Businesses and governments worldwide experienced hours-long disruptions Friday as a affected services across industries. Flights were grounded and numerous hospitals, small businesses and government offices were disrupted.
At the heart of the massive disruption is , a cybersecurity firm that worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
Here's the Latest:
Hundreds stranded at Mexican airports, but band keeps Canc煤n travelers entertained
MEXICO CITY 鈥� Long lines of people were waiting for information in several international airports in Mexico as hundreds of people had their travel plans interrupted by delayed and canceled flights Friday.
In Canc煤n, the main tourist destination on the Caribbean coast, a band was stranded and was playing at the airport, while some travelers livened up their long waits by singing a popular Mexican song, 鈥淐ielito Lindo,鈥� with a chorus urging people to sing instead of cry. The title translates roughly to 鈥淟ovely Sweet One鈥� or 鈥淪weetheart,鈥� and the song embodies a national sentiment of remaining happy even in the worst moments.
The airport there had 24 canceled and 100 delayed flights.
At the main Mexico City airport, 22 flights were canceled and another 250 were delayed, affecting some 2,000 passengers, especially those traveling to or arriving from the United States, said Rear Admiral Jos茅 Ram贸n Rivera, its general director.
Viva Aerobus, a low-cost airline, announced the cancellation of all its international flights scheduled for Friday. Volaris was another of the most affected companies.
In some cities in the north of the country, such as Tijuana, there were delays and long lines at several border crossings. But the Mexican government did not report any damage to its computer systems.
Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates have canceled hundreds of flights
DALLAS 鈥� Delta Air Lines and its regional affiliates canceled more than a quarter of their schedule on the East Coast by midafternoon Friday, aviation data provider Cirium said.
More than 1,100 flights for Delta and its affiliates have been canceled.
United and United Express had canceled more than 500 flights, or 12% of their schedule, and American Airlines鈥� network had canceled 450 flights, 7.5% of its schedule.
Southwest and Alaska do not use the CrowdStrike software that led to the global internet outages and had canceled fewer than a half-dozen flights each.
Portland, Oregon, mayor declares an emergency over the outage
PORTLAND, Ore. 鈥� Mayor Ted Wheeler declared an emergency Friday after more than half of the city鈥檚 computer systems were affected by the global internet outage.
Wheeler said during a news conference that while emergency services calls weren鈥檛 interrupted, dispatchers were having to manually track 911 calls with pen and paper for a few hours. He said 266 of the city鈥檚 487 computer systems were affected.
State and local governments in the US work on recovering from the internet outage
States and local governments across the U.S. worked to resolve problems caused by the global internet outage.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said critical state IT systems that had suffered from the outage were fully operational by midafternoon.
In Alaska, the state court system repaired every computer workstation and server, completing the task within 12 hours.
鈥淭hankfully, our Information Services team worked overnight repairing as much as possible to ensure that essential functions are operational and that hearings are able to go forward today,鈥� Koford said in an email.
In Kansas, the outage temporarily blocked the public鈥檚 online access to court records because it affected servers for the judicial branch鈥檚 case management system, according to spokesperson Lisa Taylor. Servers were back up quickly by Friday afternoon 鈥� in sharp contrast to the weeks it took to resume online access to court records after a cyberattack in October.
But in other places, the recovery was slower.
Anthony Lewis, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, came to Norfolk County Superior Court outside Boston for a case, only to learn all cases on Friday were rescheduled.
鈥淚 drove all the way out here for nothing,鈥� he said.
The White House is in contact with CrowdStrike executives
The White House says it is in regular contact with executives at CrowdStrike, which makes the software tied to the global internet outage. President Joe Biden is continuing to receive updates, officials said.
Federal agencies also are assessing the effects of the CrowdStrike outage on U.S. government operations, the White House said.
Border crossings into the US are delayed
SAN DIEGO 鈥� People seeking to enter the U.S. from both the north and the south found that the border crossings were delayed by the internet outage.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry was gridlocked Friday morning with pedestrians waiting three hours to cross, .
Even cars with people approved for a U.S. Customers and Border Protection 鈥淭rusted Traveler鈥� program for low-risk passengers waited up to 90 minutes. The program, known as SENTRI, moves passengers more quickly through customs and passport control if they make an appointment for an interview and submit to a background check to travel through customs and passport control more quickly when they arrive in the U.S.
