A multitude of global institutions—including major banks, media outlets, and airlines—have reported a widespread IT outage.
The US state of Alaska has warned that its emergency services are affected, while there are also reports of the London Stock Exchange being impacted.
Australia has been particularly hard hit, with flights grounded, supermarkets experiencing checkout chaos, and broadcast networks scrambling as autocue, graphics, and computer systems failed.
The cause of the outage is unclear, but many of those affected have linked it to Microsoft PC operating systems.
An official Microsoft 365 service update posted earlier on X stated, “We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
However, a Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC on Friday afternoon that “the majority of services were recovered earlier in the day.”
A spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs Minister said the outage appears to be related to an issue at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, and the country’s cybersecurity watchdog stated there is no information to suggest it was an attack.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies,” they said in a statement.
Reuters cited sources indicating that the London Stock Exchange had suffered an outage, while Alaskan officials reported many 911 and non-emergency call centers were not working properly.
Meanwhile, at Sydney Airport, information disappeared from departure boards. In an announcement to passengers in the domestic terminal, budget carrier Jetstar said that an “issue with Microsoft” meant it was unable to check in passengers or board its flights.
Virgin Australia also informed its travelers there was a “complete ground stop” of flights.
Social media users reported queues at Australian stores like Woolworths, with payment systems down, and telecom firm Telstra also reported issues.
The nation’s largest provider stated that calls to its emergency service contact centers were not affected, but it is working with state emergency services that may have been impacted to implement backup processes.
Source: BBC
