A major internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Airlines and airports in the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
Here's the Latest
Courts in Massachusetts and New York are disrupted by the outage
BOSTON -- 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 Texas and New York to close driver's licence offices
AUSTIN, Texas -- The internet outages forced Texas to close all of its driver's licence offices across the state, and New York's Department of Motor Vehicles couldn't process transactions online and in its offices Friday morning.
The Texas Department of Public Safety operates driver's licence offices in most of the state's 254 counties. The agency issues, renews and updates driver licences or state ID cards and provides driver education courses.
The department said in a statement that "there is no current estimate" 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's website.
Internet Society leader says outages 'will happen in the future'
SAN FRANCISCO -- 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 "our world of complex, interconnected systems."
"The 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," 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.
"This was a failure of some systems using a specific operating system and a specific vendor's management tools," he said. "Unfortunately, those systems were used widely and for many functions critical to people's daily lives."
Meanwhile, some cybersecurity experts are warning that organizations affected by the internet outage should be alert for scammers.
"Organizations should be aware and wary of that and making sure that when they're talking about getting this problem remediated, that they're talking to trusted organizations," said Gartner analyst Eric Grenier. "Attackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this."
Disruptions in Southern California didn't stop flights or close ports
TUSTIN, Calif. -- Ports in Southern California and the John Wayne Airport in Orange County saw some disruptions from the internet outage but still were operating.
At John Wayne Airport in Orange County, there were a dozen reported cancellations and at least 40 delays, but flights were taking off Friday morning, said AnnaSophia Servin, an airport spokesperson. The airport averages about 260 arrivals and departures each day.
"We're processing passengers, but airlines are dealing with effects to flights and flight schedules," Servin said.
At the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, marine terminals were affected but the outage didn't cause significant disruption.
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' seven terminals had limited operations overnight, said spokesperson Phillip Sanfield.
"Basically, it's been minimal impact overnight and we're going to have to wait and see how these terminals come up over the next several hours," Sanfield said.
Some U.S. health care centres unaffected by outage, others suspend hospital visits
In Los Angeles, the Cedars-Sinai Health System remained open and continued to provide care. Spokesperson Christina Elston said the system was affected by the outage but that they were working to address the issue and limit its impact.
Harris Health System, which runs public hospitals and clinics in the Houston area, said it had to suspend hospital visits "until further notice" due to the outage. Elective hospital procedures were being cancelled and rescheduled. Clinic appointments were initially impacted, but in a post later on X, the health system said that its health centres were now open for such appointments.
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic said patient care has not been affected by the outage, but it was affecting some technology the clinic uses. She said the health system is providing care at all locations.
A spokesperson for HCA Healthcare said the health system didn't expect the technology issue to affect its ability to provide care. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA runs 188 hospitals and about 2,400 care sites around the country.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center said it was pausing the start of any procedures that require anesthesia. The New York-based care provider said it was dealing with systems issues related to the technology disruption.
FAA lifts some airline ground stop orders, but many passengers still stranded
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration lifted the ground stop orders for Delta and United airlines just before noon.
JetBlue said in a statement that its operations remain normal, and that it is not experiencing any systemwide delays or cancellations.
United Airlines said earlier that the outage was affecting its computer systems and warned customers of potential flight delays. The carrier said some flights are resuming and it is issuing waivers to make it easier to change travel plans within its website.
In Brazil, a major bank and a low-cost airline report service disruptions
SAO PAULO -- 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.
Azul Airlines, a Brazilian low-cost airline, said its check-in systems were affected, causing occasional flight delays. The company recommended that customers arrive at the airport earlier. The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil said it is monitoring the impacts on airports, but so far there haven't been major delays.
Ticket sales for Universal Studios Japan affected by global system outage
TOKYO -- 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 centres in some U.S. states report outages
Officials in some U.S. states, including Alaska, Virginia and Iowa, warned of problems to 911 emergency call centres in their areas. Alaska State Troopers warned that many 911 and nonemergency call centres 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 centre.
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's Office warned on social media that phone lines were down and 911 calls might be routed to neighbouring counties, but emergency calls would be promptly redirected to the sheriff's office.
In New England, the outage led some hospitals to cancel appointments.
A spokesman 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 cancelled for Friday. Emergency departments remain open and care for patients in the hospital hasn't been impacted.
IT outage affects hospitals, border crossing, flights in Canada
TORONTO -- The outage grounded some flights, disrupted hospitals and backed up border crossings in Canada on Friday.
