Microsoft outages, triggered by a CrowdStrike software glitch, paralyze airlines and other businesses

Global outages affecting banks, airlines, TV networks, and health institutions that depend on Microsoft 365 software occurred early on Friday and were traced to the startup CrowdStrike. Numerous public and retail services were disrupted, and thousands of flights and train services were canceled worldwide. Flights were grounded by airlines. Emergency responses could not be provided by 911 line operators. Surgeons cancelled procedures in hospitals.

Global cybersecurity company CrowdStrike claimed it had discovered a technical flaw with their software and was trying to fix it, which was the root of the problem. Microsoft uses CrowdStrike's antiviral software on its Windows devices.

According to FlightAware, a flight tracking service, as of Friday morning, over 1,800 flights had been canceled into, out of, or within the United States, and over 5,000 more had experienced delays. Over 28,000 aircraft were delayed early on Friday across the globe.

The rapid and unavoidable impact brought attention to how fragile the global technological infrastructure is. The globe now depends on a few cybersecurity companies such as CrowdStrike and Microsoft. Thus, if a single software bug is made public online, it has the potential to do immediate harm to a great number of businesses and institutions that rely on technology for their daily operations.

“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of Britain’s National Cyber Security Center and a professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.

Microsoft explained the problem in a statement that was released midday.

“Yesterday, CrowdStrike released an update that began impacting IT systems globally,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on X. “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.”

After stopping operations earlier in the day owing to the outages, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines later on Friday morning restarted at least some flight departures. In a statement, United Airlines stated that it anticipated scheduling disruptions to last the entire day.

"The FAA continues to work closely with airlines as they work to resume normal operations. Ground stops and delays will be intermittent at various airports as the airlines work through residual technology issues," the Federal Aviation Administration said.

SAS Airlines, KLM, and Lufthansa all experienced problems across Europe. The biggest airport in Switzerland stated that flights were not permitted to land.

FedEx and United Parcel Service said that they were impacted. One of the largest banks in the US, TD Bank, received complaints from customers about difficulties accessing their online accounts. Due to the disruption, a number of state and local court systems were closed for the day.