A technology outage has affected thousands of Microsoft users worldwide.
According to NPR, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike had a routine software update malfunction that knocked the users offline.
The company promptly released a statement:
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.”
CrowdStrike revealed that customers using Linux and Mac operating systems weren’t affected.
The Technology Outage Affected Thousands Of People Worldwide
When the systems crashed, many hospital appointments were delayed, live news broadcasts were cut short, and many airport travelers were stranded.
CrowdStrike quickly divulged that the crash wasn’t a result of a cyberattack but a software glitch.
The company revealed it had identified the issue and would send a fix to users.
However, the company’s actions were too little, too late, as American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines had grounded all their flights.
In states like Ohio and Alaska, even 911 phone lines were down.
In German hospitals, all non-emergency operations were canceled.
In England, doctors couldn’t access essential medical records, and the London Stock Exchange’s news service stopped working.
In Australia and France, live television broadcasts went offline.
Meanwhile, crashed computers displayed messages on blue screens reading:
“It looks like Windows didn’t load correctly.”
WedBush analyst Dan Ives admitted this technology outage doesn’t look good for CrowdStrike:
“This is clearly a major black eye for CrowdStrike.”
Tech executive Adam Robinson wrote on X:
“This IT outage is a stark reminder of how dependent we are on technology and many other things that happen behind the scenes that most of us are unaware of. Modern society and the many comforts we enjoy is a fragile thing.”
Did the technology outage affect you?
