A mass global outage has taken numerous businesses offline, including banks, airlines, train companies, telecommunications firms, TV and radio broadcasters, and supermarkets.
Major US airlines, such as American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines, have been grounded. Additionally, airports in Germany, Amsterdam, and Spain are experiencing similar issues.
The global outage is believed to be linked to issues at cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike and Microsoft, though it is unclear if these are the same issues affecting airports and train services worldwide.
On Friday morning, Microsoft reported ongoing efforts to address the “lingering impact” on its 365 applications and services, which are in a “degraded state.” Crowdstrike acknowledged reports of crashes in an automated message.
The outage is impacting Windows PCs globally, including Sky News in the UK, which was unable to broadcast live TV on Friday morning.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned customers of potential disruptions affecting “all airlines operating across the network,” though it did not specify the nature of these disruptions.
At Edinburgh Airport, passengers were unable to use automated boarding pass scanners, and security monitors displayed a “server offline” message, according to a Reuters witness.
The airport resorted to manually checking boarding passes, the witness added.
The Metropolitan Police reported no impact, stating that their systems were functioning normally. However, some GP surgeries have encountered issues.
Grimethorpe Surgery in Barnsley reported losing access to its clinical system, citing problems with EMIS Web, a system that enables healthcare practitioners to view and update patient records.
The NHS has yet to confirm any widespread issues.
Also in the UK, Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern – all four of Govia Thameslink Railway’s brands – said their services were experiencing widespread IT issues.
“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks,” the company said.
“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.”
National Rail said its IT teams are “actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem”.
