At least 430 flights were delayed at Mumbai’s international airport and another 417 in Delhi. This was just the start of a larger global IT system error that left thousands of travellers stranded at airports across the world.
Relying heavily on Microsoft as an IT host, airports around the world faced the wrath of technological overdependence, with no contingency plans in the face of this large-scale systemic failure.
While Mac and Linux hosts remained unaffected, the Windows outage triggered significant disruptions in airports worldwide, leading to a cascade of flight delays and cancellations.
Passengers across numerous airports have faced prolonged waits and uncertainty as airlines and airport authorities struggled to recover from the outage. As these delays made international headlines, the larger impact of the outage gained attention.
In the interconnected digital landscape of the 21st century, the reliance on information technology (IT) infrastructure has become paramount across nearly every industry and sector worldwide. However, the fragility of this IT dependence was starkly exposed in the recent global IT outage, causing major disruptions in air travel, financial services, healthcare systems and numerous other industries.
The cascading effects of such an outage have been widespread and have highlighted the vitality of IT services and critical vulnerabilities faced by organisations and states, urging for the development of robust contingency planning.
The incident revealed critical lessons about the state of global IT security. Both IT giants Microsoft and CrowdStrike's responses emphasised the necessity for enhanced cybersecurity measures and proactive risk management.
The Outage
The outage resulted from a CrowdStrike system update that reportedly had a bug, eventually causing a global shutdown of all Microsoft platforms. This vulnerability led to extensive service interruptions worldwide.
As a key player in the cybersecurity space, CrowdStrike’s involvement was crucial as it immediately began reversing the update to get hosts back online, while official apologies were issued. An investigation was also opened to better understand why the update caused such an outage.
CrowdStrike, a leading cybersecurity firm, played a key role during and after the outage. Despite the firm being responsible for and simultaneously impacted by the outage, CrowdStrike's involvement indicates its significance in the cybersecurity landscape.
Founded by George Kurtz, the cybersecurity giant is widely used across various industries to safeguard against cyber threats through endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and incident response services.
In light of the worldwide outage, the company attempted to provide detailed insights into what is considered to be a normal and procedural update, while also providing immediate help to counteract the effects of the outage in a bid to boost and expedite global recovery.
The Aftermath
The outage, affecting crucial systems reliant on Microsoft Windows, impacted check-in procedures, security screenings, and flight scheduling systems. This unprecedented technical failure forced airlines to manually process passengers, slowing down operations considerably at airports across the world.
Various other sectors and industries faced challenges in continuing operations due to the outage. The financial sector was among the hardest hit. Major banking institutions and stock exchanges experienced severe disruptions.
As reported by NBC News, several large banks faced challenges in processing transactions and managing customer accounts due to system outages. The disruption led to delays in electronic payments and withdrawals, significantly affecting retail and institutional clients.
Online banking services in Australia took a hit as Bendigo Bank announced the revival of its systems three days after the outage. While ATM machines remained unaffected, alerts over delayed transactions were issued, as The Commonwealth Bank said to The Guardian.
With these delayed transactions supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths announced mid-day shutdowns as a third of their self-checkout systems projected the blue ‘error’ screens. Online orders also faced disruptions and the supermarket teams experienced a major backlog of orders to be delivered over the weekend once the system was revived.
Sydney and Melbourne airports continue to experience some delays, while broadcasting channels including ABC News and Channel Ten successfully restored operations and are now functioning as normal.
Stock exchanges around the world, including prominent ones in New York and London, had to halt trading temporarily. This suspension caused substantial financial losses and heightened volatility in global markets.
The incident highlighted the critical role of digital systems in financial transactions and the severe consequences of their failure. A Euronews report suggests that major European airlines including German flagship carrier Lufthansa and Ryanair suffered losses of 1.5% and 2.9% respectively.
CrowdStrike alone saw an 11% decrease in shares after the outage as reported by the Financial Express, with the system failure proving highly consequential for the cybersecurity giant. Consequently, rival cybersecurity firms saw significant increases in shares. Palo Alto Networks advanced 2.2%, while SentinelOne rose by 7.8%, as reported by Reuters.
In the healthcare sector, the IT outage caused significant operational difficulties. Hospitals and clinics experienced problems accessing electronic health records (EHRs), which are essential for patient care and medical decision-making.
Many healthcare facilities struggled to provide timely care due to the unavailability of patient data and diagnostic tools. This disruption led to delays in elective surgeries, and treatment and heightened risks for patients, particularly in emergencies.
Hospitals in the United Kingdom reportedly had to suspend all radiology treatments and services due to the lack of IT support and operations. The National Health Service (NHS) reported such disruptions in numerous private clinics around the country as well.
With this, the telecommunications sector also faced considerable challenges due to the outage. Both mobile and internet services were disrupted, affecting communication channels globally. The outage impacted remote work, online education, and access to various digital services, emphasising the dependency of contemporary society on uninterrupted telecommunications.
