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Microsoft Outage: CrowdStrike Update Causes Chaos for Flights, Hospitals and Businesses Globally

A faulty cybersecurity update wreaked havoc across the medical and travel industries, with flights and medical procedures canceled and delayed.

Hospitals, banks,  airports, airlines  and broadcasters worldwide were impacted by a massive, ongoing Microsoft IT outage Friday. Thousands of Windows PCs, which many companies and organizations rely on as part of their critical internet infrastructure, were hit by the  Microsoft outage . Perhaps most concerning, several US states reported that their emergency 911 call centers were also hit.

Microsoft Regional Director Troy Hunt called it "the largest IT outage in history " in a post on X.

Even though the initial cause of the outage has been fixed by Microsoft and its partner CrowdStrike -- here's how to fix your Windows PC affected by the CrowdStrike blue screen of death -- many services and businesses continue to be affected, including hospitals and flights.

Microsoft first said on X that it was aware of an issue affecting people's ability to access 365 services late on Thursday. In an update issued around 1 a.m. PT (4 a.m. ET), the company said , "Multiple services are continuing to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress." The company didn't immediately respond to request for further comment. In one update , it said some people had success overcoming the issue by rebooting their computers up to 15 times.

The outage, which also took down the London Stock Exchange, has been blamed on a faulty update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The company handles the security of many Windows PCs and services around the world. In a statement Friday morning, CrowdStrike said the issue had been "identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed." It outlined all of the steps people could take to fix their PCs in its statement .

"This is not a security incident or cyberattack," the company added.

Read more:  Stuck During the Worldwide Outage? See If Your Credit Card Has These Travel Protections and Insurance

The last time there was an internet outage this widespread was when a service called Fastly went down in 2021 . It's a reminder of how much of the internet is underpinned by shared infrastructure, which leaves it vulnerable to widespread issues such as this. The share price of many companies took a nose dive following Friday's outage, but it also affected many people on an individual level, from disrupting vacation plans to preventing access to emergency services.

"All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers," Federal Trade Comission chair Lina Khan said in a thread on X . "Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems."

Are hospitals affected by the outage?

Hospitals in the US reported problems on Friday morning with their IT systems, affecting many patients. "A major worldwide software outage has affected many of our systems at Mass General Brigham, as well as many major businesses across the country," a spokesperson for Massachusetts General Hospital told Newsweek . "Due to the severity of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are cancelled today."

In the UK, medical services have also been affected, including the National Health Service system for booking appointments and pharmacies, which were struggling to take payments. 

Is 911 working?

Across the US, state troopers were reporting that 911 lines were down, starting in Alaska . Unconfirmed reports suggest that some lines in Minnesota, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio and New Hampshire had also been hit. 

Many people were reporting issues through the Down Detector website , with outages appearing to peak around midnight PT. If you live in one of the affected states, check with your local state troopers or police department for alternative emergency numbers. Alaska State Troopers issued an update later on Friday, saying their service had be reinstated as of 4:23 a.m. local time.

Alaska State Troopers listed alternative emergency numbers on Facebook.

Television channels around the world have been hit by the outage, with Sky News in the UK broadcasting from a phone after its studio equipment failed. The Paris Olympics organizing committee also said it had been hit by the outage, but that it had contingency plans in place. 

Are flights still grounded?

Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled Monday -- and real-time data shows only  23% of flights departing on time as of 5 p.m. ET Friday afternoon. Here's  how to track the status of your flight directly from your iPhone's text messages , and  three steps to take when your flight is canceled or delayed .

Airports from New Zealand to the UK reported issues in the early hours of Friday morning, particularly with their scanning technology, which couldn't register passengers' boarding passes. In India and Northern Ireland, departures boards and boarding passes were being written by hand. Airlines, including Europe-wide budget airline Ryanair, were reporting issues with online check-in. Ryanair advised all passengers to arrive at least three hours early for their flights. 

In the US, the Federal Aviation Authority has  grounded some flights  from American Airlines, United and Delta. Many US airlines haven't yet issued statements about how they expect the day to pan out, but it might be wise for passengers hoping to fly from US airports today to check with your airlines before setting off and also get there earlier than usual to allow extra time to check-in.

Passengers at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Germany were affected by the outage on Friday.

The biggest airlines operating in the US have been issuing regular updates, with Delta saying in a statement : "Delta has resumed some flight departures after a vendor technology issue impacted several airlines and businesses around the world. That issue necessitated a pause in Delta's global flight schedule this morning while it was addressed." The airline added that additional cancellations and delays would be expected on Friday, but that it had issued a travel waiver, which would allow passengers scheduled to travel today to rebook their flights for little or no cost, depending on date.

