Major global outage hits airlines, banks, businesses – what to know

A global technology outage on Friday morning grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off-air in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack — and that a fix was on the way. It added that the problem happened when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

But hours after the problem was first detected, the disarray continued — and escalated, according to the Associated Press. 

Friday afternoon, Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz issued a statement on social media, stating that the company "continues to work closely with impacted customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored." 

Kurtz shared a letter he sent to CrowdStrike’s customers and partners, which apologized for the outage and confirmed that a defect was found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. He said Mac and Linux hosts were not impacted. He also verified that the outage was not due to a security or cyberattack.

"As this incident is resolved, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and the steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again. We are working on a technical update and root cause analysis that we will share with everyone as well," Kurtz continued. 

Global IT outage: Here’s what to know

Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. 

News outlets in Australia — where telecommunications was severely affected — were pushed off-air for hours. 

Hospitals and doctor's offices had problems with their appointment systems, while banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages to their payment systems or websites and apps.

DownDectector, which tracks user-reported disruptions to internet services, reported that airlines, payment platforms and online shopping websites across the world were impacted — although the disruption appeared piecemeal and was apparently related to whether the companies used Microsoft cloud-based services.

Cyber expert James Bore told the Associated Press that the real harm would be caused by the outage because systems we’ve come to rely on at critical times are not going to be available. 

Hospitals, for example, will struggle to sort out appointments and those who need care may not get it.

"There are going to be deaths because of this. It’s inevitable,’’ Bore said. "We’ve got so many systems tied up with this."

Microsoft 365 posted on X that it was "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact" and that they were "observing a positive trend in service availability."

Shortly before 7 a.m. ET, the company added that the "underlying cause" had been fixed. However, "residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services."

The company did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

In an emailed statement, CrowdStrike said it "is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

The company added: "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

The Austin, Texas-based company's Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15% in premarket trading early Friday.

A recording playing on its customer service line said, "CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor," referring to one of its products used to block online attacks, according to the AP.

American, Delta, United, others grounded

In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded amid the global outage. 

Travelers at Los Angeles International Airport slept on a jetway floor, using backpacks and other luggage for pillows, due to a delayed United flight to Dulles International Airport early on Friday.

In a statement, United said it was resuming some flights but told travelers to "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," the carrier added.

American also shared a statement, noting it had been able to "safely re-establish" operations after issuing a ground stop on departing flights. 

"Earlier this morning, a technical issue with a vendor impacted multiple carriers, including American," the statement said. "As of 5 a.m. ET, we have been able to safely re-establish our operation. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said that all affected customers would be notified on the Fly Delta App and with text messages. Updates to flights would also be provided in the airline's app. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.