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System posted on X that some of its employees who live in Tijuana, Mexico, were unable to get to work Friday. The agency said the disruption may affect its service and encouraged riders to check for delays or detours.
Meanwhile, at the U.S.-sa国际传媒 border, Windsor Police reported long delays at the crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
___
The dateline has been corrected to San Diego.
Air travel has been disrupted around the globe
BERLIN 鈥� Airlines across the world reported disruptions to check-in systems and other issues that caused flights to be grounded or delayed.
German-based airline Eurowings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, called on customers who were traveling inside Germany to book train tickets instead and submit them for reimbursement after it canceled German domestic flights and services to and from the United Kingdom.
At least 100 flights to and from Switzerland鈥檚 Zurich Airport were canceled Friday. Berlin鈥檚 Brandenburg Airport also saw flights canceled after being hit with the outage. Issues were also reported in the busy European hubs of Amsterdam and Rome.
France鈥檚 airport authority reported that some flights were temporarily suspended and there were check-in delays at Paris鈥� Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.
Thailand鈥檚 two largest airports reported being forced to check in passengers manually.
In South Korea, several low-cost airlines reported problems, triggering delays in passenger boardings at Incheon international Airport, the country鈥檚 biggest airport, airport officials said.
In sa国际传媒, Porter Airlines said it was canceling its flights for several hours because of the outage. Azul Airlines, a Brazilian low-cost airline, said its check-in systems were affected, causing occasional flight delays.
Some U.S. air passengers were stranded or waited for hours to board
MINNEAPOLIS 鈥� Passengers across the U.S. found themselves facing a miserable experience Friday at some of the nation鈥檚 airports.
The FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
At the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Sarah Schafer was headed to Florida for her cousin鈥檚 50th birthday party, an event that had been scheduled around her availability.
She had been waiting for almost three hours Friday with no indication of when and where her flight would be rebooked. With lines stretched back the entire of length of her terminal, she stood in line with an injured ankle and used a cane to prop herself up.
鈥淚 seem calm,鈥� Schafer said. 鈥淏ut my angry side might come out.鈥�
More than 70 flights were canceled by 7 a.m. at Los Angeles International Airport and passengers were stuck in hours-long waits to get through security or to try to rebook their flights, the Los Angeles Times .
At Chicago鈥檚 O鈥橦are Airport, many information screens, including those at boarding gates, continued to be stuck on the blue Windows 鈥渞ecovery鈥� screen on Friday afternoon.
Outages affect hospitals, doctor鈥檚 offices in US, sa国际传媒, England
Health care providers across the U.S. and in sa国际传媒 and England had their services disrupted by the global internet outage, though some systems saw little or no effect.
Harris Health System, which runs public hospitals and clinics in the Houston area, said it had to suspend hospital visits 鈥渦ntil further notice鈥� due to the outage. Elective hospital procedures were being canceled and rescheduled.
The outage affected records systems for Providence, a health system with 51 hospitals in Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington state.
The New York-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center said it was pausing the start of any procedures that require anesthesia.
In New England, the outage led some hospitals to cancel appointments.
A spokesperson at Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in Massachusetts, said the outage had resulted in all scheduled nonurgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits being canceled for Friday. Emergency departments remained open.
The 188-hospital HCA Healthcare system said it didn鈥檛 expect its ability to provide care to be affected, and in Los Angeles, the Cedars-Sinai Health System remained open and continued to provide care. The Cleveland Clinic also said patient care was not affected.
In sa国际传媒, University Health Network, one of that nation鈥檚 largest hospital networks, said clinical activity was continuing as scheduled, but some patients may experience delays.
Across the Atlantic, Britain鈥檚 National Health Service said there were problems at most doctors鈥� offices across England as the outage hit the appointment and patient record system used across the health service. The state-funded NHS treats the vast majority of people in the U.K.
The NHS said the 999 number used to call for emergency ambulances wasn鈥檛 affected.
If you want a Starbucks coffee, you can鈥檛 order ahead
People pining for a venti caramel macchiato or a grande frozen mango dragonfruit lemonade found Friday that they couldn鈥檛 order ahead from Starbucks online or with their cellphones Friday.
