A widespread IT outage is causing severe disruptions across Australia and globally, affecting major institutions such as media outlets, airlines, and banks.
The issue originates from a technical error at US-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The blue screen error, commonly called the “Blue Screen of Death”, swept across the laptops of company and government Microsoft laptops across Australia and the world.
CyberCX, another cybersecurity company, confirmed its awareness of the situation, stating, “We understand that this has been caused by an issue affecting organisations who have installed CrowdSwitch Falcon in their IT environments.”
The wave of blue surged across laptops at 3pm AEST, knocking out telecommunications providers, websites, and server functions in several organisations. Reports have confirmed that similar outages occurred prior in the US and New Zealand before extending to Australia.
Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, Australia’s National Cybersecurity coordinator, addressed the outage via a social media statement, stating “Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”
NBN Co has confirmed that they hadn’t identified any evidence of impacts on the NBN network, advising that “We are actively monitoring the situation, including the potential impact of disruption to any of our suppliers or retail partners.”
The repercussions of the outage were felt widely. All New South Wales government departments, including essential services such as police and fire rescue, experienced disruptions, though emergency contact numbers like Triple-0 remained operational. Commercial sectors were not spared, with banks, airlines, and supermarkets facing operational challenges.
Qantas reported issues with flight check-ins, whereas supermarket chains like Woolworths encountered ATM and self-checkout malfunctions. Media outlets, including ABC, SBS, and Sky, also suffered computer system crashes, leading to their scheduled programming interruptions.
Internationally, the glitch forced airlines in the United States to ground flights, although a spokesperson for Sydney Airport later confirmed that, while certain services were affected, flights continued with some potential delays expected throughout the evening.
Adelaide Airport faced similar minor disruptions, with some of its bag drop facilities and flight information screens affected. However, the airport managed to maintain normal operations across check-ins, security screenings, and flight schedules. SA Power Networks in South Australia also acknowledged being affected and is in the process of diagnosing and resolving the problem.
The broader impact was felt across various sectors, including universities, law firms, and even blood donation services, with users reporting error messages. The glitch has shut down internal systems in St Andrews Private Hospital and Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, but thankfully, not their patient care systems.
Microsoft quickly responded to the crisis, stating on its social platform X that technicians were investigating an incident that might be affecting Microsoft 365 apps and services worldwide. They further noted that they had resolved a different cloud services outage in the Central US region earlier that day, which had led to the grounding and cancellation of several flights.
As the outage continued to unfold, most emergency services across multiple states remained operative, with entities like Ambulance Victoria, Fire Rescue Victoria, and various services in South Australia confirming no impact on their communication systems.
CrowdStrike has yet to release a detailed statement regarding the incident. Meanwhile, CyberCX is closely monitoring developments and is ready to assist customers as new information becomes available.
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