American Airlines

In a statement on X, American Airlines said: "We're aware of a technology issue with a vendor that is impacting multiple carriers. American is working with the vendor to resolve the issue as quickly as possible." In an updated statement to CNET it said that as of 5 a.m. ET it had managed to "safely reestablish our operation."

United Airlines

United Airlines issued a statement saying, "A third-party software outage is impacting computer systems worldwide, including at United." Initially the airline said that it would be holding all flights at their departure points, but later on Friday morning managed to get its flights moving again. 

"We are resuming some flights but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday," said a company spokesperson. "We have issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans via United.com or the United app."

Dutch airline KLM said that the outage had made flight handling "impossible," and until the issue was resolved, it largely had to suspend operations. In an update on X, the airline added: "Customers should expect delays and cancellations. We urge passengers to stay away from airport if their flight is not departing or is seriously delayed. We realise this is very inconvenient for customers, particularly because the busy summer holiday season has just started."

It added that it's working hard to restore operations and that passengers should keep an eye on KLM.com or the airline's app for updates.

What is CrowdStrike?

The company at the root of the Microsoft outages isn't actually Microsoft at all. The source of the issue has been identified as a faulty update issued by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

Founded 11 years ago out of Austin, Texas, CrowdStrike is often called in by organizations following major cybersecurity breaches to investigate what went wrong. These include the 2014 Sony Pictures hack and various events targeting the Democratic National Committee between 2015 and 2016.

Many companies around the world rely on CrowdStrike for critical cloud workload protections. In this case, CrowdStrike issued an update for Windows PCs (it confirmed Mac and Linux users hadn't been affected) that contained a single defect. PCs displayed the "blue screen of death," indicating a critical error, and were forced into a boot loop, which prevented them from turning on.

Exacerbating the problem further is the fact there doesn't seem to be a universal, easy fix for the issue. Most affected PCs will need to be manually reset to an earlier point in time one by one. Until they're able to turn on, they won't be able to receive the latest update from CloudStrike. "We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website," said a spokesperson for CrowdStrike.

"We further recommend organizations ensure they're communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels," they added. "Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

In a letter posted online to customers and partners late Friday, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said he wanted to "sincerely apologize directly to all of you for today's outage."

"All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority," Kurtz wrote. "The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack."

Kurtz had confirmed  earlier Friday on X that the outage was caused by an issue with a Falcon content update for Windows Hosts. "We have mobilized all of CrowdStrike to help you and your teams," he added. "If you have questions or need additional support, please reach out to your CrowdStrike representative or Technical Support.

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Private equity has become hazardous terrain for investors

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John Plender

Simply sign up to the Private equity myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.

The rise and rise of private markets has a feeling of inexorability about it. Despite increased financing costs and an uncertain growth outlook, private market assets under management totalled $13.1tn on June 30 last year, having grown at nearly 20 per cent a year since 2018, according to consultants McKinsey.

While fundraising has declined from its 2021 peak, a recent survey by State Street found that a majority of institutional investors intended to increase their exposure to almost all private markets, including infrastructure, private debt, private equity and real estate.

Yet the boom in private markets since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, especially in the big buyout category, was built on ultra-loose monetary policy. Most of the returns came not from enhancing the efficiency of portfolio companies, but from selling assets at ever-increasing market multiples and through leverage, which increases the return on equity relative to the return on assets.

Today multiples are down, financing costs are up and balance sheets are weaker thanks to that leverage. Payouts to investors are low as managers are reluctant to sell assets and crystallise returns while multiples are depressed. As for private debt, its growth has been substantially driven by regulatory arbitrage, with banks facing tougher regulation since the financial crisis.

Governance shortcomings in private equity, overlooked in the cheap money bonanza, now look pressing as institutional investors query the values private equity managers put on portfolio companies. The valuation issue has been acute since the return of more normal interest rates. Private equity managers have tended to write down their assets’ value by far less than the falls in public markets. This is a nonsense given the higher leverage and illiquidity of the asset category. The writedowns should be far greater than for public equity.

Also of concern is last month’s decision of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules imposing greater transparency on performance and fees in private equity. There is no uniformity in disclosure, which is based on individual agreements between managers and their investors. Much controversy surrounds the calculation of internal rates of return and opaque backdoor fees that investors often unwittingly pay.

The SEC had also been worried about a lack of clearly defined valuation procedures and protocols for mitigating the industry’s innumerable conflicts of interest. These include a rash of continuation funds whereby managers sell portfolio companies to a new fund. This shelters them from valuations in the public markets. Such deals entail big increases in the buyout group’s fees.

