Boss of cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike blames global IT outage on software update
CrowdStrike president George Kurtz said the problem was caused by a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”.
He wrote on X:
CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.
We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.
Key events
Libby Brooks
Travellers have been describing “mayhem” and “chaos” at Edinburgh Airport, as those whose flights have been cancelled are being urged to leave the airport to avoid overcrowding, reports our Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks.
Passengers have been posting images of snaking queues and hallways rammed with waiting travellers. The airport is also urging would-be passengers not to travel to the airport without checking the status of their flights first.
Scotland’s other airports so far remain largely unaffected, with a small number of airlines moving to manual check ins and some shops are only accepting cash payments.
Train services in Scotland are also unaffected at present: Scotrail says:
Train services are operating normally, and we are working with industry partners to understand the cause and undertake further checks to all our systems.
A few football clubs have warned that their ticketing systems are under pressure, with Celtic FC announcing they are postponing ticket sales, as did Manchester United in England.
CrowdStrike chief executive ‘deeply sorry’ for global impact of flawed software update
George Kurtz, the founder and chief executive of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, has said the company is “deeply sorry for impact that we’ve caused to customers” after a flawed software update prompted a global IT outage.
Kurtz told NBC’s Today Show in the US that the problem was down to a bug in a single update. “We identified this very quickly and remediated the issue,” he said, adding that CrowdStrike was now “working with each and every customer to make sure that we can bring them back online”.
Kurtz said there had been a “negative interaction” between the update and Microsoft’s operating system, which had then caused computers to crash, sparking the global outage, which remains ongoing.
Asked how one faulty update could cause such global chaose, he said: “We have to go back and see what happened here, our systems are always looking for the latest attacks from adversaries that that are out there.”
He made clear that there was no possibilty it was a cyber-attack. However, although the problem had been identified and a fix issued, Kurtz said “it could be some time for some systems” to return to normal, stressing that they would not “just automatically recover”.
Royal Mail is experiencing technical issues across some of its IT systems as part of the outage.
The UK postal service operator said its inbound customer service phone lines are not operating at present, and some of the applications that its customer experience and account teams use are not currently available.
It said collection, processing and delivery of items across UK is taking place as usual, though there may be some impact on services, while Royal Mail shipping solutions, including click and drop, are working normally for customers to print labels and send items.
The National Health Service’s blood donation agency has urged people in Britain to keep their appointments to give blood, saying it had been contacted by members of the public wondering if sessions they were still going ahead amid reports of the IT outage hitting some NHS services.
A spokesman said:
NHS Blood and Transplant are calling on donors to book and keep appointments to donate blood to boost NHS resilience at this time.
There remains a particularly urgent need for O negative blood. Blood donation systems are not affected and we currently have a high number of appointments available at our donor centres in major towns and cities.
Today’s global Microsoft IT outage could impact company payroll and the ability for businesses across the nation to pay their employees.
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and gounder of the Global Payroll Association, said:
We’ve been contacted by numerous clients already today who have been unable to access their payroll software due to the Microsoft outage and others who have been urged to log out with immediate effect.
Depending on the length of this outage, it could have very serious implications for businesses across the nation, particularly those who process payroll on a weekly basis. Furthermore, we could see a backlog with regard to processing payrolls for the coming month end which may delay employees from receiving their monthly wage.
At best, it will require those managing payroll to work overtime to rectify the issue, but the good news is that it doesn’t seem to be a cyber attack. This means that the sensitive employee details held within payroll should be safe, although we’re seeing many companies understandably take action to minimise such a threat as a precaution.
Ben Quinn
The worldwide IT crisis was discussed by UK government officials who attended a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, as we reported earlier.
The meeting heard there has been no known impact on 999 or emergency services.
The prime minister did not attend the Cobra meeting as he was hosting the Ukrainian president at a meeting the Cabinet at the time.
A spokesperson for Keir Starmer said they were unaware of the problem having any impact on government services.
We are certainly aware of the disruption this has caused to business and to those particiualrly looking to travel today. We are keeping in closely monitoring the situation and making sure the relevant industries can use the support we can provide.
Dollar set for weekly gain, stocks down amid IT outage
The dollar rose and stock markets fell in jittery trading today, as the global IT outage unnerved investors.
The group that runs the London Stock Exchange suffered an outage that affected user access to some of its products, and Refinitiv was down earlier. By around midday in Europe, the company said its services had been restored.
The pound, which earlier this week hit a one-year high above $1.30, fell by 0.2% today to $1.2921.
The FTSE 100 index in London lost 0.5% or 43 points to 8,161, while the German Dax and the French CAC traded down by a similar amount,, and the FTSE MiB in Milan slid by 0.7%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six other major currencies, rose by 0.2% to a high of 104.4, and is set for a modest weekly gain after two weeks of losses.
Emergency Cobra meeting held at official level – Downing Street
An emergency Cobra meeting was held at official-level – rather than ministers – this morning to discuss the IT chaos, Downing Street said.
A No 10 spokeswoman told reporters:
We recognise the impact this is having on services and the Government is working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue, which is affecting services not only across the UK but also globally.
Officials have met in the Cobra unit on this this morning and of course are updating ministers regularly on this issue.
She said she was not aware of plans for a Cobra gathering with ministers present. Asked why Sir Keir Starmer did not chair the meeting of the committee, she said:
The Prime Minister’s had bilaterals with President Zelensky and Cabinet this morning, but all ministers including the Prime Minister are being kept informed with the latest.
The spokeswoman also said she is not aware of any government business being hit by the outage.
Staff at London Stansted Airport handed out bottles of water to people queuing on the hot July day, as a global IT outage caused delays.
Carol Murphy, 58, a charity worker, of Ealing in west London, who was queuing inside the terminal building for a Ryanair flight to go on a 10-day holiday to Vienna, said the situation was “nobody’s fault”.
They keep coming round and people who’ve got a flight upcoming, they send them forward.
I think they’re doing quite well.
Student Jack O’Leary, who was queuing for a Ryanair flight to Dublin to go on holiday, said:
We’re quite understanding – it’s a global outage and everything’s pretty chaotic.”
The 27-year-old, from near Cambridge, added:
We’re very much in stasis mode waiting for something to happen and hoping we can get to Dublin today.
Some US tourists were forced to pay 6,800 dollars (£5,262) for new flights home from Edinburgh Airport after original plans were cancelled because of IT outages.
Stephanie Thompson, heading home to Dallas, Texas, said her family, who were in the UK to attend Wimbledon and the Open Championship in Troon, were unable to reach British Airlines or American Airlines for support.
Speaking from Edinburgh Airport, she told the PA news agency:
It was supposed to leave at 9.25am and change in Heathrow at 11 and we were supposed to get into Dallas later today.
We couldn’t get an answer from anybody. British Airways kept hanging up saying we have too many calls right now. I was on hold with American (Airlines) for about an hour and 10 minutes before I finally hung up.
We just paid 6,800 dollars for a one-way trip home, hopefully leaving tonight. I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted something to get us home.
Another US tourist, Debbie, and her family, said their flight to Boston was also cancelled.
Rafa de Miguel, El País’s UK correspondent, posted this video about “complete chaos at Ryanair bag drop at Stansted airport”.
