Dozens of organizations and services around the world have been crippled or severely disrupted by a computer glitch in the cybersecurity system affecting use of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Australian banks, British media, European airlines, health services, airports and supermarkets across all latitudes have reported being affected and unable to access their systems.
British and French government cybersecurity agencies are ruling out the possibility that this was a cyberattack. According to industry sources, Included Portugal's National Cyber Security Centre, the origin of the blackout is a faulty update of Programming Falcon from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company. In a pre-recorded phone message to its technical support line, the company said it was “aware of reports of Microsoft Windows operating system malfunctions related to its sensor.” Falcon“
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz took responsibility for the outage at X (formerly Twitter). He stressed that “this is not a security incident or a cyberattack.” He added that “the issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has already been issued,” ensuring that the company is “fully equipped to ensure the security and stability” of its customers.
Microsoft, which said it was taking “mitigation measures,” said the issues began to be discovered late Thursday afternoon on the US East Coast (around midnight in Lisbon). Many Windows users are experiencing a blue screen, colloquially known as a BSoD, which stands for a serious error. The outage does not affect anyone using Mac or Linux systems.
Airports and Amadora Sintra are suffering from problems
In Portugal, ANA, which operates the airports, says the computer glitch is causing “restrictions at airports.” check in and boarding some flights,” and asks passengers to “check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.”
Some airlines Treatments “Companies in this sector are affected by a computer failure. The IT system at Portuguese airports has not been directly affected. The impact of this situation is being assessed and restrictions in airport operations are expected that will affect other airlines and airports,” ANA says in a note sent to PÚBLICO.
The Amadora Sintra Hospital reported some problems to the Ministry of Health's Shared Services, which, according to Lusa, are assessing the extent of the situation and conducting a survey of possible situations. So far, this is the only health unit affected. INEM and 112 are operating normally, as are the services linked to justice.
Chaos at airports and exchanges
In the United States, flights from several airlines were suspended, and the US state of Alaska issued an alert that its emergency services were affected and that telephone lines were not working properly.
The London Stock Exchange is among the institutions affected. location To display them Last night’s ratings as negotiations began on Friday. The medical appointment scheduling system used by doctors in the UK is also not working. Sky News was unable to broadcast its TV broadcast until mid-morning, and the UK’s rail service says it is also affected, causing dozens of trains to be delayed. Major airports in London and the port of Dover are also facing restrictions.
Two hospitals in the northern German cities of Luebeck and Kiel have cancelled non-urgent operations scheduled for Friday, hospital sources said in a statement, adding that patient care and emergency services continue to operate normally.
In Spain, airports are operating but with significant delays, with chaos reported in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. In Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Prague and Berlin, dozens of flights are having difficulty taking off. Berlin airport has suspended all departures until 10 a.m. due to a technical fault, a spokesman for the airport told Reuters. Shortly before, the airport operator had announced that Check-ins They were experiencing significant delays due to computer failure.
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's busiest, also reported being affected by a “global internet outage”. “The disruption is having an impact on flights to and from Schiphol,” a company spokesman said, adding that it was not yet known how many flights were affected. Several airlines in India, Hong Kong and Japan also said they were affected by the IT outage.
Ryanair, Europe's largest airline, is reporting “disruptions across its entire network” and has asked passengers to arrive at airports three hours before departure.
From America to Oceania
Downdetector, a website that records internet outages in real time, shows that some Portuguese operators, such as NOS and MEO, are recording failures in their services that began at 8 a.m. on Friday. An official source from Vodafone Portugal told PÚBLICO that “there are no disruptions in its network, and all parameters are working normally.”
in Australia, middleBanking and telecom services were cut off. At Sydney Airport, departure and arrival information disappeared from the screens. In an announcement to passengers at one of the airline's domestic terminals, low cost Jetstar said there was an “issue with Microsoft” that made it unable to do so. check in Passengers are beginning to board several flights, according to the BBC. According to the BBC, social media users are queuing to report at Australian stores such as Woolworths, which has its payment systems down.
Commonwealth Bank, Australia's largest bank, said some customers were unable to transfer money because of the outage. In New Zealand, a parliamentary spokesman said systems were also affected, with the state broadcaster saying it was dealing with a “major network outage”, without giving a reason for the failure.
According to Downdetector, since last night, a sudden spike in incidents has been recorded in several incidents. Websites Which includes Microsoft applications.
“Wannabe internet buff. Future teen idol. Hardcore zombie guru. Gamer. Avid creator. Entrepreneur. Bacon ninja.”