The failure, which was caused by an update to an anti-virus program, also impacted the “computer operations” of the Paris Olympics, the organizing committee of the event announced, one week before the opening ceremony on July 26.
In a notice posted on its website, the US company Microsoft said the problems began on Thursday at 19:00 GMT and affected users of Azure, its cloud platform.which control the software CrowdStrike Falcon cybersecurity firm.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said customers were affected “by a flaw found in a Windows user content update.”
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been applied,” X and LinkedIn wrote on social media, ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack.
At 14:15 GMT, CrowdStrike shares were down 9.20% and Microsoft shares were down 0.24%.
For cybersecurity expert Junade Ali, this failure is “unprecedented” and “will undoubtedly go down in history.”
“It has a direct impact on end-user computers and its resolution may require manual intervention, which represents a significant challenge,” he added.
The outage caused disruption at several international airports, where check-in and check-in systems were disrupted.
At Madrid’s Barajas airport, which was affected like all other airports in Spain, travellers had to be patient.
“We are going to fly to Nice (…) We are very afraid that we will miss the flight, because I really don’t know what is happening,” he told AFP Blanca Arroyo, who had just arrived from Colombia.
In a message published in the early followingnoon, the entity that manages all Spanish airports, Aena, assured that “its main systems” had been “restored.”
At Paris’ Roissy airport, an Air France plane bound for Berlin had to return to its point of departure following a 45-minute flight on Friday morning, a journalist from the French news agency reported. AFP.
“We mightn’t find another flight or a train, we’ll have no choice but to sleep at the airport,” said passenger Anja Müller, a 22-year-old student who was due to return to Germany following a week’s holiday in France.
“A limbo”
At Sydney Airport in Australia, long queues also formed in front of check-in counters and flight screens.
“I’m in limbo,” he told the AFP Alexander Ropicano, a 24-year-old passenger, said: “I don’t know how long I have to wait here,” he said, hoping to board a plane to Brisbane to visit his girlfriend.
Major US airlines including Delta, United and American Airlines have begun to resume operations following having suspended flights earlier in the day due to “communications problems.”
“Third-party software is affecting the operation of our systems. Some flights may experience delays (…) please go to the airport at least 4 hours before your departure,” Copa Airlines said on social media X.
Third-party software is affecting the operation of our systems. Some flights may experience delays, please check the status of your flight (https://t.co/isczAMlGri).
If you are traveling today, please arrive at the airport at least 4 hours before your departure.— Copa Airlines (@CopaAirlines) July 19, 2024
In Berlin, air traffic partially resumed following 08:00 GMT, an airport spokesman told AFP, where crowds formed as hundreds of passengers waited for directions in the middle of the holiday season.
Similar problems have affected Amsterdam-Schiphol airport in the Netherlands and Hong Kong, airport managers in these countries said.
In Switzerland, Zurich Airport, the country’s largest airport, said planes might land once more following having been suspended. Beijing airports, however, were not affected, Chinese state television reported.
In addition to airlines and airports, the computer failure also affected Dutch hospitals, the London Stock Exchange and Britain’s main rail operator.
The British network’s broadcasts Sky News were interrupted and in Australia, the national chain ABC said its systems had been affected by a “major” failure.
In New Zealand, local media reported problems with banks and parliamentary computer systems.
“Resilient infrastructures”
The global nature of the ruling has led some experts to highlight the fact that much of the world relies on a single provider for such diverse services.
“We need to be aware that this type of software can be a common cause of failure for multiple systems at the same time,” said software engineering professor John McDermid of Britain’s University of York.
“We need to design infrastructures that are resilient to these problems,” he added.
Airlines such as Dutch KLM and Irish Ryanair have suffered disruptions to their networks.
The same happened with the three Indian airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air, whose reservation systems were affected.
Turkish Airlines announced that it has cancelled 84 flights.
Some airlines at Singapore International Airport also reported disruptions due to the computer glitch.
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