Cybersecurity failure disrupts global travel and communication
A spokesperson for Australia's Minister of Home Affairs said Friday that a failure in cyber systems that paralyzed media, banks, and telecommunications companies appears to be linked to a problem at the global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
Bloomberg reported that it is unclear what caused the issues, which coincided with disruptions to Microsoft's 365 application services. Several newspapers worldwide reported that at least part of the problems stemmed from a failure in CrowdStrike Holdings' cybersecurity software. In a post on X, Australian company AGL Energy Ltd. stated that they are currently experiencing issues with their system due to CrowdStrike's failure.
Australian broadcaster ABC also reported that a technical issue, probably linked to a software update from the American cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, led to failures in computers running Microsoft's system in Australia. However, similar phenomena have been observed in the United States, New Zealand, and many other countries, including Europe.
During the failure, computers reboot automatically or display a blue screen error message.
"There was no information to suggest the outage was a cyber security incident," read a statement by Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator on platform X.
CrowdStrike. What kind of company is it?
CrowdStrike is a company specializing in cybersecurity systems. According to reports, "CrowdStrike is a pioneer in endpoint protection delivered via the cloud." Banks, airlines, airports, and online publishers, among others, use these cloud services.
CrowdStrike's solutions are described as next-generation antivirus protection based on machine learning, ensuring the prevention of breaches before they occur.
The company’s headquarters are in Austin, Texas. It was co-founded in 2011 by George Kurtz, Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston. Two years later, in June 2013, the company launched its first product – CrowdStrike Falcon.
Global failure. Where are problems occurring?
All American Airlines flights have been cancelled, among other things. Ryanair has advised passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure due to potential check-in disruptions.
Planes have also been grounded in Sydney and Mumbai, and technical problems have been reported at airports in Berlin. Disruptions occurred at Edinburgh Airport, where a computer error caused departure screens to malfunction. Departure boards in the main terminal building displayed outdated information on gate numbers and departure times, causing some passengers to miss their flights. The main terminal building's fire alarm sounded in the morning, probably triggered by the same computer error. Edinburgh Airport stated that they are working on resolving the issue.
