IT-Panne left 8.5 million devices idle
The IT outage at Microsoft caused massive disruptions worldwide. The company itself has now announced how many Windows devices were affected globally. Meanwhile, normalcy is gradually returning to the affected airports.
Approximately 8.5 million Microsoft devices were affected by the global computer disruptions. Microsoft stated that less than 1% of all Windows devices were impacted by the IT outage on Friday, which occurred in conjunction with a faulty software update from CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike helped develop a solution that Microsoft's cloud platform Azure could use to expedite the resolution of the issue. Microsoft also collaborated with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform to find effective solutions collectively.
On Friday, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike caused Microsoft applications to crash and led to one of the largest IT system failures globally, causing significant issues around the world. The international aviation industry was particularly affected, but banks and media also reported disruptions. Hospitals postponed surgeries.
Passengers had to wait in large numbers at airports on Friday. In Germany, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) was significantly affected. Flights were temporarily halted at the capital's airport. A BER spokesperson stated on Saturday that "all our systems are running smoothly and without interruption." However, some passengers "cannot yet use self-service check-ins due to aftereffects of the disruptions at the airlines." According to official announcements, normalcy is largely returning to French airports as well.
According to cybersecurity expert Junade Ali from the British Engineering and Technology Alliance, the magnitude of the outage is "unprecedented." He stated that the incident "will undoubtedly go down in history." In his opinion, the last such catastrophic disruption occurred in 2017.
The IT-Security team in the IT sector is now reviewing the cause of the Microsoft outage to prevent such incidents in the future. The economic impact of the disruptions, particularly in the aviation industry, is currently being analyzed by various governments and financial institutions.
