Global IT Outage in UK Disrupts NHS, Airports, and TV Channels
The issue stemmed from a software update defect in CrowdStrike, which affected Windows users, as confirmed by the cybersecurity firm’s CEO on X.
Various organizations like the NHS, airports, airlines, train companies, banks, and media outlets encountered issues as their systems were disrupted, leading to the display of the infamous “Blue Screen of Death.”
While the incident caused disruption in a majority of GP practices in England, there was reportedly no impact on 999 or emergency services.
NHS England advised patients to attend appointments as scheduled unless told otherwise and to reach out to their GP only in urgent situations.
One trust, the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, declared a critical incident due to external IT issues, affecting scheduled radiotherapy treatment.
A later update mentioned that the hospital could resume radiotherapy services, with afternoon appointments proceeding as planned.
An IT outage left popular businesses unable to process digital payments, and Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, alerted passengers about disruptions in their booking system.
Major airports like Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, and Edinburgh experienced delays and long queues, with display boards showing the “Blue Screen of Death” instead of flight information.
Microsoft acknowledged and addressed issues with its Azure cloud platform, impacting services and applications on a widespread scale.
The root cause of the outage was identified as a defect in a software update from CrowdStrike for Windows users, according to the company’s CEO.
Mr. Kurtz of CrowdStrike assured that the issue, exclusive to Windows hosts, has been isolated and resolved, with ongoing updates available on their support portal.
Reports on Downdetector indicated outages affecting various services globally, including Visa, Mastercard, Microsoft, AWS, banks, supermarkets, and airlines.
PA Media contributed to this report.
