Around the world computers have been taken Down by Microsoft Outage and CrowdStrike

Australian companies wake up to the news: An IT problem is affecting flights, airlines, and TV broadcasters in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the US

In the early hours of Friday, companies in Australia running Microsoft’s Windows operating system started reporting devices showing Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). Sky News went offline in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the US, following reports of disruptions, and US airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a global ground stop.

Australian banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters first raised the alarm as thousands of machines started to go offline. The issues are now spreading, as businesses based in Europe are starting their working days. UK broadcaster Sky News is currently unable to broadcast its morning news bulletins, and is showing a message apologizing for “the interruption to this broadcast.” One of the largest airlines in Europe, Ryanair, says that it is experiencing an IT issue that is impacting flight departures.

The US Federal Aviation Administration says all flights from Delta, United, and American Airlines are grounded due to a “communication issue.” Airport is warning of travel delays due to technical issues. Many 911 emergency call centers in Alaska have also been impacted by the issues.

Reddit Thread: Microsoft and CrowdStrike Melts the Windows End-To-End Errors in the Azure Workload

In a Reddit thread, hundreds of IT admins are reporting widespread issues and the workaround steps involve booting affected Windows machines into safe mode and navigating to the CrowdStrike directory and deleting a system file. It is likely to be a problem for some cloud-based server and even Windows laptops that are deployed and used remotely.

“Our entire company is offline” says one Reddit poster, while another says 70 percent of their laptops are down and stuck in a boot loop. One poster says Happy Friday. It looks like it’s going to be a long day for IT admins worldwide.

Several issues with Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 apps and services are not the only thing that appears to have gone wrong. The issues were caused by a configuration change in a portion of the Azure workload.

Many businesses are facing widespread IT shutdowns after Windows machines display errors around the world.

The devices being affected are running Windows and not other operating systems. It is unclear exactly how widespread the issues are and how long they will take to resolve. WIRED asked Microsoft and CrowdStrike if they had anything to say about the problem.

A Microsoft spokesperson also issued a statement saying it is aware of the problems linked to Windows devices and the company believes a “resolution is forthcoming.”

CrowdStrike Attacks on Software and Networks: Lukasz Olejnik, Security Consultant, and a Security Consultant

The outages could result in “millions” being lost by organizations impacted who have had to halt their operations or stop business, says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent cybersecurity consultant, who says the CrowdStrike update appears to be linked to its Falcon Sensor product. The Falcon system is part of CrowdStrike’s security tools and can block attacks on systems, according to the company.

Olejnik says it reminds them of their dependence on IT and software. “When a system has several software systems maintained by various vendors, this is equivalent to placing trust on them. They may be a single point of failure, when various firms feel the impact.