A major technology outage occurred on a global scale, affecting flights, public transit systems, banks, hospitals, and other operations. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm, identified a faulty system update as the cause, impacting Microsoft’s Windows Operating System. The issue was not a security breach but caused disruptions that have since been addressed. Airlines like American, Delta, and United were forced to cancel flights, creating long lines and delays for travelers. Public transit systems in the US reported impacts on their websites and internal systems but services were running as scheduled. London’s Stock Exchange, trains in the UK, medical facilities, and airports around the world were also affected. In response to the outage, Portland issued an emergency declaration, and Dubai International Airport experienced check-in issues but quickly resolved them. The Department of Emergency Management in Maryland increased its activation level due to the outage. The economic impact of the outage is expected to be minimal unless it persists for an extended period. Additionally, public transit systems in major cities like Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago experienced disruptions with tickets and other tech systems. Schools, both college and K-12, were also affected, with computer crashes and issues with enrollment software. Despite the widespread disruptions, efforts are being made to restore systems and services to normalcy.
Photo credit
www.usatoday.com
