From the BBC:
“ CrowdStrike
and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage”
(There were
long lines at Barcelona airport, as passengers waited to be checked in manually)
A mass IT
outage has caused travel chaos around the world, with banking and healthcare
services also badly hit. Many flights have been grounded, with queues and
delays at airports. Cyber-security firm Crowdstrike has admitted that the
problem was caused by an update to its Falcon antivirus software, designed to
protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks. Microsoft has said it
is taking "mitigation action" to deal with "the lingering
impact" of the outage.
What caused
the outage? The problems were caused by a "defect" in a
"content update" for Microsoft Windows devices, the boss of global
cyber-security firm Crowdstrike, George Kurtz, said. He added: "The
issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed." Mr
Kurtz said the issues did not affect other operating systems, adding:
"This is not a security incident or cyber-attack." His
statement followed widespread reports that Crowdstrike, which producers
antivirus software, had issued a software update that caused Windows devices to
crash. Crowdstrike shares plunged as much as 21% in early pre-market
trade. Microsoft also lost ground, as did travel and leisure stocks, as
investors weighed the potential disruption for holidaymakers.
When will
it be fixed? It could be some time. Crowdstrike's Mr Kurtz, speaking
to NBC News, said it was the firm's "mission" to make sure every one
of its customers recovered completely from the outage. But he added that
this would not happen automatically and "it could be some time"
before everything was up and running as before. "We're deeply sorry
for the impact that we've caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone
affected by this, including our companies," he said. Crowdstrike
has issued its fix. But according to those in the know, it will have to be
applied separately to each and every device affected. Every machine will
require a manual reboot in safe mode - causing a massive headache for IT
departments everywhere.
What's the
solution? Something important to note here, is that personal devices like
your home computer or mobile phone are unlikely to have been affected - this
outage is impacting businesses. Microsoft is advising clients to try a
classic method to get things working - turning it off and on again - in some
cases up to 15 times. The tech giant said this has worked for some users
of virtual machines – PCs where the computer is not in the same place as the
screen. “Several reboots (as many as 15 have been reported) may be
required, but overall feedback is that reboots are an effective troubleshooting
step at this stage," it said. It is also telling customers with
more in-depth computing knowledge that they should delete a certain file - the
same solution one CrowdStrike employee has been sharing on social media. But
this fix is intended for experts and IT professionals, not regular users.
Which
airports have been affected? The problems have emerged across the world,
but were first noticed in Australia, and possibly felt most severely in the air
travel industry. There are delays at UK airports, with long queues
reported at London's Stansted and Gatwick. Ryanair said it had been
"forced to cancel a small number of flights today (19 July)" and
advised passengers to log-on to their Ryanair account, once it was back online,
to see what their options are. British Airways also cancelled several
flights. Several US airlines, notably United, Delta and American
Airlines, grounded their flights around the globe. Australian carriers Virgin
Australia and Jetstar also had to delay or cancel flights as departure screens
went blank at Sydney airport. Airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam and Delhi
also said services had been affected. Meanwhile, the problems have also hit
trains, payment systems and healthcare providers. UK railway companies reported
delays and said they were experiencing "widespread IT issues".
Payment
systems - many shops could only take cash. In the UK, supermarkets
including Morrisons and Waitrose spent the morning unable to accept contactless
payments. It was the same in Australian supermarkets including Woolworths and
Coles, while financial institutions such as the National Australia Bank were
also affected.
Healthcare
- Israel said 15 hospitals had switched to manual processes, although this did
not affect medical treatment. Ambulances were told to take new cases to other
hospitals. In the UK, some doctors' surgeries in England reported issues with
booking appointments.
As the full
extent of the disruption became clear, more firms and institutions started
reporting problems. The US state of Alaska warned that its emergency
services were affected. Broadcasters were also caught up in the chaos,
including Sky News in the UK, which spent several hours off air. The
London Stock Exchange said it was working as normal, but there were issues with
its news service, used by companies to report market-sensitive information in a
timely way. And Poland’s largest container terminal, the Baltic Hub in
the northern city of Gdansk, said the outage was "hampering terminal
operations" and asked companies not to send containers to the port.
How could
it affect me? The outage might also impact people getting paid on time. Melanie
Pizzey, head of the Global Payroll Association, told PA news agency that she'd
been contacted by "numerous clients" who couldn't access their
payroll software. She said the outage could mean firms are unable to
process staff payments this week, but there may be a knock-on effect too. "We
could see a backlog with regard to processing payrolls for the coming month
end, which may delay employees from receiving their monthly wage," she
said. If you're worried about your own, personal devices, we have some
good news. The software at the centre of this outage is generally used
by businesses, which means that most people's personal computers won't be
impacted. That means if you're wondering whether you need to delete a
certain file to avoid your computer restarting constantly, the simple answer is
no, you don't.
What is
Crowdstrike? It's a reminder of the complexity of our modern digital
infrastructure that Crowdstrike, a company that's not exactly a household name,
can be at the heart of such worldwide disarray. The US firm, based in Austin,
Texas, is a listed company on the US stock exchange, featuring in both the
S&P 500 and the high-tech Nasdaq indexes. Like a lot of modern
technology companies, it hasn't been around that long. It was founded a mere 13
years ago, but has grown to employ nearly 8,500 people. As a provider of
cyber-security services, it tends to get called in to deal with the aftermath
of hack attacks. It has been involved in investigations of several
high-profile cyber-attacks, such as when Sony Pictures had its computer system
hacked in 2014. But this time, because of a flawed update to its
software, a firm that is normally part of the solution to IT problems has
instead caused it. In its last earnings report, Crowdstrike declared a
total of nearly 24,000 customers. That's an indication not just of the size of
the issue, but also the difficulties that could be involved in fixing it. Each
of those customers is a huge organisation in itself, so the number of
individual computers affected is hard to estimate.
^ This Global
Outage isn’t just inconvenient for Billions of People across the World
(including Me) , but can be Life-Threatening since everything (Hospitals,
Aircraft, Trains, 911 Emergency Center, etc.) use these systems.
Global Outage = Global Outrage! ^
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