A widespread crash of Microsoft’s operating system has caused significant disruption across various industries worldwide on July 19. Airlines have been forced to suspend flights, television stations halted broadcasts temporarily, and banks and hospitals faced operational challenges.
American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines, among other U.S. carriers, suspended flights citing communication issues. This came after Microsoft announced resolving a cloud services disruption affecting low-cost airlines, though it remains unclear if these issues are connected.
The Australian government reported that the crash impacted media companies, banks, and telecommunications providers, with indications pointing to a malfunction in global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. According to a notice from CrowdStrike to its clients, the company’s software, known as ‘Falcon Sensor,’ caused Microsoft’s Windows systems to crash, displaying the notorious ‘Blue Screen of Death.’
The alert was issued at 3:50 GMT on Thursday, July 18, along with manual troubleshooting instructions. CrowdStrike has not yet responded to interview requests from Reuters.
Michelle McInnes, Australia’s government cybersecurity coordinator, posted on X that there is no initial evidence suggesting the crash resulted from a cyberattack. Despite this, the IT system failure has had widespread effects, particularly in the travel industry, with airports in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin, and several in Spain experiencing system failures and significant flight delays.
Ryan Air, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned customers of potential booking issues and other disruptions.
The medical appointment system in England also crashed, while Sky News, a major British television station, ceased broadcasting and apologized to viewers for the inability to air live.
Banks and financial institutions from Australia, India, and South Africa informed customers of service disruptions. Amazon’s AWS cloud service stated they are “investigating reports of connectivity issues with Windows EC2 and Workspaces.”
As of now, it remains unclear if the system crashes are solely related to CrowdStrike or if other factors are involved.
