issue.
‘Our systems are operating normally.
‘We are aware of reports of people being unable to make payments and are working with our financial institution clients to understand any impact on their services to cardholders and merchants.’
Flights cancelled at Charles De Gaulle airport
Tom Sanders
Charles De Gaulle airport is also heavily affected by today’s outage- although the scale of things seems less chaotic than in the UK.
With athletes and spectators arriving from around the world for the Paris Olympics, French airport authorities said its computer systems were not affected by the outage, but that disruptions to airline operations was causing delays at two major Paris airports.
Metro freelancer Joel Harley has been stuck at the Parisian airport all day, and had this to say about the situation:
‘I didn’t find out until I got here, the flight was showing as on time when I left the hotel at about 12:20. Then by the time I got there it had changed to delayed by 2 hours.
‘Then they told me as I’d miss my connection they’d have to try and rebook me. The next available one was 12:20 tomorrow – it was meant to be 15.55pm today.
‘Lots of people in the line being told the same thing, but everyone I saw took it well. And the airport isn’t as busy as you’d expect, but there’s a lot of hustling and bustling about by the gates, people anxiously watching the screens for updates etc.’
Microsoft: Restart your computer 15 times to solve problem
Tom Sanders
Microsoft has offered an unusual solution to users suffering technical problems- reboot your machine 15 times.
Posting on its website earlier today, the company said it has received reports of some machines successfully recovering after repeated restarts.
It also suggested customers restore from a backup from before 7pm UTC yesterday, when it’s estimated the problems started.
Crowdstrike value plummets by £12.5bn as CEO loses over $100,000,000 overnight
Tom Sanders
Crowdstrike shares plummeted by 15% as the New York stock exchange opened today, wiping nearly £12.5bn off the company’s market value.
Tech expert Dan Ives, from Wedbush Securities, told the BBC: ‘Crowdstrike has a strong brand and global marketing presence which will need to go into next gear over the coming weeks and months to curtail some damage from this.’
Meanwhile, the company’s co-founder and CEO has seen his personal net worth plummet by $105,000,000 overnight, according to Forbes, leaving him with a paltry personal wealth of ‘only’ £3.4bn
US tourists pay thousands for new flights
Sam Corbishley
US tourists have paid thousands of pounds for new flights home from Edinburgh after IT outages left them unable to contact airlines when their original plans were cancelled.
Texas resident Stephanie Thompson is among those affected after visiting the UK for Wimbledon and The Open Championship in Troon, with her 9.25am flight to Heathrow on Wednesday, and onward flight to Dallas, cancelled.
She said she was so concerned about getting home she decided to pay 6,800 US dollars (£5,300) for her family to fly home later in the evening.
She said: ‘I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted something to get us home.’
Earlier, a 16-year-old Edinburgh Airport passenger was left in ‘floods of tears’ fearing she would miss her connecting flight to visit her father in the US.
Alison Mattu said her teenage daughter Priya raced through the airport to make her first flight to Dublin.
She made the connection, but her mother fears she could still miss her transatlantic flight to Washington.
She said: ‘Happily, she made her first flight. Who knows about the other people travelling with young babies, elderly and non-English speakers.’
However, Ms Mattu said the airport staff were ‘amazing’ at keeping people in the queues updated.
Ryanair passengers with flights cancelled told to leave airports because ‘IT outage means we can’t help’
Sam Corbishley
Ryanair urged passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave the airport.
The airline said in a statement: ‘Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to cancel a small number of flights today due to this global third-party IT outage.
‘Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to see their options.
‘A full list of cancellations is available at http://ryanair.com. If your flight has been cancelled, we kindly request that you leave the airport as the IT outage means we cannot currently assist passengers at the airport.
‘We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this global third-party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed.’
Shops report not being able to take card payments amid IT outage
Sam Corbishley
Several shops have reported not being able to take card payments amid a worldwide IT outage.
Customers across the country have faced issues with trying to pay using their cards, with some shops putting up ‘cash only’ signs on their doors.
A spokesman for the supermarket Morrisons said there were some ‘isolated incidents’ with payment systems this morning, which have now been resolved and systems are working normally.
Waitrose said it was taking contactless payments largely as normal, as well as still processing payments by chip and pin and cash.
A spokesman for the supermarket said it had been able to take card payments throughout the day, but had been ‘briefly limited on contactless payments’.
A shoe shop in Cambridge had taped a handwritten sign to its door, which read: ‘Due to global IT issue, cash only. Sorry for any inconvenience.’
How the Microsoft outage reminds us of the Y2K bug
Sam Corbishley
The devastating IT glitch which hascaused chaos across the worldis being compared to the Y2K bug that was expected to wreak havoc with computer systems at the turn of the millennium.
Troy Hunt, a prominent security consultant, predicted that today’s ‘will be thelargest IT outage in history’ in asocial mediapost early on Friday.
He added: ‘This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.’
How the Microsoft outage reminds us of the Y2K bug
Football clubs apologise after fans left unable to buy tickets
Tom Sanders
Several Premier League clubs have apologised after today’s IT problems have left fans unable to buy tickets.
