Australians, along with the rest of the world, have been impacted by an IT outage that is considered to be the largest in history. It is believed to be a technical issue rather than a cybersecurity incident, although investigations are ongoing. Major institutions both nationally and internationally have been affected.
What happened?
On Friday afternoon, a technical issue reportedly linked to a US-based cybersecurity firm called CrowdStrike caused disruptions for Microsoft laptops in Australia and internationally. The global outage affected numerous Australian companies and government agencies, leading to many laptops attempting to restart and displaying a blue screen error message. This event had an impact on telecommunications providers, media websites, financial institutions, and airlines, and it is believed to have affected servers as well. The outage is attributed to a software update released by CrowdStrike earlier in the week.
Outages have also been recorded in the United States and New Zealand prior to the nationwide shutdown in Australia.
Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, Australia’s National Cybersecurity Coordinator, issued a statement on social media acknowledging the outage.
“We are currently informed that this outage is due to a technical issue with a third-party software platform utilized by the affected companies,” she stated.
What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike, a prominent US-based corporation, stands as one of the leading cybersecurity entities globally.
Australian cybersecurity firm CyberCX has acknowledged the outage and is providing guidance to its clients in Australia and New Zealand.
“We are aware that this issue has arisen due to a problem impacting organizations that have deployed CrowdStrike Falcon within their IT environments,” stated a spokesperson from CyberCX.
“CrowdStrike is a worldwide cybersecurity organization that furnishes detection and monitoring tools to cyber and IT teams.
“At present, CyberCX is actively monitoring the situation and is awaiting detailed information regarding the extent of the incident and its recovery. We remain committed to supporting affected clients as this situation develops.”
Who is affected?
The technical issue has caused global disruptions for Windows PC users. In Australia, all NSW government departments, including the police and fire and rescue services, have experienced the impact, although the emergency phone line, Triple-0, remained operational. Various companies, such as those in the banking, media, and airline sectors, have also been affected across the country. Customers have encountered ATM server problems at Woolworths and other retail establishments. Additionally, Qantas flight check-ins have reportedly been impacted. This afternoon, computer systems at ABC, SBS, and Sky crashed, resulting in interruptions to programming.
On Friday, Microsoft announced that it was investigating an incident affecting Microsoft 365 apps and services worldwide. The company stated that the cloud services outage in the Central US region had been resolved, following disruptions that led to the grounding and cancellation of several flights.
What has been impacted?
Users have reported encountering Blue Screen of Death error messages in various sectors, including banking institutions, supermarkets, and media companies such as ABC. Additionally, incidents of outages have been reported by ABC readers in universities, law firms, Bunnings, and blood donation services. Notably, payment systems are causing significant disruptions at supermarkets and fuel stations.
People are stuck at fuel pumps unable to pay for their petrol.
And supermarket customers have been sending the ABC photos of self-check-outs with error messages.
The global outage earlier forced airlines in the US to ground flights.
Flights
Qantas check-in terminals have been confirmed to be hit by outages in airports across the country including in Sydney and Canberra.
Virgin Australia also said it was aware of “a large-scale IT outage impacting multiple airlines and other businesses which is having an impact on our operations”.
These are the updates provided by airports so far.
Sydney
A representative from Sydney Airport stated that the outage had affected certain airline operations and terminal services. Nonetheless, flights were presently continuing as scheduled. The spokesperson also mentioned that some delays might arise during the evening and assured that contingency plans had been activated in collaboration with airline partners. Furthermore, additional staff had been stationed at the terminals to aid passengers.
Melbourne
Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport is currently encountering challenges with check-in systems for certain airlines. Travelers are advised to allocate additional time and closely monitor updates for their respective flights. This situation may affect both domestic and international flight operations.
Adelaide
Adelaide Airport says a small number of bag drop facilities and flight information screens have been impacted.
But the airport says check-in, security screening and flights are operating as normal.
Perth
So far, the ABC understands that aircraft are still departing Perth Airport.
Brisbane
Check-in for some airlines at Brisbane Airport and some terminal services are being impacted.
Flights are continuing to operate.
Health and emergency services
The federal government said triple-0 services were not currently affected by the outage.
And so far emergency services in several states have told the ABC they are able to keep working.
Victoria
Emergency services have confirmed that they have not been impacted by the outage. Ambulance Victoria, ESTA/Triple-0, and Fire Rescue Victoria have affirmed that they are not experiencing any issues with their internal or external communications. While there are reports of internal IT systems being down from Victoria Police staff, the full extent of the impact is not yet known. It has been observed that the Royal Women’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital remain unaffected by the situation.
South Australia
The ambulance service, police, and State Emergency Service have indicated that they have not been affected by the IT outage.
Queensland
Queensland Health hospitals remain unaffected by the outage. However, St Andrews Private Hospital and Wesley Hospital in Brisbane are currently experiencing downtime. According to a spokesperson from the hospital, internal systems have been affected, yet patient care has not been impacted. It is worth noting that the outage has not affected Queensland Health, the Queensland Fire Department, Queensland Police, and Queensland Ambulance services at ths time.
This article will be updated at the earliest convenience.
