Crowdstrike identifies issue behind worldwide outage
Josh Taylor
Cybersecurity software firm Crowdstrike has posted in its support updates that it has identified the issue behind today’s massive, global Windows outage.
It is an issue with “content deployment” that has since had those changes reverted and has advised a workaround for affected users.
We are still waiting for confirmation or a statement from Crowdstrike’s media team. It’s almost midnight in the US, so it’s not clear when we might get more detail.
Key events
No news is good news re NSW Health, which says:
NSW Health, including NSW Ambulance, does not use Crowdstrike software. There are no known impacts on NSW Health systems and services to date. We will continue to closely monitor the situation. In case of an emergency call triple zero (000).
Coles Supermarkets shuttered in some places, including the local of our own Molly Glassey:
Local Coles has lowered its doors and with staff telling customers they’re closing. “You’ll hear all about it on the news tonight,” the store manager told a crowd outside. A trolley collector is telling people as they get out of their cars Coles is closed. pic.twitter.com/aHGXgMnYWY
— Molly Glassey (@GlasseyMolly) July 19, 2024
Virgin Australia have just issued an updated statement. Cancellations and delays expected. Here it is:
Virgin Australia operations are continuing following a large-scale IT outage impacting multiple airlines and other businesses, however some cancellations and delays are expected. We are working to resolve any delays and get our guests on their way as quickly as possible.
Service NSW has been affected too, as per statement:
Service NSW has been impacted by a worldwide third-party IT outage impacting transactions in service centres and contacts centres. Service NSW apologises to customers for any inconvenience. Teams are working to restore services as quickly as possible. The majority of digital transactions have not been impacted and people are encouraged to complete transactions via the Service NSW website where possible.
The memes will not be stopped.
Commonwealth Bank confirms PayID payments down for some customers
The Commonwealth Bank has confirmed it is aware that some customers are currently unable to make PayID payments. It is investigating “any impacts to our systems and services”.
A spokesperson says:
We are aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies.
This outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform.
We are urgently investigating any impacts to our systems and services.
We know some customers have been unable to make PayID payments. If you are unable to use PayID, you’re still able to make payments between your accounts or pay someone using their BSB and account number.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience while we work through the impacts.
Telstra is saying the outage is due to issues with Crowdstrike AND Microsoft.
If you’re having holdups when trying to reach us this afternoon, it’s because of a global issue affecting both Microsoft and CrowdStrike.
There’s no impact to calls to our Triple Zero call centres or our fixed and mobile network.
— Telstra (@Telstra) July 19, 2024
The outage has also hit Victoria’s regional train network, Vline.
Our own Guardian Australia reporter Stephanie Convery is on a train from Melbourne to Bendigo and says it has just been announced that the signals system statewide is down.
She is stuck in Gisborne, which is about an hour outside Melbourne, for an “undetermined amount of time”, according to the announcement.
Sydney airport delays possible ‘throughout evening’
This just in from Sydney airport:
A global technical outage has impacted some airline operations and terminal services.
Flights are currently arriving and departing however there may be some delays throughout the evening.
We have activated our contingency plans with our airline partners and deployed additional staff to our terminals to assist passengers.
Anyone travelling today should leave plenty of time to come to the airport and check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.
Reuters is also reporting that several US airlines have been grounded, and that all air traffic has been halted in Berlin until 0800 GMT (about 45 minutes’ time).
Triple-0 ‘currently not affected’ by outage, government says
And here is a statement from the Australian government:
The Australian government is working closely with the national cyber security coordinator on this unfolding outage.
We understand triple-0 services are currently not affected by this outage.
The information as it stands is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.
As the cyber security coordinator has said, there is no information to suggest this is a cyber security incident and they are continuing to engage across key stakeholders.
The national emergency mechanism group will meet shortly, co-chaired by the National Emergency Management Agency.
Outage affecting multiple airlines, Virgin says
Virgin Australia issued this statement a short time ago:
Virgin Australia is aware of a large-scale IT outage impacting multiple airlines and other businesses which is having an impact on our operations. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We appreciate the patience of all travellers as we work through a solution and will provide an update once more information is known.
There are unconfirmed reports that multiple airlines in the US and Australia have grounded flights. The US ABC is reporting that American Airlines, United and Delta have asked the US Federal Aviation Administration for a “global ground stop on all flights”.
