Major tech outage disrupts financial services, airlines and media groups globally

A major outage allegedly caused by on an update to the CrowdStrike security software has caused an issue with Windows software, wrecking havoc on financial services, broadcasters and airlines.

Sharing the news on social media, Microsoft said that they were: "Investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services".

We're investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services. More info posted in the admin center under MO821132 and on https://t.co/W5Y8dAkjMk

— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 18, 2024

The business software platform also said that they expect users to see gradual relief as Microsoft mitigate the issue.

Irish companies such as Ryanair have been impacted by the outage with Ryanair systems in Dublin and Cork being affected. Flights are taking off, but the travellers may be unable to check in online.

“Potential disruptions across the network (Fri 19 July) due to a global 3rd party system outage,” Ryanair said on its website.

The airline advised passengers to use the Ryanair app rather than the website and to arrive three hours before their flight.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers by this 3rd party IT issue, which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating across the network,” the website read.

The DAA, Dublin's Airport Authority have similarly told  passengers travelling through Dublin and Cork airports to allow extra time to get through the airport, with queues already forming.

Flights have been suspended at Berlin Brandenburg airport in Germany due to a “technical problem”, a spokeswoman told media outlet AFP, while major US carriers including American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines issued ground stops this morning citing communication issues according to Reuters.

Sky News, which was unable to broadcast this morning, has since been restored.

Elsewhere in Ireland, Transport for Ireland also reported issues, saying that customers were unable to use the TFI Live and the TFI Leap Top-up app.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused this morning to our customers unable to use our TFI Live and TFI Leap Top-up mobile apps.

There is a global outage affecting multiple countries at the moment. We don't have an estimated resolution time

— Transport for Ireland (@TFIupdates) July 19, 2024

Financial markets were also hit, with the London Stock Exchange saying it was unable to publish news earlier in the day.

The Euronext Dublin appeared to have escaped the problems according to the Irish Times. “We are aware of the current Microsoft outage,” it said. “It is not impacting trading across our venues, and we are closely monitoring the situation.”