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What we know
- A major global IT outage industries across the world today with airlines, banks, shops and broadcasters affected.
- Major U.S. airlines grounded flights and there were global delays. United, American and Delta ordered a "global ground stop," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a member of the House subcommittee on cybersecurity.
- Microsoft said it had fixed the issue, but problems still persist and blue error screens are appearing on public screens across the U.S. and beyond. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, in a statement Friday afternoon, said, “CrowdStrike released an update that began impacting IT systems globally."
- Texas-based Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike said the problem stemmed from a "defect found in a single content update for Windows."
- Alaska State Troopers said 911 services were down across the state, but later said they were functioning normally. New Hampshire also had temporary problems.
CrowdStrike says update ‘triggered a logic error’ that led to crashes
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike said that a sensor configuration update to its Falcon platform “triggered a logic error” and led to computer crashes.
In a summary of technical details released by the company following a global outage that led to canceled flights and other disruptions, CrowdStrike said that “we are doing a thorough root cause analysis to determine how this logic flaw occurred.”
Falcon is a cloud-based system used to block cyberattacks. The company said that “sensor configuration updates” are part of its protection mechanism. It said it will update its findings as the root cause analysis continues.
Almost 3,000 flights canceled in or to U.S. amid global outage
There were almost 3,000 flights canceled within or into the United States today as airlines and the world grappled with a massive IT outage that scrambled schedules and scrubbed trips.
Major airlines like Delta, United and American said they experienced disruptions.
As of around 8 p.m. there had been 2,945 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
Los Angeles International Airport, which is already famous for its traffic gridlock, was among the nation's airports warning passengers to check with their airlines before heading to the airport.
But LAX ranked down the list of U.S. airports with the most cancellations. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a major hub, topped the list of U.S. airports with cancellations, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport came in second, according to the website.
911 systems impacted by outage coming back to normal
After many 911 and nonemergency call centers in the Alaska were impacted by the global IT outage, 911 systems in the state were back to normal today, Alaska State Troopers said.
New Hampshire and Plano, Texas, were among the states and communities that had reported problems with 911 due to the outage, but have since said they were functioning normally.
Bettors suffer under global IT outage, too
Online sports gambling site BetMGM said that it was being affected by the global IT outage as well.
The website announced earlier today that it “is experiencing temporary issues due to global IT outages.”
“We are working hard to resolve this and will update customers when we are up and running. Thank you for your patience,” BetMGM said on social media platform X.
Its website was down this evening for what it said was planned maintenance.
Long lines into U.S. from Mexico as outage delays CBP processing
There were long lines of people trying to enter the United States from the Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez after the global IT outage affected U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The U.S. agency said that the problem was processing delays due to outage, which has affected sectors of daily life from air travel to Starbucks mobile ordering services.
Video from Reuters showed long lines and signs leading up to the international bridge that warned drivers of extended waiting times.
CrowdStrike shares close down 11% after major outage hits businesses worldwide
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike saw its shares plunge Friday, after a sofware update led to a major outage, affecting businesses across the world.
Shares of the company, which makes software to help firms manage their security in IT environments, opened down more than 14%, and closed down about 11%.
Microsoft, which also reported issues affecting its Azure cloud services and Microsoft 365 suite of apps, closed down just 0.74%.
FTC chair criticizes consolidation in tech, saying it creates fragile systems
Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, seemed to refer to the CrowdStrike outage on X on Friday, saying that overreliance on too few vendors creates “fragile systems.”
“All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers,” Khan wrote. “Millions of people and businesses pay the price.”
Khan cited remarks she gave at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in March, noting that the country’s antitrust laws were passed to safeguard undue concentration of economic power.
Such concentration, Khan wrote on X, can concentrate risk, creating cascading effects like shortages.
Senator asks Pentagon for briefing on outage
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., today asked the acting chief information officer of the Defense Department for a briefing by July 26 on the IT issue causing widespread disruptions across the U.S.
“A single point of failure in a cybersecurity strategy has proven time and time again to be a threat to our national security,” Schmitt wrote in a letter.
Schmitt called for a re-examination of cyber safeguards “across the board.”
A Defense Department spokesperson said it was aware of the issues and that personnel were monitoring their networks for possible impacts.
“For operational security reasons, we do not comment on the status of our network operations, information systems or operations to assess cyber threats,” the statement read.
Schmitt wrote a letter in June pressing the department for a strategy to ensure “robust cybersecurity practices.”
CrowdStrike on call headed into the weekend, warns of impostors
CrowdStrike has mobilized employees to help customers still affected by the glitch, CEO George Kurtz said in a blog post this afternoon.
“Nothing is more important to me than the trust and confidence that our customers and partners have put into CrowdStrike. As we resolve this incident, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on how this occurred and steps we’re taking to prevent anything like this from happening again,” Kurtz said.
He echoed CISA’s warning of hackers and scammers trying to exploit confusion over how to fix computers that froze due to the update.
“We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives,” Kurtz said.
Hospital surgery delays add to anxiety
Gary Baulos, 73, was scheduled for open-heart surgery today at Baptist Health hospital in Paducah, Kentucky. His daughter Alison Baulos said the surgery to clear eight blockages and repair an aneurysm was canceled due to the global technology outages.
“It reshuffles everything and leaves us with a lot of anxiety and uncertainty,” she said.
Alison said his father's surgery has not been rescheduled yet, but hopes it can be done on Monday.
“It’s kind of scary knowing that your loved one has this significant issue that warranted getting in right away,” she said. “And now you have to wait the weekend.”
In a statement to NBC News, Baptist Health said they’re “experiencing disruptions tied to the global CrowdStrike incident” and “have canceled some non-emergency procedures while we work to resolve the issue.”