Tech
Australians have been hit by a worldwide tech outage. Here’s what we know
There are reports of IT outages affecting major institutions in Australia and internationally.
The ABC is experiencing a major network outage, along with several other media outlets.
Here’s what we know.
What happened?
A technical issue, reportedly related to a US-based cybersecurity firm named CrowdStrike, caused Microsoft laptops across Australia and abroad to glitch on Friday afternoon.
The global outage impacted a raft of Australian companies and government agencies, causing many laptops to attempt to restart and display a blue screen error message.
The outage impacted telco providers, media websites, banks and airlines, and is believed to have impacted servers.
The cause of the outage is believed to be due to a software update by CrowdStrike, which launched earlier this week.
Outages were recorded in the US and New Zealand ahead of the Australia-wide shut down.
Australia’s National Cybersecurity coordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness posted to a statement on social media and said she was aware of the outage.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies,” she said.
“There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”
Who is affected?
The technical issue is affecting Windows PC users globally.
In Australia, all NSW government departments, including police and fire and rescue have been affected. Triple-0 was still working.
Several companies appear to be impacted, including banking, media, and airline networks across the country.
Customers have reported having ATM server issues at Woolworths, and other retailers.
Quantas flight check-ins have reportedly been affected.
ABC, SBS and Sky computer systems crashed this afternoon, interrupting programming.
On its X, Microsoft said it was investigating the incident, which appears to be affecting Microsoft 365 apps and services worldwide.
Microsoft said early on Friday its cloud services outage in the Central US region was resolved after it led to the grounding and cancellation of several flights.
What is affected?
Users are reporting seeing the Blue Screen of Death error messages across banking institutions, supermarkets and media companies including the ABC.
Universities, law firms, Bunnings, blood donation services are also among the places where ABC readers are reporting experiencing outages.
Payment systems are causing major disruption at supermarkets and fuel stations.
(ABC News: Lottie Twyford)
People are stuck at fuel pumps unable to pay for their petrol.
And supermarket customers have been sending the ABC photos of self-check-outs with error messages.
The global outage earlier forced airlines in the US to ground flights.
A Sydney Airport spokesperson said the outage had impacted some airline operations and terminal services.
But, for now, flights were still arriving and departing.
“However there may be some delays throughout the evening,” the spokesperson said.
“We have activated our contingency plans with our airline partners and deployed additional staff to our terminals to assist passengers.”
Adelaide Airport says a small number of bag drop facilities and flight information screens have been impacted.
But the airport says check-in, security screening and flights are operating as normal.
South Australia’s power operation company SA Power Networks said it has been impacted by the outage.
“We are currently working to understand and resolve the issue,” a SA Power Network statement says.
So far emergency services in several states have told the ABC they are able to keep working.
In Victoria, emergency services also say they’ve not been affected by the outage.
Ambulance Victoria, ESTA/Triple-0, Fire Rescue Victoria all say they are not having issues with internal or external communications.
There are reports from Victoria Police staff that internal IT systems are down but the extent is not known yet.
The Royal Women’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s also appear to be unaffected.
In South Australia, the ambulance service, police and State Emergency Service say they are not affected by the IT outage.
What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike, a US-based company, is among the largest cybersecurity companies in the world.
Australian cybersecurity company CyberCX has said it’s aware of the outage and is advising its customers in Australia and New Zealand.
“We understand that this has been caused by an issue affecting organisations who have installed CrowdStrike Falcon in their IT environments,” a CyberCX spokesperson said.
“CrowdStrike is a global cybersecurity company who provide detection and monitoring tools to cyber and IT teams.
“At this time, CyberCX is actively tracking the situation and are awaiting information detailing scope and recovery.
“We will continue to support affected customers as this incident evolves.”
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