Massive Global Outage Caused from Faulty Update Sent to Microsoft by Cybersecurity Firm CrowdStrike
On Friday, July 19, a massive technology outage – caused by a faulty software update sent to Microsoft – put the globe on pause. It led to the grounding of flights, offline media outlets, and the disruption of hospitals, small businesses, and government offices
The cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike revealed that the problem surfaced when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
CrowdStrike is A US based firm that provides software to thousands of companies. While the cybersecurity giant claimed that a fix was on the way, disruptions have skyrocketed across various industries.
Health care providers across the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and even Israel have had their services disrupted by the internet outage. This came days after Microsoft discreetly shut down email accounts of Palestin-ians who were using Skype to call Ga-za.
The outage hindered the records systems for Providence, a health system with 51 hospitals in Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington state.
A spokesperson at Mass General Brigham, the biggest health care system in Massachusetts, stated that the outage led to the cancellation of all scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits on Friday. Emergency departments however, remained open.
In the U.S., American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air had all their flights grounded for several hours on end. Airlines claimed the outage affected many systems, including those used to check-in passengers and for accumulating other necessary information.
United and some other airlines issued waivers to let customers change their travel plans. The overnight outage was blamed on a software update that CrowdStrike sent to Microsoft computers of its corporate customers, including many airlines.
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