A major IT outage, described as the largest in history, disrupted services worldwide, affecting airports, healthcare, and businesses. The outage was caused by a faulty software update from US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which impacted Microsoft’s Windows operating system. This left many computers showing the “blue screen of death” and requiring manual fixes.
The recovery process is expected to take weeks as affected systems slowly come back online. Experts noted the outage highlighted the need for better contingency plans and backups in organizations to handle such failures.
Key disruptions included canceled flights, halted hospital operations, and issues with digital services for banks and supermarkets. Microsoft acknowledged the issue, while CrowdStrike apologized for the disruption. The company’s stock fell by up to 13% during the day.
Globally, airports from Berlin to Hong Kong experienced significant delays, and major airlines advised passengers to arrive early. In the healthcare sector, patient records and appointment systems were inaccessible, causing further delays.
Despite the severe impact, experts believe the situation will stabilize soon, with most services expected to return to normal within the coming weeks.