FACTBOX: What is known about global Windows outage

Society & Culture July 19, 13:38

It is reported that failure in operation of the data storage cloud platform Microsoft Azure resulted in cancellation of at least 130 and delay of over 200 flights of American airlines

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. The global outage in the work of the Windows operating system (OS) has complicated the functioning of companies in the banking, aviation sectors, media and a number of other areas. A number of banks and companies in the US, Australia, India, the UK and the EU have reported failures.

TASS has collected the main facts about the outage.

Aviation operations

-Failure in operation of the data storage cloud platform Microsoft Azure resulted in cancellation of at least 130 and delay of over 200 flights of American airlines, the CNN TV channel reported.

-The Berlin Brandenburg international airport Willy Brandt has suspended work due to technical issues. Aircraft can neither take off nor land at the moment, the Bild newspaper wrote citing an airport representative.

-Flights are delayed in London’s Heathrow airport.

-Microsoft outage affected the work of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and the Edinburgh international airport.

-The Irish air carrier Ryanair was mentioned among firms affected by the fatal error.

-Turkish Airlines is having problems with tickets booking and flight check-in.

-Failure in operation of the data storage cloud platform Microsoft Azure became the reason of mass flight delays in India, Indian airlines IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet said.

-Witnesses report via Indian social networks about long queues in many Indian airports now, with flights delayed for several hours. Airlines’ employees check in passengers manually.

-SAS airline reported an issue with its booking system.

-Germany’s largest car carrier Lufthansa also reported possible failures in operation of a number of services.

-France’s Air France reported delays in some connecting flights.

-Operator of Spanish airports (Aena) reported possible delays of flights in the kingdom’s airports.

-Japanese airlines and airports are facing technical failures reported across the world now, the country’s state television said.

-The Microsoft services failure did not affect most CIS countries, with delays of flights bound for Europe only reported in Armenia and Moldova.

Other companies

-Around 30% of restaurants of McDonald's chain in Japan suspended work due to failure in operation of cash registers, Kyodo news agency said.

-Problems arose in the work of Ukraine’s major delivery service Nova Post, Vodafone mobile operator, Sense Bank (former Alfa-Bank Ukraine) and the online bank monobank.

-Britain’s Sky News TV channel went off air.

-Failure in operation of Microsoft services resulted in problems related to the work of banks and payment systems of Australia and New Zealand, the Crisis24 portal reported. Clients of several banks, including National Australia Bank, Bendigo Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank of New Zealand, ASB Bank, face issues with the work of online and mobile banking, as well as electronic payments, the portal said.

-The press service of the Israeli Health Ministry reported issues with the work of computer systems in hospitals.

-The outage partially affected the London Stock Exchange.

-South Africa’s largest bank Capitec reported service failures amid the global outage.

-Patients of health care facilities cannot make appointments as a result of the worldwide tech outage in the UK, BBC said. Problems are also reported in cafes and restaurants where guests cannot pay with cards, the broadcast corporation said.

-The global IT outage of Microsoft services affected the functioning of the information systems of the Olympics-2024 organizing committee in Paris, Le Parisien said citing the committee’s statement.

Reasons

-The reason behind the outage was the fatal error in uploading of devices working on the basis of Windows operation system known as Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), the US portal The Verge said.

-A faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike is knocking affected PCs and servers offline, "forcing them into a recovery boot loop so machines can’t start properly," the portal said.

Microsoft, CrowdStrike reaction

-Microsoft has noted that the situation with access to the company’s services is gradually improving, while mitigation actions continue.

-The US cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike has confirmed the connection between its software and mass failures in operation of Windows OS, CNBC reported.

Situation in Russia

-No information about failures in operation of systems in Russian airports has been received by Russia's Ministry for Digital Technology, Communication and Mass Media so far, the press service of the ministry said. The situation with Microsoft global outage stresses the importance of import substitution of software in the country, the ministry added.

-Global software failures have not affected the Domodedovo airport, the press service of the airport said, adding that if partners have problems it is ready to provide them with a reserve registration system.

-Airlines and airports work as normal, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement.

-The global Microsoft outage has not affected the work of Russian nuclear power stations, Rosatom said.

-Information systems of Russian Railways functions as normal, a source in the company’s press service told TASS.

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