Mass global IT outage causes chaos for millions

Airports, banks, stores, GP clinics and businesses have been affected by a major IT outage that has knocked millions offline.

Microsoft confirmed late on Thursday (18 July) it was investigating an issue after the tech giant warned of "service degradation" which meant some of the company's popular services would be inaccessible.

Cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt also reported seeing issues at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, with Australian telecoms firm Telstra posting to X/Twitter that the worldwide outage was "because of a global issue affecting both Microsoft and Crowdstrike".

He also said it has the potential to be the "largest IT outage in history".

"The financial impact of this is already hard to fathom," he continued.

In a post on its website, Crowdstrike wrote: "Crowdstrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows related to the Falcon Sensor."

Flights have been delayed, GPs are unable to take appointments, cash machines are not working – and many are patiently waiting for systems to be back up and running.

What have companies said?

In the UK, Sky News was off-air, while Britain’s biggest train company warned passengers to expect disruption because of "widespread IT issues".

Among the impacted firms is Ryanair, with the airline posting to its website: "Potential disruptions across the network (Fri 19 July) due to a global third party system outage.

"Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling across the network on Fri 19 July should check their Ryanair app for the latest updates on their flight.

"We advise passengers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their flight to avoid any disruptions.

"We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this third-party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network."

Edinburgh Airport said the IT outage is causing longer waiting times.

A spokesperson said: "An IT system outage means wait times are longer than usual at the airport.

"This outage is affecting many other businesses, including airports.

"Work is ongoing to resolve this and our teams are on hand to assist where we can. Passengers are thanked for their patience.”

Meanwhile, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – the parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern – warned passengers to expect delays because of the issue.

J D Wetherspoon also confirmed the global outage and has since disabled the pub chain’s app.

A spokesperson said: "We can confirm the Wetherspoons app is currently not working. We are working hard to resolve the situation. However, customers can pay for their food and drinks in cash."

How has the outage affected workers?

A customer service specialist at a major breakdown firm told Indy100: "We couldn't answer calls for a short time, so we couldn't log any breakdowns or dispatch any drivers to live breakdowns, everything just stopped for a while."

She added that it "affected the whole company and the customers."

A brand specialist at a UK luxury retailer said: "I came into work and all of the systems were down. We've not yet had any update from the company. So far, we've not been able to physically carry out our jobs as we cannot process transactions through the tills."

Meanwhile, a TV production coordinator in the media industry added that while the outage hasn't directly affected her role, it has affected a lot of the set's suppliers which has a knock-on effect and means "[they] can't get a whole lot done" as of yet.

What is Crowdstrike and Falcon Sensor?

Crowdstrike is a cybersecurity service, and Falcon Sensor is software designed to prevent computer systems from cyber attacks.

The company rolled back the Falcon update this morning but numerous machines are still affected.

A Microsoft spokesperson said: "Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally. We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery."s

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