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Businesses and institutions around the world have been knocked offline after a major IT outage.
In the UK, Sky News has been knocked off air, while Britain’s biggest train country warned passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
Around the world, banks, supermarkets and other major institutions reported computer issues disrupting services, with some airlines warning of delays and some airports grounding flights.
Overnight, IT giant Microsoft confirmed it was investigating an “issue” with its 365 apps and operating systems, and although it said it had recovered some services, warned that the issue was ongoing and users should expect “service degradation” according to a status page on its website.
According to cyber security expert Troy Hunt, an IT issue at global cyber security firm Crowdstrike was causing much of the outage.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, CrowdStrike president George Kurtz said the problem was caused by a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts”.
He said: “This is not a security incident or 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.
“We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
“Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
Kurtz said the issue was not affecting Mac or Linux software.
Dan Card, from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said people “should remain calm” while businesses respond to the global IT outage.
“It looks like a bug to a regular security update, rather than any form of ‘mega cyber attack’, but this is still causing worldwide challenges and is likely to require a large number of people to take manual remedial steps,” he said.
“Companies should make sure their IT teams are well supported as it could be a difficult and highly stressful weekend for them as they help customers.
“People often forget the people that are running around fixing things.”
Technical issues affecting a vital payment system has led to some house purchases being delayed, the Bank of England warned.
The glitches are impacting the central bank’s Chaps system which processes about £360bn worth of transactions a day.
It is used by high street banks, businesses, and individuals buying expensive items like a car or to pay a deposit on a house. It is also commonly used by solicitors to complete house sales.
The central bank said a “global payments issue” was affecting the service and delaying some high value and time-sensitive payments, including some house purchases.
“We are mindful of the impact this is likely to have and are working closely with a third-party supplier, industry and other authorities to resolve the issue as promptly as possible,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, major high street banks were impacted by glitches affecting digital banking last month, leaving some customers temporarily unable to send and receive money.
A spokesperson for Visa said: “There is no indication of any impact on Visa’s ability to process payments from this issue.
“Our systems are operating normally.
“We are aware of reports of people being unable to make payments and are working with our financial institution clients to understand any impact on their services to cardholders and merchants.”
Edinburgh Airport said the IT outage is causing longer waiting times.
A spokesperson said: “An IT system outage means wait times are longer than usual at the airport.
“This outage is affecting many other businesses, including airports.
“Work is ongoing to resolve this and our teams are on hand to assist where we can. Passengers are thanked for their patience.”
Glasgow Airport said it is largely unaffected by the IT outage. On X, it posted: “We are largely unaffected by the current global IT issues.
“At present a small number of airlines have moved to manual check-in and some retailers are only accepting cash payments.”
Ryanair has warned of “potential disruptions across the network” due to a global third party system outage.
The airline said in a statement: “We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control.
“We advise all passengers to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time.”
Air traffic control provider Nats said it was unaffected by the IT outage.
A spokesperson said: “We have no IT issues and are operating normally, we are working closely with airports and airlines to understand how best we can support them and their customers.
“We advise passengers to check the status of their flight with their airline.”
Meanwhile, Govia Thameslink Railway – parent company of Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern – warned passengers to expect delays because of the issue.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the UK Government is working “at pace with industry” to address IT issues causing train and air disruption.
She tweeted: “We are aware of IT failures impacting several transport operators and terminals today, and we’re working at pace with industry and across Government on the issue.
“There are no known security issues at present.”
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