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


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.

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IT outage ‘likely’ to occur again unless government and industry work together

A global IT outage is “likely” to occur again unless governments and industry work together to “design out” technological flaws, a leading cyber expert has said.

Professor Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said “the worst” of the global IT outage was over but countries would “have to learn to cope” with future flaws.

The founding chief executive of the NCSC told Sky News: “The worst of this is over because the nature of the crisis was such that it went very badly wrong, very quickly. It was spotted quite quickly and, essentially, it was turned off.”

Tara Cobham20 July 2024 18:30

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More than 100,000 passengers hit by weekend flight cancellations

Some 100,000 travellers were affected by the problems over the weekend, Simon Calder reports. Many of those are still stuck trying to reach their destinations, he says.

Andrew Griffin22 July 2024 10:00

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Delta Air Lines struggles with thousands of cancellations after tech outage

Delta Air Lines faced further operational issues on Sunday with over a thousand flights cancelled for the third straight day beyond the 3,500 the airlines had previously scrapped.

A Microsoft outage on Friday left thousands of Delta travellers stranded across the US this weekend as the global IT outage affected the airline company’s crew tracking system.

“In particular one of our crew tracking-related tools was affected and unable to effectively process the unprecedented number of changes triggered by the system shutdown,” Delta chief Ed Bastian told customers.

Delta has not yet offered any timetable for resuming normal operations with over 300 flights cancelled for Monday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

Vishwam Sankaran22 July 2024 08:00

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As many as 8.5 million computers running Windows affected by faulty update

As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain.

Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and even CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage.

“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives.”

David Koenig and Isabella O’Malley report:

Tara Cobham22 July 2024 07:00

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US border crossings reportedly delayed due to global tech outage

System failure caused by the global IT outage reportedly led to a massive grid-lock at the US-Mexico border with even approved Border Protection vehicles stranded for about 90 minutes.

Officials turned to workarounds like colour-coded cards to streamline processes, San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The outage also led to employees working with US government agencies missing work at the US border.

“Due to the global Windows outage, some of our staff are experiencing major delays getting across the border to come to work. This may result in missed or delayed service,” the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System posted on X.

Vishwam Sankaran22 July 2024 06:30

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Recap: Watch timelapse showing how global Microsoft IT outage grounded flights across US

Timelapse: How global Microsoft IT outage grounded flights across US

Tara Cobham22 July 2024 06:00

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CrowdStrike says significant number’ of impacted devices back online

CrowdStrike said a significant number of the over 8.5 million devices affected by last week’s botched software update are back online, Reuters reported.

Over the weekend, Microsoft deployed hundreds of its engineers to help its customers restore services after the global IT outage caused by its cyber security partner CrowdStrike.

Microsoft said over 8.5 million devices were affected by the outage, which led to airlines, banks, call centers, transportation and healthcare systems struggling worldwide.

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

Vishwam Sankaran22 July 2024 05:40

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In pictures: Passengers waiting at airports after IT outages caused long queues across world

Passengers waiting at Edinburgh Airport as the outages led to long queues at airports
Passengers waiting at Edinburgh Airport as the outages led to long queues at airports (PA Wire)
Queues of passengers at the Air Asia check-in counters at Don Mueang Airport international departures on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand
Queues of passengers at the Air Asia check-in counters at Don Mueang Airport international departures on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand (Getty Images)
Customers wait in line at a departure area for Spirit Airlines at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Friday
Customers wait in line at a departure area for Spirit Airlines at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Friday (AP)

Tara Cobham22 July 2024 05:00

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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.

Vishwam Sankaran22 July 2024 04:31

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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.”

Tara Cobham22 July 2024 04:00



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