A catastrophic global network outage has plunged millions into chaos, affecting countries including the United States, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Television channels, airports, and banks have been knocked offline, with Windows computers suddenly shutting down. Downdetector reported surges in issues with Microsoft applications, banking sites, and airline apps.
As of 8.30pm local time tonight, there has been no indication of the global network blackout affecting Tonga as yet.
Troy Hunt, a cybersecurity researcher, tweeted, “Something super weird happening right now,” as users worldwide faced the “blue screen of death” on their Windows PCs. Cybersecurity experts have linked the outage to an issue with CrowdStrike antivirus software.
Senad Arun, founder of Imperum, termed the incident “CrowdStrike Doom’s Day.” Reports indicate major disruptions in New Zealand, including banking and transport delays, while Woolworths stores faced checkout system failures.
Over in Australia, customers at supermarkets have been unable to buy their weekly shop as checkouts have been hit by the IT outage.
American Airlines, United, and Delta have requested a global ground stop for flights due to communication problems, with frustrated passengers stranded at airports like Los Angeles International.
Current evidence suggests a software issue with CrowdStrike, though the root cause remains unclear. The technology aims to protect computers from cyber incidents. No public update on the issue’s origin has been released.
CrowdStrike is a leading cybersecurity firm valued over $80 billion, specialising in endpoint detection and response to counter hacking threats. Its products, which are regularly updated, provide broad control over PCs to manage and remove threats. CrowdStrike is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is owned by technology investors and major funds like BlackRock.
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