A faulty software update causes havoc worldwide for airlines, hospitals and governments

A faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide on Friday, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices.

The breadth of the outages highlighted the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a few providers for key computing services.

The trouble was sparked by an update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and only affected its customers running Microsoft Windows, the world's most popular operating system for personal computers. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.

Businesses and governments worldwide experienced hours-long disruptions — their computer monitors glowing blue with error messages — and scrambled to deal with the fallout. CrowdStrike's CEO said some of their systems will require manual fixes.

Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed, leading to long lines at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Airlines lost access to check-in and booking services in the heart of the summer travel season.

Several local TV stations in the U.S. were prevented from airing the news early Friday, and some state and local governments reported problems at courts, motor vehicles departments, unemployment agencies, emergency call centers and other offices.

Affected hospitals had problems with appointment systems, forcing them to suspend patient visits and cancel some surgeries.

Alison Baulos said her 73-year-old father’s heart surgery in Paducah, Kentucky was canceled Friday morning because of the tech outage, leaving her family scared and worried.

“It does really make you just realize how much we rely on technology and how scary it is,” Baulos said in an interview. She said her father was waiting at Baptist Hospital to find out what will happen next. A phone message left with the hospital was not immediately returned.

American Express said it temporarily had some difficulties processing transactions, while TD Bank responded to online complaints by saying it was working to “restore” customers’ ability to access their accounts.

Elsewhere, people experienced minor inconveniences, including trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing long lines to form at some of the coffee chain's stores.

In New York City's Times Square, right before 12:30 a.m., the blue “recovery” screens popping up on laptops appeared on several giant electronic billboards. A few were dark Friday afternoon.

A disturbing reminder of vulnerability

Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused. “All of these systems are running the same software," Bore said. "We’ve made all of these tools so widespread that when things inevitably go wrong — and they will, as we’ve seen — they go wrong at a huge scale."

The head of Germany’s IT security agency, Claudia Plattner, said “we can’t expect a very quick solution.” A forecast for when exactly all systems will be up and running is difficult, but “it won’t be hours,” she added.

CrowdStrike said in a recording on its customer service line that the problem was related to “the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks. The company says it has 29,000 customers.

In an interview on NBC’s “Today Show,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized, saying the company was “deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies.”

“We know what the issue is” and are working to fix it, Kurtz said. However, he noted it could take “some time" for customers needing a manual fix, which could be burdensome for businesses and government offices that don't have adequate in-house expertise.

Shares of the company, which is based in Austin, Texas, fell nearly 10% on Friday. Microsoft's stock price fell more than 3%.

Though the outage's impact could be felt far and wide, the forecasting firm Capital Economics said it was likely to have little impact on the world economy.

Cybersecurity experts said those affected by the outage also needed to be wary of bad actors reaching out claiming they can help. “Attackers will definitely prey on organizations as a result of this,” said Gartner analyst Eric Grenier.

Air travel delayed everywhere

By midday on the East Coast, more than 2,200 U.S. flights had been canceled and more than 6,000 others delayed, according to tracking platform FlightAware. Worldwide, more than 3,500 flights were canceled. Those numbers were certain to rise throughout the day.

Earlier Friday, travelers arriving at Midway Airport in Chicago for Delta flights Friday morning were just learning of the outage because the airline's communication systems were down. Delta told NBC Chicago that they have no way of rerouting passengers to their destinations, leaving customers to either return home or find flights on other carriers. Currently, Southwest Airlines and Frontier appear to be operating normally.

Hoards of travelers crowded Philadelphia International Airport, where NBC Philadelphia reports "no flights are coming in or out of Philly."

Most airlines attributed the problems to their booking systems. Thousands of flights were affected in the U.S. alone, though by late morning on the East Coast airlines said they were beginning to mitigate problems and resume some service.

At Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Sarah Schafer was delayed getting to her cousin’s 50th birthday party in Florida. She had been waiting for almost three hours with no indication of when her flight would be rebooked.

“I seem calm,” said Schafer, who was using a cane because of ankle injury. “But my angry side might come out.”

Airlines and railways in the U.K. experienced long wait times. And airports across Europe suspended landings or halted takeoffs for several hours due to difficulties in checking in passengers.

Saskia Oettinghaus, a member of the German Olympic diving team, was among those stuck at the Berlin Airport.

“We are on our way to Paris for the Olympic Games and now we are at a standstill here for the time being,” Oettinghaus said.

Other athletes and spectators traveling to Paris were delayed, as were their uniforms and accreditations, but Games organizers said disruptions were limited and didn’t affect ticketing or the torch relay.

In Cancun, Mexico, the main tourist destination in the Caribbean coast, the state government said there were 24 cancellations and 100 delayed flights. Some travelers tried to liven up the long waits by singing the traditional Mexican song, “Cielito Lindo,” while a band that was also stranded was playing in the Cancun airport.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

How are trains and metros being impacted by the global IT outage?

In Washington, D.C., the outage knocked Metro's website offline. The agency said trains are running on time, however, commuters are not able to use train tracker, bus tracker and "Plan My Trip" services because the website is down, NBC Washington reports.

Amtrak said trains are also running on time, however, the platform arrival and departure display boards are down. In New York, Long Island Rail Road said its train service is unaffected, but their platform signs are temporarily offline.

In the U.K., train operators TransPennine Express and Govia Thameslink Railway are among those affected.

What else is impacted by the global IT outage?

In Virginia, the City of Fairfax Police Department said that it was experiencing technical difficulties with its phone systems, including 911, NBC Washington reported. The department shared a nonemergency number for callers and said 911 could still be used, but calls wouldn't go directly to the dispatch center. In Iowa, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office warned on social media that phone lines were down and 911 calls might be routed to neighboring counties, but emergency calls would be promptly redirected to the sheriff’s office.

In New England, the outage led some hospitals to cancel appointments, NBC Boston reports.

A spokesman at Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in Massachusetts, said the outage had resulted in all scheduled nonurgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits being canceled for Friday. Emergency departments remain open and care for patients in the hospital hasn't been impacted.

n Australia, national news outlets — including public broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels for hours. Some news anchors went on air online from dark offices, in front of computers showing blue error screens. Internet and phone providers were also affected.

In the U.S., KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, aired Scripps News instead of local news until about 5:35 a.m., the stations said on its website. IT teams and engineers worked through the night to resolve the glitch, the station said. Other local stations owned by Scripps reported similar problems, though Scripps spokesman Michael Perry said in an email early Friday that 90% of stations were able to air local news.

Hospitals in different countries also reported problems.

Britain’s National Health Service said the outage caused problems at most doctors’ offices because appointment and patient-record systems were affected.

At Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in Massachusetts, all scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits were canceled Friday because of the outage, according to a spokesperson.

Some international shipping was disrupted, too.

A major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland said it was battling problems. And at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, marine terminals were affected, although the outage didn’t cause significant disruptions.