ATLANTA — Fallout is still emerging early Friday morning following worldwide computer systems outages that can be traced to a defect in an update with the IT security company CrowdStrike that brought Microsoft networks offline.
Sectors from banking to medical services are impacted -- in particular air travel, with delays and cancellations piling up around the world.
Here's a bit of what we know about what occurred and how operations are recovering at businesses and agencies across the globe:
Global computer outages with Microsoft, CrowdStrike issue | What we know
- It began with a CrowdStrike update defect: The company's president and CEO George Kurtz posted on X just before 6 a.m. that they were "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts." He said it was not a cyber attack. "The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website," the post added.
- The most visible sign of the outages was the "blue screen of death": This is what people see on their computers when Microsoft Windows crashes. System and individual computer reboots were required around the world.
- As of 8:20 a.m., no further updates from Kurtz: While it appears many systems are returning to normal, there has not been a further formal communication from CrowdStrike.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is assessing issues: The Department wrote on X: "The Department, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (@CISAgov) are working with CrowdStrike, Microsoft and our federal, state, local and critical infrastructure partners to fully assess and address system outages."
- Airlines were heavily impacted: Flights were grounded for hours at airports around the world, including Atlanta. Delta Air Lines said just before 8 a.m. that some flights were resuming, and the airline is issuing travel waivers for those impacted. See more on Delta's situation here.
- It's unclear how widespread the impact is to hospitals: The BBC reported many hospital impacts in the UK, but locally around Atlanta hospitals have not yet reported major impacts. Grady Hospital, Atlanta's largest, said it saw "some minor interruptions overnight" but that as of 8 a.m., "there is no significant impact at this time." Emory Healthcare said its hospitals and clinics are open but that procedures at ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals are delayed until systems are stabilized and that patients are encouraged to use MyChart to manage appointments. "We are working diligently to get systems operating to their full capacity. We apologize for the inconvenience to patients, families, and visitors," a statement said.
- Some international news services impacted: Some broadcasting services in the UK, including the major network Sky News, were unable to go on air. The New York Times reported major French channels were also not on air.
- Private business was hit and miss: Whether there were any necessary widespread closures of stores was unclear. Publix told 11Alive its stores were open and operating as normal.
- Some state agencies in Georgia are impacted: The Georgia Department of Revenue, the Georgia Department of Driver Services and Georgia Department of Human Services were among those to say they were impacted. The Georgia Technology Authority later released a full list of impacted agencies, among them: Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Department of Public Health, State Accounting Office, Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia Department of Community Health and Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. Fulton County Emergency Management Agency said it was not.
- A state command center has been established: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office stated: "The state responded immediately as soon as issues were noticed. We are working closely with affected agencies and in constant communication with them until the issue is resolved. The Georgia Technology Authority has set up a command center to coordinate response. Further inquires can be directed to GTA." The Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security also said it was "working with our partners to restore full functionality."