The coffee shop chain apologized for the problem and said it was serving customers in 鈥渁 vast majority鈥� of its stores and drive-thrus.
Courts in several U.S. states are disrupted by the outage
BOSTON 鈥� Courts in Massachusetts and New York saw their operations disrupted Friday by the global internet outage.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts judiciary said about half of its workstations were down while court transcription recording systems were not operating in a number of courthouses, resulting in delays in some court sessions.
Some court proceedings were also delayed in New York because of computer problems.
In Manhattan, a criminal court proceeding for Harvey Weinstein, who is charged with rape, started 90 minutes late because of disruptions to court and corrections computer systems.
In Southern California, Orange County Superior Court also reported technical issues.
Outage forces several US states to close driver鈥檚 license offices
AUSTIN, Texas 鈥� The internet outages forced Texas to close all of its driver鈥檚 license offices across the state, and New York鈥檚 Department of Motor Vehicles couldn鈥檛 process transactions online and in its offices Friday morning.
The Texas Department of Public Safety operates driver鈥檚 license offices in most of the state鈥檚 254 counties. The agency issues, renews and updates driver licenses or state ID cards and provides driver education courses.
The department said in a statement that 鈥渢here is no current estimate鈥� on when the offices will reopen.
In New York, the DMV said that by Friday afternoon, some systems had been restored and that it could begin performing online transactions. However, some in-person services were still offline.
At least three of its DMV offices closed for the day because of the outage, according to the agency鈥檚 website.
Zackary Blaine, a 28-year-old living in the New York City suburbs, said he took Friday off work expecting to spend a chunk of the day at the DMV only to find security guards turning people away at the door of his local office.
鈥淚鈥檓 not too stressed, but it鈥檚 kind of wild to think how much something like this impacts things,鈥� Blaine said by phone later.
Internet Society leader says outages 鈥榳ill happen in the future鈥�
SAN FRANCISCO 鈥� The head of a nonprofit group that promotes building the internet says outages like the major one affecting Microsoft and causing problems across the globe will happen in the future because of 鈥渙ur world of complex, interconnected systems.鈥�
鈥淭he important part is how we learn from them and how we improve the resilience of our systems, so that similar issues do not happen again,鈥� Andrew Sullivan, CEO of the nonprofit Internet Society said Friday.
The outages disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, but Sullivan said there was no loss of connectivity and data continued to flow.
鈥淭his was a failure of some systems using a specific operating system and a specific vendor鈥檚 management tools," he said. "Unfortunately, those systems were used widely and for many functions critical to people鈥檚 daily lives.鈥�
Meanwhile, some cybersecurity experts are warning that organizations affected by the internet outage should be alert for scammers.
鈥淥rganizations should be aware and wary of that and making sure that when they鈥檙e talking about getting this problem remediated, that they鈥檙e talking to trusted organizations,鈥� said Gartner analyst Eric Grenier. 鈥淎ttackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this.鈥�
___
The spelling of Andrew Sullivan's last name has been corrected.
Disruptions in Southern California didn't close ports
SANTA ANA 鈥� Ports in Southern California saw some disruptions from the internet outage but still were operating.
Mario Cordero, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, said four marine terminals experienced computer issues but resolved them with minimal disruption.
One of the Port of Los Angeles鈥� seven terminals had limited operations overnight, said spokesperson Phillip Sanfield.
鈥淏asically, it鈥檚 been minimal impact overnight and we鈥檙e going to have to wait and see how these terminals come up over the next several hours,鈥� Sanfield said.
In Brazil and South Africa, banks report service disruptions
SAO PAULO 鈥� Bradesco, one of the main banks in Brazil, notified its users via its app that digital services were unstable due to a global cyber outage, but its ATMs were working normally. Bradesco has over 100 million clients.
In South Africa, at least two major banks said they experienced service disruptions as customers complained they weren鈥檛 able to make payments using their bank cards at grocery stores and gas stations or use ATMs. Both said they were able to restore services hours later.
Ticket sales for Universal Studios Japan affected by global system outage
TOKYO 鈥� Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, western Japan, said the global system outage that started Friday will continue to affect ticket sales at the park over the weekend.
