Mass cyberoutage grounds flights, disrupts businesses worldwide

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike on Friday said a defect in a content update for Microsoft Windows systems caused the outage. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz wrote on X that the issue had been identified and a fix was being deployed to affected users. Mac and Linux systems were not affected by the outages, and Kurtz stressed that the problem was not caused by a security incident or a cyberattack.

How is the outage affecting travel? Airports and airlines around the world on Friday reported delays and problems with check-in and security systems. Delta Airlines paused its entire global flight schedule early Friday morning, and American Airlines and United Airlines temporarily grounded flights until the issue could be resolved. More than 1,700 flights were delayed and over 900 canceled in the United States by Friday morning, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

Spanish airport authority AENA said the country’s airports were gradually resuming operations but travelers should continue to expect delays. In Thailand, the issue affected the automated border control system at both of Bangkok’s airports. Airports in Singapore, Hong Kong, and India had to check passengers in for their flights manually. Several international airlines, including KLM and Ryanair, said the outage disrupted their flights, as well.

What about other services? The outage affected systems across numerous industries, including banks, online scheduling programs, and emergency services. Capitec Bank in South Africa said it was experiencing nationwide service issues, and the London Stock Exchange reported problems with its data and news platform. German finance company Allianz said the outage prevented employees from logging into their computers, according to CNBC.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report in The Sift about a new cybersecurity strategy for the U.S. defense industry.