“Numerous hospitals, banks, airports, airlines, and broadcasters worldwide experienced a significant and ongoing IT outage on Friday. The outage, caused by a faulty update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, impacted thousands of Windows PCs essential for critical internet infrastructure. Emergency 911 call centers in several US states were also affected by the outage. CrowdStrike stated that the issue had been identified and fixed, but many services and businesses continued to be impacted. Microsoft Regional Director Troy Hunt called it the largest IT outage in history. Hospitals reported problems with their IT systems, leading to the cancellation of non-urgent surgeries and appointments. 911 lines were down in multiple states, and television channels, including Sky News, were affected. Flights were delayed or canceled globally, with airlines like Delta, American, and United experiencing disruptions. KLM had to suspend operations until the issue was resolved. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company known for investigating major breaches, issued an update for Windows PCs that caused a critical error, forcing affected PCs into a boot loop. The outage serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of shared internet infrastructure and the impact of system-wide glitches.”