Porter Airlines said it was cancelling its flights for several hours because of the outage. Meanwhile, Air Canada, Canada's largest airline, said there is no major impact to its operations, adding that it's monitoring the situation closely. University Health Network, one of Canada's largest hospital networks, said that some of its systems had been impacted by the outage. In a post to social media, it said clinical activity was continuing as scheduled, but some patients may experience delays. Windsor Police reported long delays at both the Canada-United States border crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.
London Stock Exchange experiencing disruptions, but trading not affected
LONDON — 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.
“We are currently experiencing a third party technical issue which is impacting some of our services,” a London Stock Exchange Group spokesperson said in a statement.
The exchange says it’s trying to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
Long lines at many airports around the world, but some systems back online
Long queues have formed at many airports around the world as the global internet outage hit check-in procedures for flights — although in some locations systems were now back online.
Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport was gradually returning to normal operations, the airport said in a statement, though some airlines had been forced to cancel flights after being hit with the outage from 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).
“Passenger handling continued with some restrictions. Departures took place with restrictions. There are still waiting times. Unfortunately, some flights had to be canceled by the airlines. The airport’s systems have been restarted and we are gradually returning to normal operations,” the airport said.
German-based airline Eurowings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, says it had to cancel German domestic flights as well as services to and from the U.K. because of disruption to its check-in and boarding processes. It called on people traveling inside Germany to book train tickets and submit them for reimbursement.
In South Korea, several low-cost airlines reported problems, triggering delays in passenger boardings at Incheon international Airport, the country’s biggest airport, airport officials said.
Jeju Air Co. said it was experiencing problems with ticketing and other services on its website. Air Premia Inc. said key services on its website, such as ticket bookings, cancellations and online check-ins, weren't working. The website of Eastar Jet Co. wasn’t accessible as of early Friday evening. Incheon airport officials and the country’s Transport Ministry said they were checking details of damages.
AirAsia announced on its Thai Facebook page that its reservation and check-in system had been impacted and encouraged passengers to go to airports early as they might face slower check-in and longer lines.
In the U.S., United Airlines said that the outage was impacting its computer systems and warned customers of potential flight delays. The carrier said some flights are resuming and it is issuing waivers to make it easier to change travel plans within its website.
Cybersecurity company at heart of IT outage says the issue isn't a cyberattack or security incident
LONDON — 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.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
Kurtz said there was a defect in a “single content update for Windows hosts.” 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 — 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’s 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 “due to global network problems, you may experience challenges with ordering and possible delays in dispatches,” NTB reported.
Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations' arrivals have been delayed
PARIS — Paris Olympics organizers say some Olympic delegations’ 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.
“Our teams have been fully mobilized to ensure the continuity of operations at optimum levels,” organizers said.
Internet outage causes problems at most doctors' offices across England
LONDON — Britain’s National Health Service says a global internet outage is causing problems at most doctors’ offices across England.
NHS England said in a statement that the glitch was hitting 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 issue was affecting the majority of family doctors’ practices, but wasn't hitting the 999 number used to call for emergency ambulances.
Airlines across the world report disruptions to flights
Airlines across the world, from Thailand to Australia, India, the United States and several European countries, reported disruptions to check-in systems and other issues that caused flights to be grounded or delayed.
With athletes and spectators from around the world heading to France for the Paris Olympics, the Paris airport authority says its computer systems ″are not impacted″ by the global outage, but several airlines and airports elsewhere are.
As a result, ″this situation has an impact on the operations of airlines at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports: delays in check-in, delays and temporary suspension of some flights. Our teams are mobilized to orient and assist passengers,″ the airport authority said in a statement.
In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
Thailand’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, a gateway to one of the world’s most visited cities, reported that some airlines were forced to check in passengers manually because of outages to their systems, while in the country's second largest airport of Don Mueang, Air Asia was also checking passengers in manually.
Director of Tourism of Thailand, the country’s tourism authority, told state broadcaster Thai PBS the issue was with Navitaire, an e-commerce platform for air travel, and up to six airports had been affected.
In Germany, flights at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport were halted for several hours from Friday morning because of check-in problems, while some flights were canceled. An airport spokeswoman said flights resumed after 10 a.m. Issues were also reported in the busy European hubs of Amsterdam, Zurich and Rome.
Baltic container hub in Poland suspends business
WARSAW — 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.
