On July 20, 2024, a major tech problem happened when an update from CrowdStrike caused a flaw in their ‘Falcon Sensor’ software. This led to a big crash in Microsoft systems worldwide, causing many Windows PCs to show the ‘Blue Screen of Death.’ The outage affected many industries around the world.
The aviation industry was heavily hit, with many flights delayed or canceled. In India, airlines like SpiceJet, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India, and Air India Express faced issues. Major airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai saw lots of delays and cancellations, leading to frustrated passengers.
Globally, airports in Berlin, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Budapest also had problems. In the US, American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines had to stop flights temporarily. Qantas in Australia and Ryanair in Ireland also saw delays and cancellations. London Gatwick and Stansted airports had about 90% of their flights delayed or canceled.
The finance sector was also affected. Banks and financial firms like JP Morgan Chase & Co, Macquarie Capital, Barclays, and Bradesco faced problems. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank had issues with instant fund transfers, and South Africa’s Capitec Bank and Absa had similar disruptions. In Germany, Allianz insurance and other banks had trouble logging in. The London Stock Exchange Group’s platform also suffered.
Media outlets were disrupted too. Britain’s Sky News had to work with minimal services, and Australia’s ABC experienced a major network issue. Sky News Australia also had programming interruptions.
Healthcare services in England, the Netherlands, and Germany were affected. However, emergency services in England were not impacted. In Denmark, the fire department had trouble accessing fire alarms, so people were asked to call emergency services directly. In Australia, Victoria state police had internal system issues, but emergency services continued normally. In the US, Mass General Brigham had to cancel some non-urgent medical procedures, and Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp had limited patient services.
Other areas were hit as well. Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest carmaker, had a brief halt in dispatch operations. The Paris Olympics organizing committee saw slower operations, but ticket sales were not affected. Manchester United had to delay its ticket release, and New Zealand’s parliamentary computer systems were affected. Starbucks also had problems with its mobile ordering and payment features.
In short, this global tech outage caused major disruptions across various industries, showing how connected and dependent we are on technology.
