Global IT Glitch Causes Chaos for Major Airlines, Media Organizations, Businesses, and Police Forces

A Global IT Glitch Disrupts Major Airlines, Businesses, and Police Forces Worldwide

A widespread IT glitch caused chaos for major airlines, media organizations, businesses, and police forces around the world early Friday, stemming from a problem with Microsoft cloud computing services.

Flights were grounded in multiple countries, stores and broadcasters were offline, and police forces experienced communication issues as a result of the outage, which seemed to primarily impact Windows PCs.

Carriers such as American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines implemented ground stops, leading to delays for passengers. In Europe, airports like Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport and those managed by Aena in Spain also faced technical faults that caused check-in delays.

The IT outages even reached the United Kingdom, where train operators had to cancel services due to technical issues. The London Stock Exchange was also affected, with its regulatory news service experiencing disruptions.

In the U.S., Alaska State Troopers reported that 911 and non-emergency phone lines were down across the state due to the nationwide technology-related outage.

Reports indicated that users were encountering blue screens when trying to start their computers, causing disruptions in supermarkets, self-service checkouts, and various websites.

While Microsoft managed to resolve the issue with its Azure Service and Microsoft 365 apps, some companies in the U.S. and Europe continued to face problems, prompting concerns about the residual impact.

News outlets like NBC News and Sky News were also affected, with the latter unable to broadcast live TV as a result of the glitch. However, the national cyber security coordinator in Australia stated that the issue did not appear to be the result of a cyber attack.

As the situation continues to unfold, stay tuned for updates on this developing story.