A major outage caused by a faulty update from CrowdStrike has significantly disrupted operations for various sectors, including major airports, airlines, banks, and media outlets. The issue, which began on July 19, 2024, resulted in widespread IT failures, causing delays in flights, banking services, and media broadcasts. The problem was not linked to a cyberattack but rather a technical glitch in CrowdStrike’s software, leading to critical systems crashing and displaying errors across affected Windows devices.

Airports and airlines experienced substantial delays, with some flights being grounded as their IT systems went offline. This disruption extended to various banks, causing interruptions in online banking services and ATM networks. Media outlets also faced challenges, as broadcast and news production systems were impacted, hampering their ability to deliver timely news to the public.

Banks like Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, and PC Financial reported technical difficulties but have since managed to restore services. Similarly, several airlines and media companies are gradually recovering from the outage. CrowdStrike has acknowledged the issue and is working on a permanent fix to prevent such incidents from recurring.

This event highlights the vulnerability of interconnected systems and the ripple effects that a single point of failure can cause across multiple industries. As services resume, businesses are assessing the impact and implementing measures to mitigate future risks [❞] [❞].