The Federal Aviation Administration reported that major American airlines, including Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and American Airlines, grounded all flights early on Friday , Airports in Germany, Amsterdam and Spain are also experiencing communication issues.
In a notification to airlines, the FFA stated that “all flights, regardless of destination,” were grounded because of “communication issues.
A massive technology IT outage has wrought havoc on businesses and institutions across numerous countries, causing airlines, government systems, banks, supermarkets, telecoms, and media outlets to collapse.
Microsoft is addressing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services, attributed to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm used globally to protect against hackers and breaches.
The issue appears to cause problems on computers using the Microsoft Windows operating system. Crowdstrike said in a recorded phone message that it had received reports of Microsoft’s Windows operating system crashing.
According to AFP, the UK’s largest rail franchise is also experiencing “widespread IT problems”. “We are currently facing widespread IT issues across our entire network,” the four lines handled by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) stated on social media.
The national broadcaster of Australia, a significant international airport, and a major telecommunications company all reported problems as a result of a widespread outage that caused havoc with information technology systems throughout the country on Friday.
Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator acknowledged that the “large-scale technical outage” was caused by an issue with a “third-party software platform”. The national broadcaster ABC, also announced that its systems had been disrupted by a “major” issue.
Images shared online showed long lineups forming at Sydney Airport, indicating that certain flight operations and even terminal services had been impacted. Some self-checkout systems at one of Australia’s leading grocery chains were showing error messages. Telstra, a telecommunications firm, reported that some of its services were interrupted.
It stated in a post on X, “We have activated our contingency plans and deployed additional staff to our terminals.”
The airport in Melbourne reported that certain airlines’ check-in processes had been affected.”Passengers flying with these airlines this afternoon should allow a little additional time to check in. Please contact your airline for flight updates,” it stated in a statement on X.
The services of airports in the UK, Germany, Malaysia, and the Philippines have been disrupted.
One of the biggest airports in Europe, Schiphol in Amsterdam, was also impacted. A spokesman said, “The outage has an impact on flights flying from and to Schiphol,” however it was unclear how many flights were impacted at this time.
According to airport operator Aena, there were “disruptions” at every airport in Spain. “Because of an IT system incident, disruptions are occurring in Aena’s systems and at airport networks in Spain that could cause delays,” the operator stated on X.
Air France reported operational disruptions, but flights were not affected. Hong Kong Airport Authority confirmed that affected airlines have transitioned to manual check-in, and flight operations remain unaffected.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Network Ten both stated that their systems had been compromised. Sky News in the United Kingdom reported that the failure has ended their morning broadcasts of news.
Bendigo Bank stated that “online banking and some transactions” were being impacted.
On Friday, Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator announced that it was aware of a “large-scale technical outage” affecting multiple businesses and services throughout the country.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies,” according to a statement from the agency.
“There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”
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