Brentford FC issued a statement on Twitter which read: Due to an issue with third-party software affecting businesses globally, Brentford FC’s Ticketmaster platform is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
‘Supporters looking to purchase tickets are advised not to join the online queue.
‘In the meantime, for any ticket-related questions, please call the ticket office on 0333 005 8521.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and are working to restore our systems as quickly as possible.’
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) July 19, 2024Due to an issue with third-party software affecting businesses globally, Brentford FC’s Ticketmaster platform is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
Supporters looking to purchase tickets are advised not to join the online queue.
In the meantime, for any⦠pic.twitter.com/8FaebwZfdf
Manchester United also confirmed their ticketing website had been hit in the chaos earlier this morning, writing:
‘Unfortunately, due to a globalMicrosoftServers outage which is affecting many systems, including ours, this morning’s ticket release will be postponed until midday.
‘The website will also remain unavailable until the issue is resolved. Further updates will be provided here, including any further potential delays.’
— Manchester United Matchday (@ManUtdMatchday) July 19, 2024ð¨UPDATE: today’s ticket release has been postponed until 10am on Monday 22nd July.
This is due to ongoing technical issues caused by a global Microsoft Servers outage.
We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Crystal Palace were also hit by outages, and said they had delayed ticket sales until 10am on Monday. Burnley and Luton Town also posted updates informing fans they had been affected too:
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) July 19, 2024Unfortunately a third party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at Burnley FC where our Ticketmaster platform has been affected.
Supporters wishing to access the ticket portal to purchase tickets are advised not to join the queue for now. pic.twitter.com/szVdpiALgW
Could IT outages stop you getting paid?
Tom Sanders
Amongst the myriad of systems affected by today’s outages is payroll software, which could cause issues in businesses abilities to pay their employees.
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Association, told Metro: ‘We’ve been contacted by numerous clients already today who have been unable to access their payroll software due to the Microsoft outage and others who have been urged to log out with immediate effect.
‘Depending on the length of this outage, it could have very serious implications for businesses across the nation, particularly those who process payroll on a weekly basis. Furthermore, we could see a backlog with regard to processing payrolls for the coming month end which may delay employees from receiving their monthly wage.
‘At best, it will require those managing payroll to work overtime to rectify the issue, but the good news is that it doesn’t seem to be a cyber attack. This means that the sensitive employee details held within payroll should be safe, although we’re seeing many companies understandably take action to minimise such a threat as a precaution.’
Crowdstrike ‘very sorry’ – but fix will ‘take some time’
Tom Sanders
The CEO of cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which is behind today’s disruption, has apologised for causing a global meltdown during an interview with US broadcaster NBC News.
‘We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies,’ CEO George Kurtz says.
When asked how how a single update can cause such global chaos, Kurtz said: ‘We have to go back and see what happened here. Our systems are always looking for the latest attacks from adversaries that that are out there.’
Kurtz denied the disruption was the result of a cyber attack and said his team have a ‘long night’ ahead of them.
He also warned that it may take some time before things are back to normal.
‘So, it could be some time for some systems, it [won’t] just automatically recover,’ he added.
‘But it’s our mission… to make sure that every customer is fully recovered.’
NHS urges blood donors to stick to their appointments
Tom Sanders
NHS Blood and Transplant urged people to keep their blood donor appointments, saying it had been contacted by people wondering if they were going ahead.
‘NHS Blood and Transplant are calling on donors to book and keep appointments to donate blood to boost NHS resilience at this time,” a spokesman said.
‘There remains a particularly urgent need for O negative blood. Blood donation systems are not affected and we currently have a high number of appointments available at our donor centres in major towns and cities.’
Downing Street chairs official Cobra meeting- but Starmer not present
Tom Sanders
The government has chaired an emergency Cobra meeting in response to the ongoing IT crisis- at an official, rather than ministerial level.
A No 10 spokeswoman told reporters:
‘We recognise the impact this is having on services and the Government is working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue, which is affecting services not only across the UK but also globally.
‘Officials have met in the Cobra unit on this this morning and of course are updating ministers regularly on this issue.’
The spokesperson said she was not aware of any plans for a further Cobra meeting with ministers present.
When asked why Sir Keir Starmer did not chair the meeting, the spokesperson said: ‘The Prime Minister’s had bilaterals with President Zelensky and Cabinet this morning, but all ministers including the Prime Minister are being kept informed with the latest.’
The spokeswoman also said no government business has been affected by the outage.
NHS hospitals declare ‘critical incident’
Tom Sanders
Royal SurreyNHSFoundation Trust has declared a critical incident amid the major IT outage.
A statement on its website said: ‘Royal Surrey has declared a critical incident due to external IT issues which are widely affecting services including ours. This issue has affected Varian, the IT system we use to deliver radiotherapy treatments.’
The trust said it had contacted patients who were due to have radiotherapy this morning to reschedule appointments.
Read more about the situation below:
NHS hospitals declare ‘critical incident’ after global IT meltdown
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