Companies and businesses are recovering from what many tech experts are calling the largest IT outage in history. A failed tech update caused widespread chaos and disruption around the world.

What You Need To Know

  • Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike attributes the issue to a bug introduced in a recent update

  • According to Microsoft, 8.5 million devices running its Windows operating system were affected 

  • Cybersecurity experts say this is a wakeup call for companies to enhance security measures

 

For many looking to cruise into the weekend, it was not meant to be. A massive tech outage knocked computer systems offline around the world, upending the daily lives of millions of people.

“It’s just ridiculous actually. It's unbelievable,” said an air traveler in Atlanta.

Airports became a road to nowhere with no way to check in. Stranded travelers were left confused and frustrated.

“It’s a real joy. Good times. I particularly like when they give us instructions to come forward then say they can’t take us. That makes the experience that much better,” said a sarcastic Kim Pugh, who was traveling through Asheville Regional Airport.

They were far from the only ones affected. Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands delayed around the world, according to flight tracker, FlightAware.

Some government agencies, banks and health care systems were also impacted. One of the biggest health care systems in America, Mass General in Boston, canceled all non-urgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits. Media companies, including Spectrum News 1, were also affected. ESPN was unable to get "SportsCenter" on the air.

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm responsible for the worldwide outage, said it stemmed not from a cyberattack but a glitch in an update rolled out to computers.

“The system was sent an update, and that update had a software bug in it and caused an issue with the Microsoft operating system,” said the company's CEO George Kurtz.

A fix has been rolled out to computers that run Windows, but the process could take hours or days. Cybersecurity experts believe this highlights how reliant companies are on technology and how fragile their safeguards may be.

“If this is what can happen just by accident, what could happen if somebody were actually trying to do harm to the U.S.?" technology expert Samuel Burke said. "It really shows that there isn’t a Plan B for so many companies. It should make us very worried."