Telecom providers had to manage a surge in demand for alternative communication methods and worked to restore services as quickly as possible. The event illustrated the importance of robust and resilient network infrastructure to ensure reliable communication and connectivity.
Ted Wheeler, the Mayor of Portland City, Oregon, in the United States, took to social media to declare an emergency as telecommunication and other essential services around the city faced major disruptions.
The manufacturing sector experienced significant operational disruptions due to the outage. Various production facilities halted operations as automated systems and supply chain management software were rendered inoperable. The disruption affected both the procurement of raw materials and the distribution of finished goods, leading to production delays and financial losses for manufacturers.
The outage also highlighted the vulnerability of global supply chains to digital disruptions. The interdependence of modern manufacturing processes and digital systems was exposed, prompting calls for improved risk management and contingency planning within the industry.
In India, the impact of the outage varied across sectors. The Hindustan Times noted that while some industries, like banking and telecommunications, experienced significant disruptions, others, such as retail and agriculture, were less affected. The differential impact emphasised the varying degrees of reliance on digital systems across different sectors and the importance of sector-specific strategies for managing IT disruptions.
The Recovery
The recovery process began almost immediately after the bug causing the outage was identified. As CrowdStrike worked to reverse the update, most systems around the world were brought back online within 48 hours. Microsoft and CrowdStrike, however, have suggested that a complete recovery of data and reversal of the damage caused by the outage could take weeks.
The Guardian quoted Adam Leon Smith of the UK’s chartered Institute for IT known as BCS, suggesting that “in some cases, the fix may be applied very quickly, [...] but if computers have reacted in a way that means they’re getting into blue screens and endless loops it may be difficult to restore and that could take days and weeks.”
Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Surrey, Alan Woodworth, further added that a manual reboot of all the affected machines was required with the sheer number of affected PCs posing a great challenge for a quick recovery.
While most industries worldwide have restored operations, including flights, banks and healthcare providers, the aftermath of the outage has left IT experts and support struggling to ensure all data is secured and recovered.
Professor of security engineering, Steve Murdoch, of the University College London, stated “The problem is occurring before the computer is connected to the internet so there is no way to fix the problem remotely, so that requires someone to come out and fix the problem” as reported by The Guardian.
He further suggested that organisations that had previously cut back on IT staff or outsourced their IT support are facing increasing difficulties in addressing the issues caused by the outage.
The Monopoly
The Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage in July 2024 is a stark reminder of the dangers posed by monopolisation in the technology sector. Since CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity services heavily rely on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, this outage had a cascading effect, crippling CrowdStrike’s operations and leaving many businesses vulnerable to cyber threats.
This outage shed light on the significant risks associated with having critical digital infrastructure controlled by a few large corporations. Microsoft’s dominance in the cloud services market means that any disruption in its services can have far-reaching consequences, affecting numerous dependent businesses and their customers. The reliance on a single provider creates a single point of failure, which can lead to widespread operational disruptions.
The monopolistic hold of companies like Microsoft on essential services stifles competition and innovation. Smaller firms find it challenging to compete with tech giants that have vast resources and extensive market control. This lack of competition can lead to complacency and a lack of incentive to innovate, potentially slowing technological advancement.
Furthermore, the concentration of power within a few tech giants raises concerns about data privacy and security. With so much critical data stored and processed by a single entity, any breach or outage can have catastrophic implications.
In the case of the Microsoft-CrowdStrike outage, businesses relying on these services were left vulnerable to cyber-attacks, highlighting the security risks of monopolisation and the need for more vendors in the market.
The incident also brings to light the need for greater regulatory oversight globally and the promotion of a more diversified and competitive technology landscape. Regulatory bodies may need to impose stricter rules to prevent monopolistic practices and encourage the growth of smaller, innovative companies. This could involve breaking up large tech firms, enforcing data portability, and ensuring fair competition in the market.
The Future of IT
CrowdStrike's cybersecurity teams collaborated with Microsoft and other stakeholders to recover all services and platforms. Their efforts were crucial in stabilising the situation and facilitating the recovery of affected systems.
The restoration of services also required effective coordination between affected organisations and technology providers. Clear communication channels were established to manage the incident and provide updates to stakeholders. Companies across various sectors worked closely with IT and cybersecurity experts to implement necessary fixes and restore functionality.
Despite the swift action taken, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities inherent in heavily digitised and monopolised systems and emphasises the critical need for robust backup measures and contingency plans in the face of unforeseen technical failures.
The outage further acted as a reminder for states, organisations, and private firms to rethink the growing dependency on technology without contingency plans and strategies to overcome such technological struggles. A deep reflection of the growing vitality of technology and IT would be necessary moving forward, as technological advancements continue to dominate evolution and intercept our day-to-day lives.
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