A global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday after a faulty software update disrupted companies and services around the world and highlighted their dependence on just a handful of providers.
The trouble with the update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and affecting computers running Microsoft Windows was not a security incident or cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which said a fix was on the way.
But hours later, the disruptions continued — and escalated.
Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. Hospitals and doctor's offices had problems with their appointment systems and cancelled surgeries
How this is impacting the Greater Cincinnati area
A ground stop from the FAA overnight is causing issues at CVG.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is experiencing delays and cancellations due to the Microsoft widespread outage. CVG addressed the issue in a social media post on X.
As airlines continue to resolve their systems and resume normal operations from today’s CrowdStrike disruption, we appreciate continued patience. Over the course of the next day, passengers should check with their carrier on flight status before coming to the airport. We are…
— CVG Airport (@CVGairport) July 19, 2024
The outage is not just impacting actual flight operations, it is also impacting the systems that tell you whether your flight is on time.
CVG Spokesperson Mindy Kershner shared that travelers should check their flight status before heading to the airport.
Delta Airlines posted on X at approximately 8 a.m. that some of their flight departures have resumed.
.@Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta’s global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed.
— Delta News Hub (@DeltaNewsHub) July 19, 2024
Allegiant Airlines said all flights departing before 2 p.m. have been canceled. The airline posted on X saying "Customers should not arrive at the airport and will receive an email from our Customer Care team with options to receive a refund or rebook on another flight when the systems are restored."
— Allegiant Air (@Allegiant) July 19, 2024
The airline said it might also have to cancel additional flights.
While Metro said the outage did not impact local bus routes Friday morning, it did impact Metro's transit app. Metro said the scheduled arrival time is displayed instead of the real-time arrival time.
Metro said it's working on a fix. Click here for bus schedule information.
The University of Cincinnati Medical Center's services are not disrupted due to the outage and "operations are continuing as normal," the Director of Media Relations for UC Medical Center Heather Smith said.
A spokesperson with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center shared that the hospital has several Microsoft-based systems that are affected, however, they "are using standard backup processes to ensure patient care is uninterrupted."
Cincinnati Children's said you should be aware of the following:
- Surgery patients are being asked to arrive as scheduled
- Radiology appointments will remain as scheduled
- Delays are likely
- Early morning non-surgical appointments were rescheduled
The Ohio BMV and Hamilton County Clerk of Courts have also been impacted by the outage.
The BMV said it can't issue titles or passports. According to employees, they are "waiting to see what happens." We also found a sign on the Clerk of Courts' front door saying its system was down and apologizing for the inconvenience.
The outage temporarily disrupted 911 services for Butler County and Middletown but service has been restored.
A disturbing reminder of vulnerability
“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, a professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and former Head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.
Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused by the outage because systems people have come to rely on at critical times are not going to be available. Hospitals, for example, will struggle to sort out appointments and those who need care may not get it — and it will lead to deaths, he said.
“All of these systems are running the same software," Bore said. "We’ve made all of these tools so widespread that when things inevitably go wrong — and they will, as we’ve seen — they go wrong at a huge scale."
The head of Germany’s IT security agency, Claudia Plattner, said that “the problems will last some time — we can’t expect a very quick solution.” A forecast for when exactly all systems will be up and running is difficult, but “it won’t be hours,” she added.
Microsoft posted on social media platform X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”
The company did not respond to the Associated Press's request for comment.
CrowdStrike said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press that it “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.”
It said: “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
The Austin, Texas-based company's Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15% in premarket trading early Friday.
A recording playing on its customer service line said, “CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks.
The Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story.
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