Massive tech outage disrupts global air travel and banking, impacts Israeli hospitals
Health Ministry says ambulances rerouted away from impacted medical centers, no concerns for patient care; worldwide problems appear linked to IT security software CrowdStrike
A global malfunction Friday on Microsoft’s Windows operating system, apparently linked to the IT security firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform, caused outages at banks, airlines, news outlets, health systems and other organizations around the world.
“This is a worldwide issue on systems connected to a cybersecurity software, and not a local Israeli event,” Yoram HaCohen, who heads the Israel Internet Association told the Ynet news site.
HaCohen said that the problem appeared to be connected to a recent CrowdStrike software update, but cautioned it was too early to say “with certainty” that it was the product of a good-faith error rather than a malicious event.
In Israel, the Health Ministry said the outage impacted more than a dozen hospitals in Israel, including Shaare Zedek in Jerusalem, Laniado in Netanya, Barzilai in Ashkelon, Wolfson in Holon and a number of others, as well as the healthcare provider Meuhedet.
The affected hospitals were operating on a manual basis, as their digital services are inaccessible, the ministry said, stressing that patient care is not affected, and the hospitals are prepared for such an outage following drills.
Ambulances were nevertheless told to take patients to unaffected hospitals, the ministry noted.
The ministry also warned that Israelis could have trouble calling the country’s medical emergency line, and advised that people call the police instead if they couldn’t get through — but noted that there had been no problems on the line so far.
Pharmacies also reported problems receiving some prescriptions from state healthcare providers, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, the outage disrupted air travel around the world.
Ben Gurion Airport did not appear to be directly affected but was expected to see some impact from flights being canceled, delayed, or diverted as a result of problems elsewhere.
El Al said Friday it does not use CrowdStrike and was not having issues. In contrast, US airlines Delta, United, Allegiant, and American all grounded their flights, and three Indian airlines also reported extensive IT disruptions.
Meanwhile, Berlin’s airport halted all flights, while the Spanish airport operator said that all airports in that country were affected, and problems were reported at other European airports as well.
Israel Electric Corporation’s call center was also down amid the outage, and the Port of Ashdod said in a statement that all service for trucks and ships was suspended as technicians examined the issue. Israel Post said local branches were unable to function.
News outlets in Australia — including ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers.
The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry said that the global cyber outage has affected all its electronic systems and it advised users to avoid any transactions till the issue has been resolved.
Microsoft said Friday it was taking “mitigating actions,” noting that users “may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike’s technical support line ran a recorded phone message saying it was aware of the reports.
“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor,” the company said. “Our engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.”
