Microsoft IT outage live: Crowdstrike update sparks chaos for airlines and hospitals

You can read our full report on the outages here.

Cyber security expert Troy Hunt says that it is not “too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history”.

“This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time,” he wrote.

(That’s a reference to the year 2000 problem, which you can read about here; everyone worried, but very little actually broke. In the time since, it has become an example of a widely feared problem that failed to turn up, though security experts will note that’s because people worked so hard to avoid it, not because it was never actually a problem.)

The error messages that Windows users are seeing around the world aren’t only on desks. You can see them everywhere – such as in airports.

In a statement to The Independent, the airline said: “A third-party software outage impacted computer systems worldwide, including at United.

“We are resuming some flights but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday. We have issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans via United.com or the United app.”

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust said on Friday morning that radiotherapy treatments at their hospitals had been impacted by the outage. They have declared a critical incident, saying that they are “currently unable to deliver our scheduled radiotherapy treatments”.

A spokesperson added: “This issue has affected Varian, the IT system we use to deliver radiotherapy treatments. We have contacted our patients who were due to have radiotherapy this morning to reschedule appointments while we work to fix these issues.”

British Airways says that “some” flights might be disrupted and advises people to check their flight status.

“Due to the widely-reported global Microsoft IT outage, some of our flights may experience disruption today. Our teams are working hard to manage the impact of this issue as quickly as possible.

“Please visit our flight status page for the most up-to-date information on your flight. We apologise for any potential impact to your travel plans.

“If you have a connecting flight as part of the same ticket and there’s a chance you may miss your connection, we’ll automatically rebook your onward journey. Please check Manage My Booking.

“Our call centres are also experiencing issues. We’ve introduced greater flexibility on ba.com for customers travelling today on our short-haul network. This flexibility will enable you to make changes to your booking via Manage My Booking free of charge.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

George Kurtz, CrowdStrike’s president and chief executive, has finally addressed the issue. He says that it is not a cyber attack, and that a fix has been deployed for the issue.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted,” he wrote.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.

“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.

“Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

Rail firms across the UK have been hit by the outage. The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, said in a statement: “Train operators have been affected by ongoing global IT issues which may result in some short notice service changes and cancellations, also impacting real-time information screens and services at stations. We are sorry for any customers experiencing disruption to their journeys today; staff are working hard to resolve the issues as soon as possible.

“Most trains are still running across the country and rail staff will be able to provide the latest information to customers in person. You can also visit the National Rail Enquiries website for the latest updates.” 

In what now appears a very prescient warning, father of the internet Vint Cerf had warned only this week that the internet was fragile. That was among his many warnings about the threats his creation faces as it reaches its 50th birthday.