Microsoft Outage Unveiled
: On an otherwise ordinary Friday, offices buzzed with activity as travelers traversed the globe. Then, suddenly, systems went dark, screens turned blue. Banks, stock exchanges, news channels, stores, and most notably, airlines — everything ground to a halt. A wave of confusion swept across nations. Governments sprung into action, calling emergency meetings to address the crisis.
Reports indicated a glitch in Microsoft's servers disrupted services globally, including airlines, financial sectors, telecommunications, and emergency systems. Microsoft has been diligently resolving the issue, with significant impacts seen in countries like the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Australia, as well as India. Flight delays and handwritten boarding passes at airports like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru visibly manifested these disruptions.
Services Grind to a Halt
Possibly linked to a failure in Crowdstrike's cybersecurity services, which provides security solutions to Microsoft Windows, the ripple effect touched Indian flight services, payment systems, and trading. Airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa, and SpiceJet reported affected booking and check-in processes. The central government is in deliberation with Microsoft to remediate the problem.
Delayed Flights Nationwide
Airlines such as Air India, Akasa, IndiGo, and SpiceJet issued statements on the delays due to the Microsoft outage, with some passengers receiving manually written boarding passes at airports like Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad. Delays were noted at Delhi Airport (35 minutes), Bengaluru (32 minutes), and Mumbai (40 minutes).
Flight Delays Go Global
Airports worldwide, including Prague and Singapore's Changi, operated manual check-ins amidst delays. Spain's entire airport network was affected. Major U.K. rail operators forewarned 'cancellations' due to extensive IT challenges.
Turkish Airlines and many others faced challenges, leading to a suspension of flights at Berlin Airport. American media outlets reported that U.S. airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United had halted flights. In the U.S., emergency 911 services experienced disruptions, impacting non-emergency call centers.
The effects were profoundly felt in Amsterdam's Schiphol and the U.K.'s Edinburgh Airport, where passengers could not use automated boarding pass scanners and 'Server Offline' messages were displayed.
Australia's IT Systems Hit Hard
This disruption has had its greatest impact in Australia, where the national broadcaster, major international airports, and a leading telecom company reported issues. Brisbane Airport advised giving extra time for travel despite operational flights. Sydney Airport confirmed disruptions to some services and airline operations due to technical issues.
Australia's national cybersecurity coordinator reported significant technical failures affecting companies and services nationwide. Photos showed long queues at Sydney Airport, and an emergency government meeting has been convened.
News Channels Also Disrupted
Major news outlets, including Britain's Sky News, went offline due to the issue. AP suffered intermittent service disturbances that hampered news distribution.
Healthcare Booking Systems Offline
In England, a core health booking system used by doctors went offline. The London Stock Exchange services were also interrupted, and many brokerage firms, including Numis, Edelweiss, and Motilal Oswal, faced technical issues.
