An upgrade to Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity software firm, has caused significant disruptions to Microsoft services, leading to a cascade of issues for users and businesses. The update has resulted in Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors for many Microsoft Windows users, causing their devices to be stuck in a restart loop.

This outage affected flight operations at numerous airports. Media reports indicate that around 160 flights across various airports have been affected. Passengers experienced delays during check-ins and boarding, with several flights remaining cancelled.

Delhi and Mumbai airports were notably affected, with multiple airlines grounding their planes. An Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco was diverted to Krasnoyarsk, Russia, due to the outage. An Air India spokesperson stated that their systems were impacted and the airline's priority was to evacuate passengers as soon as possible. The unexpected diversion caused passengers issues with immigration procedures in Russia, prompting Air India to arrange a ferry aircraft to transport them to their intended destination.

At Delhi Airport, handwritten boarding passes were issued due to the disruption. It remains unclear whether immigration services were also impacted. Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport saw 26 Indigo flights cancelled, leading to an overcrowded lounge and anxious passengers awaiting their delayed flights. The Navitaire Departure Control System (NDCS) outage affected operations from 10:40 IST on July 19, 2024.

Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport faced cancellations of 23 flights, including Indigo flights to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru. Indigo reported system-wide impacts, advising passengers of slower check-ins and longer queues. Their digital team is collaborating with Microsoft Azure to resolve the issues swiftly.

Akasa Airlines announced a temporary unavailability of some online services at Mumbai and Delhi airports due to infrastructure issues with their service provider. SpiceJet also reported technical issues affecting their flight update systems and is working to resolve them.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu assured that the crisis is being actively managed and requested passengers to cooperate with airport staff. Airlines and airport authorities have been instructed to keep passengers informed and provide necessary assistance.

Along with that, several users reported disruptions in the online services of major banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Bank of India, and HDFC Bank. However, SBI clarified that their systems remain unaffected by the global outage. Dinesh Khara, SBI Chairman, confirmed that their operations were running smoothly. "We are all fine," its chairman Dinesh Khara answered when asked about the impact of the global outage, by PTI.

Several brokerage firms, including 5paisa, IIFL Securities, Angel One, Motilal Oswal, and Edelweiss Mutual Fund, faced operational disruptions. 5paisa announced on X (formerly Twitter) that their systems were affected due to the global outage with Crowdstrike and Microsoft. Angel One and Edelweiss Mutual Fund reported login issues but later confirmed system restoration.

The outage has affected multiple Microsoft applications, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Azure. Outage tracker website Downdetector also reported disruptions with Instagram, Amazon, and Gmail.

The IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, stated that the cause of the outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is in contact with Microsoft and its associates, and a technical advisory has been issued by CERT. The NIC network remains unaffected.

CrowdStrike’s outage has also caused disruptions worldwide, halting news broadcasts and grounding flights in the US and affecting rail services in the UK. Microsoft is actively working on mitigation efforts to restore normalcy to the affected Microsoft 365 apps and services. The company acknowledged the widespread issues experienced by Windows 10 users globally and attributed the BSOD errors to the recent CrowdStrike update.

Image source: EPS