The park said its ticket booths sales will not be available Saturday and Sunday and asked visitors to purchase their tickets on the USJ official website or via designated ticket sales site Lawson Ticket. Park attractions aren't affected.
Emergency call centers in some US states report outages
Officials in some U.S. states, including Alaska, Virginia and Iowa, warned of problems to 911 emergency call centers in their areas. Alaska State Troopers warned that many 911 and nonemergency call centers across the state weren't working correctly and shared alternate numbers.
In Virginia, the City of Fairfax Police Department said on social media that it was experiencing technical difficulties with its phone systems, including 911. The department shared a nonemergency number for callers and said 911 could still be used, but calls wouldn't go directly to the dispatch center.
The New Hampshire Emergency Services and Communications reported a temporary interruption to 911 calls early Friday, with the system fully restored several hours later, officials said. In Iowa, the Marion County Sheriff鈥檚 Office warned on social media that phone lines were down and 911 calls might be routed to neighboring counties, but emergency calls would be promptly redirected to the sheriff鈥檚 office.
In communities , police said they used cellphones to pull up maps and went back to 鈥渙ld-school鈥� methods such as dispatching calls over radio and writing out police reports by hand.
鈥淲e just go back to people writing it down,鈥� San Diego Sheriff鈥檚 Lt. Gavin Lanning told the . 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 as easy as normal.鈥�
IT companies in Sri Lanka affected by global outage
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka 鈥� The National Center for Cyber Security in Sri Lanka says four information technology companies in Sri Lanka have been affected because of the global outage.
Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which is known as Sri Lanka CERT, says that so far only four companies have informed them of being affected and the center attributed them to a problem with the cybersecurity platform CrowdStrike.
Charuka Damunupola, lead information security engineer at Sri Lanka CERT, says those companies were using CrowdStrike software and their systems 鈥渁re in failure mode.鈥�
German regional grocery chain temporarily shut hundreds of stores
BERLIN 鈥� A German regional grocery chain, Tegut, temporarily shut its 340 stores in the country Friday morning as the computer outage affected cash register systems.
By early afternoon, more than half of the stores were open again.
London Stock Exchange experiencing disruptions, but trading not affected
LONDON 鈥� The London Stock Exchange says it is experiencing disruptions from the technology outage that has created chaos around the globe.
The LSE says its regulatory news service was not working Friday morning, but the outage hadn't affected trading.
鈥淲e are currently experiencing a third party technical issue which is impacting some of our services,鈥� a London Stock Exchange Group spokesperson said in a statement.
The exchange says it鈥檚 trying to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
Cybersecurity company at heart of IT outage says the issue isn't a cyberattack or security incident
LONDON 鈥� The chief executive of the cybersecurity company at the heart of a worldwide Microsoft outage says it is working to fix a defect sent out in a Windows update.
鈥淭his is not a security incident or cyberattack,鈥� CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X. 鈥淭he issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.鈥�
Kurtz said there was a defect in a 鈥渟ingle content update for Windows hosts.鈥� Mac and Linux hosts weren't affected.
The company referred customers to its support portal for updates.
Pharmacy chains in Norway report problems with providing prescription medication
HELSINKI 鈥� Two pharmacy chains in Norway said they are having problems providing customers with their prescription medicine and are facing substantial connection delays because of the global network problems.
Several branches of the Apotek1 pharmacy have closed across Norway after being affected by IT issues, which also shut down the chain鈥檚 online sales, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported.
The Boots drugstore and pharmacy chain also ran into problems delivering products to clients in Norway. Boots said that 鈥渄ue to global network problems, you may experience challenges with ordering and possible delays in dispatches,鈥� NTB reported.
Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations' arrivals have been delayed
PARIS 鈥� Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations鈥� arrivals, as well as the delivery of some uniforms and accreditations, have been delayed because of the outage.
The organizers said in a statement that ticketing and the torch relay haven't been affected.
鈥淥ur teams have been fully mobilized to ensure the continuity of operations at optimum levels,鈥� organizers said.
Baltic container hub in Poland suspends business
WARSAW 鈥� Baltic Hub, a major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland, says it's battling problems resulting from the global system outage.
Their entry gates are temporarily closed and they have suspended business, the Baltic Hub said in a statement.
The Associated Press
