A massive global IT outage has disrupted numerous industries worldwide, impacting flights, banks, retailers, and media outlets.
“There’s a real dependence on particular companies in the tech space”, Rich Mehta, founder of Rigorous Digital, explained. “Cloudflare (which sits in front of some of the biggest websites), Amazon (whose AWS service is used by many large service providers), and so on.
“With all of that consolidation comes the risk that if just one of these providers has a global issue – as has happened with AWS and Cloudflare in the past – it risks disrupting global commerce and people’s ability to do the most basic tasks.”
Here is a list of the companies affected in each sector.
Airlines and airports
Airlines across the globe have been significantly affected by the outage. United Airlines, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, and Allegiant Air have all grounded flights. American Airlines has attributed the disruptions to a “technical issue with CrowdStrike,” echoing a similar sentiment from Frontier Airlines, which issued a ground-stop order due to a major Microsoft technical outage.
European carriers Ryanair and KLM have also faced substantial disruptions. Ryanair advised passengers to arrive at airports early due to network disruptions, while KLM had to largely suspend its operations, making flight handling impossible.
Major UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, and Luton, have reported issues leading to potential delays and disruptions. Gatwick Express has been unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, resulting in potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.
Emergency services
Emergency services have not been spared from the fallout, mainly in the US. In Alaska, many 911 and non-emergency call centres are not working correctly, as reported by the Alaska State Troopers. This outage poses a significant risk to public safety and emergency response capabilities.
Healthcare systems
Healthcare systems have also been hit hard. In the UK, the NHS’s EMIS system, used by doctors to book appointments, view patient notes, order prescriptions, and make referrals, has been disrupted, causing significant issues in the majority of GP practices.
In Germany, two hospitals have cancelled elective operations scheduled for Friday due to the outage.
Large-scale retailers and food chains
McDonald’s Japan suspended operations in about a third of its stores due to cash register issues linked to the outage. Woolworths reported that some of its stores were impacted, with a few having fewer functioning checkouts, though most stores remained open. At the Ocean Park Marriott in Hong Kong, staff had to use pen and paper to check in guests as the outage affected its systems globally.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm at the centre of the issue, stated that a “content update” for its Windows hosts was to blame. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” the firm assured.