A worldwide outage is affecting personal computers, airlines, media companies, banks, and telecom firms around the world this morning.
Gianna Montesano, trending reporter with TCPalm of the USA TODAY Network-Florida, was at Fort Lauderdale International Airport early Friday morning.
"I'm hearing from passengers that Spirit employees are calling passengers up by flight so they can be manually administered boarding passes."
In the U.S., Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines were among those whogrounded flights less than an hour after Microsoft said it resolved a cloud-services-related outage that impacted several carriers.
Microsoft 365 said it was aware and working to resolve a problem "impacting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services."
It is not clear at this time whether the call to ground flights was related to the Microsoft outage.
What caused the global outage?
Microsoft said the preliminary root cause of the outage was "A configuration change in a portion of our Azure backend workloads, caused interruption between storage and computer resources which resulted in connectivity failures that affected downstream Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections."
CrowdStrike said on X the problem was caused "by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."
Current status of worldwide tech outage: 'Underlying cause of issue fixed'
Microsoft 365 reported at 8:30 a.m. EDT:
"We're continuing to apply mitigation actions to provide relief from the residual impact affecting the remaining impacted Microsoft 365 apps and services.
"Our telemetry is indicating that the remaining impacted scenarios are progressing towards a full recovery and we're closely monitoring to ensure this progress continues."
At 6:30 a.m., Microsoft said the underlying cause of the issue had been fixed.
What can Microsoft customers do to fix problems on their computer?
Microsoft365 Status posted on X there is something customers with computer problems can do.
"We're aware of an issue with Windows 365 Cloud PCs caused by a recent update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software.
"To fix this, users may restore their Windows 365 Cloud PC to a known good state prior to the release of the update (July 19, 2024) as documented here.
CrowdStrike communicating directly with customers affected by outage
"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack.
"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed." the company posted on a CrowdStrike blog and on X.
"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.
"Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."
The company also posted customers should make sure they're communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
CrowdStrike President and CEO George Kurtz emphasized on X the problems were not caused by a "security incident or cyberattack."
What is CrowdStrike?
According to its website, Crowdstrike launched in 2012 and currently has the "world's most advanced cloud-native platform that protects and enables the people, processes and technologies that drive modern enterprise."
Services offered by CrowdStrike include:
- Prepare, Advisory services: "CrowdStrike Services help you prepare and train to defend your organization against sophisticated threat actors using real-life simulation exercises."
- Respond, Breach Services: "CrowdStrike Services help you stop breaches, investigate incidents, and recover from attacks with speed and surgical precision."
- Fortify, Advisory Services: "CrowdStrike Services help you enhance your cybersecurity practices and controls with actionable recommendations to fortify your cybersecurity posture."
Users across several platforms report tech outages on DownDetector
DownDetector.com, which provides service outage information,showed problems people were having with several companies, including:
- Microsoft
- Microsoft 365
- TD Bank
- Bank of America
- Amazon
- Delta
- Visa
- ADT Security
- United Airlines
- American Airlines
- Allegiant Air
Of those reporting problems with Microsoft 365:
- 58% were with Onedrive
- 26% were server connections
- 16% were with Outlook
Microsoft 365 investigating issue
Microsoft 365 Status posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, "We're investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services."
The company later posted it was "rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion."
What Microsoft 365 apps could be affected by outage?
The Microsoft 365 Admin Center said the outage is affecting users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Impacted services include:
- PowerBI: Users may notice that their service is in read-only mode while we address impact.
- Microsoft Fabric: Users may notice that their service is in read-only mode while we address impact.
- Microsoft Teams: Users may be unable to leverage Microsoft Teams functions including presence, group chats, and user registration.
- Microsoft 365 admin center: Admins may be intermittently unable to access the Microsoft 365 admin center and any action may be delayed if accessible.
Microsoft services that have been 'recovered'
Our internal telemetry and customer signals indicate that the following services are recovered:
- Microsoft Defender
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Microsoft Defender Experts
- Microsoft Intune
- Microsoft OneNote
- OneDrive for Business
- SharePoint Online
- Windows 365
- Viva Engage
- Microsoft Purview
Why are flights from Florida delayed, canceled today?
Flights to and from Florida are among those affected around the world by a Microsoft outage caused by a recent update.
Microsoft 365 announced the issue was "caused by a recent update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software."
According to FlightAware, as of 10:30 a.m., there have been more than 27,000 flight delays today and more than 2,700 cancellations.
Impact of outage at Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport said it "has experienced limited impact from the worldwide technology glitch that affected IT systems at several U.S. airlines.
"We have been informed that the airlines being impacted locally are gradually returning to normal operations. As of Friday morning this is the impact at MCO":
• Total delays within, into, or out of the United States today at MCO: 74• Total cancellations today at Orlando Intl: 65
MCO recommended recommend passengers:
- Check with their airlines for the latest flight information
- Allow extra time for check-in and baggage processing
- Monitor our airport’s website and social media for updates
Global tech outage:Check on flight status at RSW in Fort Myers, Punta Gorda Airport
FrontierAir lifts ground stop as systems 'normalize'
Frontier Airlines posted a travel advisory on its website Thursday night, saying, "Frontier Airlines flight operations were impacted by a major Microsoft technicaloutage. This led to several flight cancellations and delays."
The airline offered customers whose flights were delayed by more than 3 hours or canceled one of the following options:
- Rebooking at no extra charge
- Flight cancellation with credit
- Flight cancellation with refund
Around midnight, the airline said the ground stop had been lifted and "systems are gradually normalizing. We are in the process of resuming flight operations."
Spirit Airlines offering flexible travel during Microsoft outage
Spirit Airlines notified customers and posted on its website a flexible travel policy during the Microsoft outage.
The company noted the outage is affecting flights to all cities for travel dates July 19-20.
Customers who want to rebook their flights will have the fare difference waived through July 27.
Spirit also said customers can make changes to their reservations affected by this event by going to My Trips, or by calling the Spirit Reservations Center at 855-728-3555 to make flight changes.
Contact the airline by texting "Hello" to 48763 or WhatsApp directly at 855-728-3555.
What's happening at Florida airports?
A check around Florida airports via the Federal Aviation Administration's website shows the following message "Due to AIRLINE REQUEST, departure traffic destined to ALL airports will not be allowed to depart until at or after 11:00 UTC." (which would be 7 a.m. EDT).
Similar messages show departure times ranging from 12:00 UTC and 10:30 UTC.
Airports with the same or similar messages include:
- Miami International Airport, MIA
- Fort Lauderdale International Airport, FLL
- Orlando International Airport, MCO
- Tampa International Airport, TPA
"Spirit Airlines has passengers waiting outside terminal doors (at FLL) due to the worldwide outage," said Gianna Montesano, trending reporter with TCPalm.
"I'm hearing from passengers that Spirit employees are calling passengers up by flight so they can be manually administered boarding passes."
Tech outage affecting businesses around the the world
British broadcaster Sky News went off-air and train companies in the U.K. reported long delays.
London's Stock Exchange also reported experiencing disruptions. Some hospitals also reported difficulties processing appointments and several chain retail stores said they couldn't take payments.
Spanish authorities reported a "computer incident" at all its airports.
Berlin's main airportsaid check-ins were delayed because of a "technical fault."
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned passengers of potential disruptions which it said would affect "all airlines operating across the Network."
In Australia, media, banks, and telecoms companies suffered outages, which the government said appears to be linked to an issue at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. It was not immediately clear whether all reported outages were linked to Crowdstrike problems.
Reaction to tech outage on social media
Contributor: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today
