A cyber security company blamed for a massive global IT failure apologised for a "defect" on Friday that grounded planes, knocked out TV broadcasts and affected banks, hospitals and financial markets.
CrowdStrike's faulty software update is believed to have sparked the chaos that led to Microsoft computers crashing, card machines breaking, Sky News going off air and traders waiting in vain for stock exchange news.
The US company's president and chief executive George Kurtz said a "fix has been deployed", requiring each user to reboot individually amid outages in the Middle East, Asia, the US, Europe and Australia.
"I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for today’s outage," Mr Kurtz said in a letter to company customers and partners.
"All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation."
The chief executive said that employees were on hand to respond to the outage and evaluate how it occurred.
Mr Kurtz said in posts on X that the failure was not a security incident or cyber attack, and vowed to be transparent about "the steps we're taking to prevent anything like this from happening again".
Flights were delayed around the globe, with airlines such as Turkish Airlines, Air France, KLM, Delta and Ryanair and hubs in Berlin, London and Amsterdam among those affected at the peak of summer travel season.
Dubai International Airport said it was operating normally after some airlines faced check-in problems. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its electronic systems were affected and told customers not to make transactions.
Major IT disruption hits companies around the world - in pictures
The UAE's Telecommunications And Digital Government Regulatory Authority said there was a “technical defect” with CrowdStrike.
“We advise users of the program to be patient and not perform any updates or downloads of CrowdStrike software until the problem is resolved,” it said.
UAE citizens and residents were advised to contact airlines before travelling. Meanwhile, the UAE Cyber Security Council recommended updating Google Chrome browsers to the latest version.
Software bug
Toby Murray, a cyber security expert in Australia, told The National that the cause appeared to be “a faulty update that was deployed to the CrowdStrike Falcon software, which is ubiquitous in large cyber-security-conscious organisations”.
He said Falcon, which monitors computers for threats, is “a pretty privileged piece of software in that it is able to influence how the computers it is installed on behave”.
Mr Kurtz in his letter to customers said that "this issue does not affect our Falcon platform systems".
"There is no impact to any protection if the Falcon sensor is installed. Falcon Complete and Falcon OverWatch services are not disrupted."
CrowdStrike “is a market leader for good reason, because of the effectiveness of their technology” but developers “need to implement careful practices for making sure the updates they are deploying won’t cause harm”, Mr Murray said.
Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the severity of the problem “boils down to how long it lasts”.
“A few hours’ disruption is unhelpful but not a catastrophe. Prolonged disruption is another matter, potentially causing damage to companies and economies,” he said.
“So far, investors have not shown any panic. Whether that remains the case as the day goes on is another matter.”
Troy Hunt, the creator of the security check website Have I Been Pwned, said the issue was not with Microsoft itself but with the CrowdStrike software.
The outage is “basically what we were all worried about with Y2K”, the so-called millennium bug, he said, “except it's actually happened this time”.
Microsoft said it was “aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform".
"We are aware of this issue and are working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement on X.
The CrowdStrike president said the faulty update was confined to Windows software and did not affect Mac or Linux users.
Shares in both companies were down but traders generally remained calm.
Worldwide problems
As users encountered a “blue screen of death” worldwide:
· Users reported service problems with Visa and Amazon on the website DownDetector, while payment problems hit supermarkets and currency exchanges were affected in Hong Kong
· Germany said “critical infrastructure” was affected, as two hospitals cancelled elective operations scheduled for Friday. Some UK doctors could not make appointments, and emergency call centres were down in Alaska
· Manchester United said it was postponing the release of football tickets, as several other clubs reported problems. The Paris 2024 Olympic organisers said their IT systems were hit
· Rail problems added to the travel chaos, with Britain’s biggest train company warning passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
It was not immediately clear whether all reported disruptions were linked to CrowdStrike problems or there were other issues at play, amid interruptions to Microsoft’s Azure and Office 365 services.
Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, said machines running Windows and CrowdStrike were getting stuck in a “restarting state”. It said it was investigating.
Russian banks and currency traders said they were having few problems, after Moscow was partly cut off from global markets under sanctions.
In the UK, Sky News was knocked off air before returning with limitations. Britain’s biggest train company warned passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
The London Stock Exchange said that its Regulatory News Service was affected due to a “third-party global technical issue”.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor told The National that prices and indices on the London Stock Exchange “are now updating”, but not news stories.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
A representative for Dubai Airports said Dubai International was “operating normally” after the system failure affected check-in for some airlines. They said the companies affected had switched to an alternate system.
Budget airline Ryanair was affected, as were some of Europe's biggest airports in Berlin and Amsterdam. Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where queues grew as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled.
Airports affected by IT outage - in pictures
Five Indian airlines announced disruptions to their booking systems on Friday. National carrier Air India said its systems had been “impacted temporarily due to the current Microsoft outage”, causing delays.
Budget operator SpiceJet said it had reverted to manual check-ins and boarding after “technical challenges”.
John Strickland, an aviation expert at JLS Consulting, said it was a “major challenge to return to normality” when airlines had curtailed “all or sizeable parts of their operations”.
“For the Northern European and North Atlantic markets, this is peak season and costs will run to millions of dollars,” he said.
All airports in Spain were experiencing “disruptions” from the IT failure, the airport operator Aena said. Hong Kong's airport also said some airlines had been affected, linking the disruption to a Microsoft service interruption.
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
Afghanistan fixtures
- v Australia, today
- v Sri Lanka, Tuesday
- v New Zealand, Saturday,
- v South Africa, June 15
- v England, June 18
- v India, June 22
- v Bangladesh, June 24
- v Pakistan, June 29
- v West Indies, July 4
Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
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Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
FINAL SCORES
Fujairah 130 for 8 in 20 overs
(Sandy Sandeep 29, Hamdan Tahir 26 no, Umair Ali 2-15)
Sharjah 131 for 8 in 19.3 overs
(Kashif Daud 51, Umair Ali 20, Rohan Mustafa 2-17, Sabir Rao 2-26)
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More on animal trafficking
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
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Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
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The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Canada
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South Korea
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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
Total eligible population
About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not
Where are the unvaccinated?
England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14%
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
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Transmission: 10-speed automatic
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SERIE A FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Sassuolo v Bologna (11.45pm)
Saturday
Brescia v Torino (6pm)
Inter Milan v Verona (9pm)
Napoli v Genoa (11.45pm)
Sunday
Cagliari v Verona (3.30pm)
Udinese v SPAL (6pm)
Sampdoria v Atalanta (6pm)
Lazio v Lecce (6pm)
Parma v Roma (9pm)
Juventus v Milan (11.45pm)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
