Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Friday said an update released by American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike “began impacting IT systems globally.”
“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,” Nadella posted on X.
The outage, which struck on Friday, disrupted operations for airlines, banks, TV channels, and other businesses. The root cause was identified as a faulty update on Windows systems from CrowdStrike.
The incident was triggered by a defective update on CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor, an IT solution designed to protect Windows systems. According to CrowdStrike’s CEO George Kurtz, the issue was identified and isolated, and a fix has been deployed. Kurtz communicated this via the social media platform X.
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The update bug, which did not affect Mac or Linux systems, was activated at 1900 GMT on Thursday, as reported by Microsoft. Many companies started experiencing malfunctions by Friday morning.
The outage had widespread repercussions, grounding major US airlines like Delta, United, and American Airlines due to “communications issues.” Air France reported IT disruptions but maintained operations at key Paris airports.
In India, the outage caused airline check-in systems to crash, leading to delays and cancellations of dozens of flights. IndiGo alone cancelled around 200 flights. The move to manual bookings, check-ins, and boarding processes resulted in long delays.
Airlines began resuming some operations, but recovering from the delays and cancellations is expected to take time. Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu assured passengers that his ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are using manual methods to manage the situation and minimize disruption.
While the Indian financial and payment systems were largely unaffected, around 10 banks and NBFCs experienced minor disruptions, which have mostly been resolved, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).