'Companies are knocked down': Global IT outage hits world giants and impacts Ukraine
Photo: Global IT failures affected global and Ukrainian companies (Getty Images)
A major technical failure in IT systems related to Microsoft's online services hit the largest companies worldwide today. It also affected the operation of Ukrainian banks, mobile operators, and the delivery company.
Contents
- What is happening around the world
- Reason for the massive failure
- How the outage affected Ukraine
- How to solve the problem right now
What is happening around the world
The global outage is the reason for all canceled flights of major US airlines - Delta, United, and American Airlines - due to communication problems. Frontier Airlines also suspended flights, explaining it was over the problems with the Microsoft online services.
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport in Germany also suspended flights. Airports in Spain also faced problems, with reports of possible flight delays. Turkish Airlines warned of a failure in its ticketing and check-in system.
In Vilnius, Lithuania, flights to Eindhoven and Antalya have been postponed. The WizzAir app is down.
Airlines at Mumbai and Hong Kong airports are manually checking in passengers. In Japan, many services, including the Microsoft 365 office suite, are intermittently available. The McDonald's fast food chain has suspended the operation of about a third of its restaurants within the country.
Australia's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, reported service problems, while supermarket checkouts in Canberra are not working. Banks and airlines were also affected. The largest bank in South Africa, Capitec Bank, which has 22 million customers, was affected. The central bank of Israel reported disruptions in the banking system.
The LSE Group, which operates the London Stock Exchange, faced issues with publishing news promptly. British Sky News was disconnected from the network. Later, the picture was restored, but the anchors were sitting against the background of the monitors turned off. British patients cannot make an appointment with a doctor through an online form.
Difficulties have been reported in the work of the VISA payment system, ADT security, and the commercial giant Amazon.
Ryanair warned passengers about potential disruptions that will affect all airlines. Denmark reports a malfunction of the automatic fire alarm system in Copenhagen. There are problems with the IT systems of the Olympic Organizing Committee, and contingency plans have been activated to continue operations.
Reason for the massive failure
The global outage was caused by problems with Microsoft systems. Many users of the Windows operating system are experiencing a blue screen of death that means critical malfunctions.
It happens after installing a software update from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm. According to Microsoft, the failure can affect any user who uses various Microsoft 365 programs and services. IT specialists are making every effort to eliminate the consequences.
CrowdStrike's update for Falcon antivirus came into conflict with Windows 10. CrowdStrike says it is now rolling back the problematic update.
“There is a global IT outage worldwide related to the interaction between CrowdStrike antivirus and Windows. Many companies are knocked down,” Oleh Horokhovskyi, co-founder of Ukrainian Monobank, which was also affected, said on Telegram.
At the moment, Microsoft reports gradual stabilization. Its shares fell by 2%, while CrowdStrike's securities fell by almost 16%.
How the outage affected Ukraine
In the morning, Monobank customers were unable to create jars to raise money. They are used to raise funds for humanitarian, medical aid, or military needs.
The mobile app of the state-owned Sense Bank was also affected. It did not display bank cards, the app showed a blank screen. The bank said it was experiencing temporary technical difficulties with online services. Transfers, currency exchange, payment for services, opening loans and deposits, buying bonds, and car insurance were out of reach.
As of 11:00 a.m., all Sense Bank systems have been restored, and digital services and functions are back to normal. The statement stressed that the failure was not related to a DDoS attack or other similar actions.
In the morning, Nova Poshta delivery company suspended customer service because of a software update. By 10:00 a.m., all systems and services were restored, and service was restored at its departments.
Subscribers of Vodafone mobile operator complained about communication problems. When they tried to make a call, it was immediately dropped.
“This morning, some Vodafone subscribers in all regions of Ukraine had difficulty receiving services for an hour. The company's specialists responded promptly to the situation, and all basic services have been gradually restored since 9:20 a.m.,” Vodafone said in a commentary to RBC-Ukraine.
The global disruption did not affect the work of the Ukrainian railroad. All digital channels are available as usual, according to Ukrzaliznytsia.
As of the middle of the day, the affected Ukrainian companies have already fully or partially resumed operations.
How to solve the problem right now
Users are facing the problem when starting Windows that use CrowdStrike's Falcon antivirus.
To solve the problem quickly, we recommend following CrowdStrike's instructions:
- boot Windows in Safe Mode (options appear when you press F8 before the operating system boots) or in the recovery environment
- go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike
- find the file named C-00000291*.sys and delete it
- restart your computer or server
This method is recommended while CrowdStrike is working on fixing the problem and will not provide official information.
Sources: Bloomberg and The Verge articles, statements by Microsoft, CrowdStrike, and Ukrainian companies, as well as Vodafone's commentary for RBC-Ukraine.
