Barran Press
A widespread technical glitch (It outage) struck dozens of companies and government institutions across the globe on Friday, July 19, 2024, affecting airlines, hospitals, media outlets, and financial institutions from Asia to America.
Several airlines in the United States, Europe, Australia, and India reported technical issues impacting navigation and causing hundreds of flight cancellations.
Dozens of global companies operating in the aviation, railway, healthcare, media, retail, and banking sectors reported disruptions, according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency.
CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company indirectly involved in the issue, clarified that the problem was not a cyberattack or security incident but a technical glitch.
"This is not a security event or a cyberattack," said CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz in a statement. "The issue has been identified and isolated, and a fix has been deployed."
The Associated Press reported that the glitch stemmed from a "single content update for Windows users," while users of Mac and Linux operating systems remained unaffected.
Since Friday morning, global airlines including American Airlines, Delta, Spanish airlines, and dozens of others have reported technical issues impacting flight schedules.
Organizers of the Paris Olympics confirmed that the arrival of some Olympic delegations and the delivery of uniforms and credentials were delayed due to the glitch.
"Our teams are fully mobilized to ensure the continuity of operations at optimal levels," the organizers said in a statement, adding that ticket sales and the torch relay were unaffected.
While athletes and spectators from around the world head to France for the Paris Olympics, Paris Airport Authority stated that their computer systems were "unaffected" by the global outage. However, many airlines and airports in other locations experienced disruptions.
In London, the UK's National Health Service reported that the global internet outage was causing problems in most doctor's offices across England.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration reported that airlines United, American, Delta, and Allegiant were grounded.
Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, a gateway to one of the world's most visited cities, reported that some airlines were forced to manually check in passengers due to system outages.
In Germany, flights at Berlin Brandenburg Airport were halted for several hours on Friday morning due to check-in issues, leading to some flight cancellations.
The airport spokesperson stated that flights resumed after 10 am local time. Similar problems were reported in busy European hubs in Amsterdam, Zurich, and Rome.
Sky News, a British news channel, resumed broadcasting after being interrupted during the morning hours.
Borsa Italiana, the company managing the Milan Stock Exchange, announced that "the correct disclosure of the FTSE MIB index has been restored." Earlier on Friday, the company stated that the index was not being updated, without providing further information.
The Israeli Cyber Directorate announced on Friday that they were among those affected by the global service disruptions, attributing it to an issue with the Crowdstrike cybersecurity platform.