Microsoft Global Outage Affects Airlines, Banks and Stock Market
One of the world’s leading IT & Computer companies, Microsoft suffered a global outage causing severe disruptions in IT, banking, stock exchange, and aviation industry.
On Friday, 19th July 2024, Microsoft, one of the world’s leading IT and computer companies, suffered a massive global outage. This unexpected disruption caused Microsoft’s laptops, computers, and other brands using Windows to stop working.
The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
Users were met with the notorious "blue screen of death" (BSOD) displaying the message: “Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We are just collecting some error info, then we will restart for you.”
Widespread Impact
The outage started in Microsoft's Central US region and quickly spread to India, Australia, Germany, the United States, and the UK. Several important industries, including IT, banking, the stock market, hotels, and airlines, were severely affected.
Significant Disruptions
- London Stock Exchange: Companies couldn’t publish their updates and data for trading.
- Banks: Bankers at JP Morgan Chase & Co., Nomura Holdings Inc., and Bank of America Corp. couldn’t log in. Thousands of JPMorgan Chase ATMs were down.
- Hospitals: Hospitals in Europe and the US couldn’t access scans, blood tests, and patient histories.
- Emergency Services: The US’s emergency helpline 911 crashed temporarily.
- Automobile Industry: Renault and Tesla had to stop production, costing them lakhs of dollars.
- Airlines: India’s Indigo and SpiceJet faced major problems. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed. Indigo alone canceled over 200 flights, causing chaos at airports. The Ministry of Civil Aviation of India had to implement a manual backup system. Airlines issued handwritten boarding passes and additional employees were deployed to manage overcrowded airports.
The Role of Cloud Services
Microsoft’s cloud service, crucial for many big companies, was the root cause. Big companies often use the cloud to store and access data online due to the vast amount of data and the need for global access. An example is Google Drive.
The Cause of the Outage
Microsoft uses CrowdStrike for its cybersecurity. On 18th July 2024, CrowdStrike released a software update that had a bug, causing the malfunction. Many IT companies, including Dell, blamed this update for the problem. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed this on X (formerly Twitter).
Restoration and Aftermath
CrowdStrike and Microsoft worked for several hours to restore services. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz assured that it was a technical issue, not a security breach, and that all customer data was safe. However, CrowdStrike’s share prices fell by 9% in one day.
Everything returned to normal by Friday evening, but the incident left many wondering if a small digital bug could bring the world to a standstill again.
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