(Finance) – Computer systems in airports, banks, airlines, news agencies, health systems and other organizations around the world have been blocked. The disruption and disruptions at a global level have been caused by the malfunction related to a content update released by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike on Microsoft’s Windows operating systemconfirmed by the hi-tech giant.
“The update caused a flaw for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts were not affected. This is not a security incident or a cyber attack,” explained the CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz in a note –. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been implemented. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide comprehensive and ongoing updates on our website.” Meanwhile, shares of American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike, implicated in the global cyber outage, fell nearly 20% in pre-market trading on Wall Street.
“Our services are being improved as we continue to take mitigation actions,” he wrote. Microsoft on the social network X. In a message titled “Service Downgrade”Microsoft said that users “may not be able to access various Microsoft 365 applications and services.” Microsoft added that it is “mobilized to address this event with the highest priority and urgency, while continuing to address the ongoing impact to the remaining Microsoft 365 applications that are in a degraded state.”
Numerous problems have occurred throughout the world. This morning the Ftse Mib index of Piazza Affari was calculated late. Ftse Russell, the company that manages the index, announced at 9 am that the value of the Ftse Mib was not updated and that updates would follow. An urgent communication followed at 9:32 am explaining that the correct dissemination of the Ftse Mbi index had been restored. “With reference to the current interruption of Microsoft services, Borsa Italiana specifies that trading activities on its markets have opened and are functioning regularly, as in all Euronext locations” it then announced Italian Stock Exchange in a note.
According to Federal Aviation Administrationat least three major U.S. airlines, American, United and Delta, grounded all flights. In Australia, the New South Wales Police Force said on social media that it was aware of a system outage. Problems persisted at Sydney Airport, one of Australia’s largest and busiest transport hubs, just as the weekend was about to begin for many. Also affected were some low cost airlines such as Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines. Microsoft said the issue affected multiple systems for customers in the central United States.
To theBerlin Airport flights were cancelled for three hours from 7am to 10am. After 10am flights slowly resumed. TheSchiphol Airport in Amsterdam said the disruption affected flights in and out of the airport and urged travellers to contact their airline. Ryanair said on its website that it was experiencing disruptions on its network due to a third-party IT outage that was “entirely out of our control.” The airline is urging customers to check in at the airport, as online check-in is not available.
One of South Africa’s largest banks has been hit by the outage. Capitec Bank, which has 22 million customers, said some of its services were disrupted due to an issue with an international service provider. Dozens of customers complained on social media that their transactions had been declined. Several services are affected across the UK. Some rail networks, particularly on Thameslink and Great Northern networkssaid there could be cancellations at short notice and were unable to display real-time information to passengers on the platforms. Sky News, major news channel, is unable to broadcast.
There London Stock Exchange said it could not post news and other announcements on its website because of the outage. It added that technical teams were working to restore service. But other services, including the stock exchange, “continue to operate normally.”
“The computer failure recorded in Microsoft’s systems is causing total chaos on the transport front, with the cancellation of thousands of flights all over the world. A scandal that is also affecting many Italian travellers present today in foreign airports to board flights” states Assoutentiwhich loudly calls for the respect for passengers’ rights.”Even in the presence of causes of force majeure, travellers have the right to correct information and full assistance from airlines – explains the president of Assoutenti Gabriele Melluso –. In particular, in the event of flight cancellation, carriers must guarantee passengers meals and drinks at the airport, at least 2 telephone calls, hotel accommodation if the scheduled departure time is at least one day after the scheduled departure time, or when the stay becomes necessary, and transport to the hotels. Provisions which, according to Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, apply both to passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State, and to passengers departing from an airport located in a third country to an airport located in the territory of a Member State. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled must also be granted a refund of the ticket price or an alternative flight as soon as possible or on a later date mutually agreed. However, financial compensation is excluded since these are unforeseeable causes of force majeure – he recalls Melluso –. For these reasons we offer legal assistance to all travellers involved in today’s chaos for the purpose of taking appropriate action against airlines that will not guarantee passenger rights”.
“We have been following the chaotic situation that has developed with attention and concern since this morning. Air traffic is currently resuming, with many inconveniences for passengers, but the critical moment can be said to have been overcome – said the President of ENAC, Pierluigi Di Palmaon SkyTg24, talking about the computer blackout that has had serious repercussions on air transport –. We are slowly resuming air traffic and take-offs. In Naples, for example, we have gone from zero movements to 8 movements. Take-offs to the United States are also currently being restored. So the critical phase determined by a security situation or computer decay has evidently been overcome in a positive way, so we are certain that it is a computer decay. At this moment we are extending the opening hours of an airport, exceeding the night limit, precisely to be able to reorganize the air transport network”.