Crowdstrike: What you need to know about global IT outage

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A global IT outage has affected airports, hospitals, news channels, betting firms and several other industries worldwide, including Canada, on Friday morning.

Here’s what you need to know.

What happened?

The problem is linked to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. and its Falcon Sensor software, which is reportedly causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen.

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Company chief executive George Kutz used social media to say customers were impacted by a defect found in a “single content update” for Windows users and that Mac and Linux users were not impacted.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” he said. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed … our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

Who was affected in Canada?

Toronto Pearson International Airport on social media said it’s noticing issues with major American airline companies such as Delta Air Lines Inc., American Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc., as well as Porter Airlines Inc. However, it added that flights continue to arrive and depart at the airport.

“As of now, Air Canada, Westjet, Sunwing and Flair operations have not been affected,” it said.

Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario is also among the thousands of organizations affected by the Crowdstrike global outage.

“We are providing services as planned using workarounds where needed,” it said in a statement. “We do not anticipate any impact on our services offered to children and their families today.”

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The University Health Network, which consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, said the outage was impacting some of its systems.

“Clinical activity is continuing as scheduled, but some patients may experience delays,” it said in a statement.

Who else was affected?

Outside Canada, media reports suggest that Australia appears to be severely impacted by the issue. Disruption has been reported on the DownDetector site at companies including the banks National Australia Bank Ltd., Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd., the airlines Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd and Qantas Airways Ltd., as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra Group Ltd., according to Reuters.

National news outlets — including public broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels for hours. Hospitals in several countries also reported problems, according to Reuters.

Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) said the outage caused problems at most doctors’ offices across England. The outage has also affected gambling sites.

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You might have seen the news about the global technical issue affecting airlines, banks etc.,” Ladbrokes Coral said on X, formerly know as Twitter. “Unfortunately we’re experiencing this too. We’re working hard to resolve the issue but don’t know when it will be fixed.”

Some hospitals in northern Germany canceled all elective surgeries scheduled for Friday, but emergency care was unaffected.

The New Zealand banks ASB Bank Ltd. and Kiwibank Ltd. said their services were down as well.

There are, however, signs that some companies and services are beginning to get back up and running, according to various media reports.

• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com

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