After the Mega-IT-failure, the situation is gradually normalizing in many places.
Many companies are still "struggling with the after-effects of the disruptions," according to the BSI. The outage affected businesses worldwide on Friday that use Microsoft's Windows operating system.
The cause was reportedly a faulty update from US cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike's antivirus program Falcon. The impact was significant: Airlines and airports worldwide experienced IT issues, leading to cancelled flights and disrupted travel. Hospitals had to reschedule surgeries, broadcasters could not transmit, and checkout systems in supermarkets went down.
Passengers had to wait massively at airports on Friday. By Saturday, the situation had eased. According to Thailand's national airport director, Keerati Kitmanawat, "there are currently no long queues at the airports, as we experienced yesterday." Check-in services were restored at airports in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Thailand. In India, Indonesia, and at Singapore's Changi Airport, the departure process was functioning normally again from Saturday afternoon (local time).
In the USA, "flight operations have been resumed across the country, although there are still bottlenecks," according to a high-ranking US government representative. Approximately 1280 flight connections were cancelled as of Saturday morning (local time), according to the latest reports.
In Germany, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) was particularly affected. Flights were temporarily halted at the capital's airport. On Saturday, a BER spokesperson told AFP that "all our systems in operations are running smoothly and seamlessly." However, some passengers could not yet use self-service check-ins due to lingering issues with the airlines. Flights were also reportedly returning to normal at French airports, according to official reports.
The full extent of the disruption's impact is still unknown. Reports from the Netherlands and the UK suggest that healthcare services may have been affected.
Media companies also grappled with the consequences: The British news channel Sky News announced that the disruption had ended its news broadcasts on Friday morning. The Australian broadcaster ABC reported significant difficulties.
Banks in Kenya and Ukraine reported issues with their digital services. Some mobile network operators also faced disruptions.
Crowdstrike announced that they had found a solution to the problem. The company's CEO, George Kurtz, apologized to those affected in an interview with US news channel CNBC, stating that it could take "a few days" before operations returned to normal.
It is still unclear how the flawed code made it into the Crowdstrike update, according to the BSI. The agency stated that they were "in close contact with the company." In addition to the BSI, British and Australian regulatory bodies warned of an increase in phishing and scam attempts.
According to Crowdstrike on Saturday, the problem was "not the result of a cyberattack or related to it."
Cybersecurity expert Junade Ali from the British Engineering and Technology Profession stated that the scale of the outage was "unprecedented." The incident would "certainly go down in history," he added. He noted that a similarly catastrophic disruption last occurred in 2017.
- Despite the issues, many Indian businesses managed to operate using alternative IT systems during the weekend.
- The Mega-IT-Alarm caused problems for various Singaporean institutions, including hospitals and banks.
- CrowdStrike, based in Singapore, is cooperating with the Federal Office for Information Security in Germany to investigate the source of the faulty update.
- Airlines in Asia, such as those in Hong Kong, Thailand, and South Korea, resumed normal flight operations on Saturday.
- In Indonesia, some travelers reported minor delays at airports, but overall services were running smoothly by Saturday afternoon.
- The United States' aviation industry faced lingering effects of the disruption, with some airlines still experiencing weekend delays.
- Microsoft and CrowdStrike are working closely to mitigate the impact of the issue in Windows systems located in various parts of Asia.
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority reported minor problems with digital banking services, but they were quickly resolved on Saturday.
- The Singaporean authorities advised businesses to review their cybersecurity measures following the Mega-IT-Alarm incident.
- The problematic update affected Windows systems not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also in the United States and Europe on Friday.
