by WorldTribune Staff, July 19, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Call it International Blue Screen Day.
This is what many thought Y2K was supposed to look like. Except, this time, it actually happened.
In the early hours of Friday morning, a widespread IT outage linked to a software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused major disruptions to businesses and services worldwide who use Microsoft software.
What is being called the “largest IT outage in history” affected banks, airports, TV stations, hotels, and many other industries.
Wired reported that companies using Microsoft’s Windows operating systems began experiencing widespread technical issues, with devices displaying Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). The problem quickly spread globally, impacting organizations in Australia, the UK, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Major U.S. airlines including United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.
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The problems were reportedly caused by a misconfigured or corrupted update pushed out by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike to its customers. The incident appeared to only be affecting devices running the Windows operating system.
CrowdStrike engineers acknowledged the problem on the company’s Reddit forum, confirming “widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts” across their software. They advised customers on a workaround for affected systems.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadell wrote on X: “Yesterday, CrowdStrike released an update that began impacting IT systems globally. We are aware of this issue and are working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online.”
Elon Musk responded to Nadell’s post by saying the IT disruption “gave a seizure to the automotive supply chain.”
“All-In” podcast host Jason Calacanis asked on X: “I guess crowdstrike doesn’t do staged rollouts?”
Musk responded: “We just deleted Crowdstrike from all our systems, so no rollouts at all.”
Bloomberg reported the IT disruptions could impact FedEx and United Parcel Service deliveries on Friday:
FedEx is seeing “substantial disruptions throughout our networks” due to the third-party issues, it said in a statement on its website. The company is implementing contingency plans but said delays are likely for parcels scheduled for delivery Friday.
UPS said in a separate statement that some of its computer systems are being affected, and it is also looking at workarounds to minimize interruptions. Its planes continue to operate, and drivers are still on the road.
How to fix your computer if you are affected by the crowdstrike crash pic.twitter.com/a9fEOzthad
— timshady (@timshadyeth) July 19, 2024
Workaround steps from@CrowdStrike
Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
Navigate to the C:Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory
Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.
Boot the host normally. pic.twitter.com/fI3TNpGdJc— Mike (@NYC0N_6) July 19, 2024
Here are areas often affected by IT outages:
1. Financial Services ( Bank )
2. Healthcare
3. Telecommunications
4. Government Services
5. Retail and E-commerce
6. Transportation and Logistics ( Airport )
7. Manufacturing
8. Education
9. Energy and Utilities
10. Media and…— Biz Insights HQ (@BizInsightsHQ) July 19, 2024
SFO feeling like Y2K rn. #Crowdstrike #microsoft #outage pic.twitter.com/q0CgMY326j
— Meagan (@lushzeb) July 19, 2024
Just in: State services and businesses from airlines to financial services and media groups were hit by a global IT outage, causing massive disruption to a vast range of services. Security experts are calling it the biggest problem of its kind https://t.co/jKDsV3Hpun pic.twitter.com/Jd352X3Sch
— Financial Times (@FT) July 19, 2024
Worldwide disruptions after ‘largest IT outage in history’ added by Editor Two on July 19, 2024
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