Exposure to illiquid assets is leading to growing problems of portfolio balance for pension funds approaching the so-called endgame, where they transfer pension obligations and matching assets to insurers via buyouts or buy-ins. Insurers do not like taking on illiquid assets, and if they do accept them, they impose tough haircuts.

That said, the rise of private markets has been good for investors. They offer diversification benefits, subject to the endgame caveat above. There are huge opportunities in infrastructure arising from decarbonisation and digitisation. And venture capital provides an entrée into new technologies.

Less clear, given the huge sums pouring into private capital, is how much of an illiquidity premium remains to be harvested. Dry powder reserves, the amounts committed by investors but not yet deployed, stand at $3.7tn, a ninth consecutive year of growth.

Assessing the performance of private equity relative to public markets is difficult. Real returns can only be known when investments are finally realised. In the interim, everything rests on the managers’ valuations. Jeffrey Hooke of Johns Hopkins Carey Business School argues that private equity managers have cloaked middling investment returns in a mass of confidentiality and misinformation. They have, he says, taken a simple concept — borrowing money to increase equity returns — and shaped it into a massive commercial empire with little accountability.

The biggest question relates to costs. Private equity typically charges a 2 per cent annual management fee based on investors’ money committed to the fund, along with a 20 per cent share of the profits over a pre-agreed returns threshold of, typically, 8 per cent. This is a huge drag on performance relative to the fractional percentage costs of investing in passively managed quoted equity.

The days of easy windfalls from freakishly loose monetary policy are gone. Now, private capital is much more hazardous terrain for investors.

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More than 25 metres designed for an owner who desires to independently steer his vessel as a luxury day-boat or for long cruises. A powerhouse of speed, safety, and comfort for those who love the thrills of performance combined with the pleasures of life on board and the desire to discover new places with extremely reduced cruising times.

One of a kind

One-of-a-kind yachts embody new ways of experiencing life at sea. Vessels of timeless beauty fully represent the brand's approach: always aim for the future.

An original "open-roof" interpretation in the lounge for dining under the stars or a comfortable sundeck for enjoying private moments or experiencing high-speed thrills.

A sporty nature with extreme attention to the onboard lifestyle offers multiple configurations that include areas for socialising or spaces for enjoying complete privacy, both indoors and out.

Fast, elegant, innovative, equipped with every amenity, and exceptional performance capability, for the exacting owner who desires to steer the vessel independently. An open roof in the saloon for dining under the stars and a saloon door that completely opens for a unique harmony between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Technical data

Construction.

• Hull COMPOSITE
• Superstructure COMPOSITE
• Length Overall (L.O.A.) 25.20 M / 82’8”
• Beam 6.50 M / 21’4”
• Max Draft 1.30 M / 4’3”
• Displacement at full load 75 T / 165,347 lb

Tank capacity

• Fuel capacity 9,500 L / 2,510 US gal
• Water capacity 2,000 L / 528 US gal
• Main engines [3] MAN V12-2000 engines, 2000 hp/each (1471 kW @ 2300 RPM)
• Transmission [3] MJP waterjets (2 steerable + 1 central booster)
• Stabilizer SEAKEEPER 18

Performance

• Max speed 55 knots
• Cruising speed 49 knots
• Range ~ 500 NM at cruising speed

Accommodation

• Guests up to 8 in 3 cabins
• Crew 2 in 1 cabin

Classification

• R.I.Na. – C ✠ HULL • MACH Y – Unrestricted Navigation
• EC Design Category A

This layout in particular epitomises AB Yachts' vast expertise to offer yachts that can be customised down to the tiniest detail. Custom-designed and fitted out for the American market, it is a very practical layout, without the slightest detriment to volumes, brightness and style. The galley is on the main deck allowing thus to arrange 4 guest cabins on the lower deck.

• Beam 6.50 M / 21’4''
• Max Draft 1.30 M / 4’3'
• Main engines [3] motori MAN V12-2000, 2000 hp/each. (1471 kW @2300 RPM)
• Transmission 2x Steerable MJP waterjets + 1x MJP Central Booster
• Stabilizers 1x Seakeeper Gyro-Stabilizer
• Guests up to 8 (9) in 4 cabins
• R.IR.I.Na. – C ✠ HULL • MACH Y – Unrestricted NavigationNa – C  HULL  MACH Y – Unrestricted Navigation

Visit UD's current situation page for how campus offices can access UDIT support to fix issues from the global IT outage Friday, July 19.

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Flyers at the Olympics

By Kristina Schulz

The 2024 Olympic Games kick off on Friday, July 26, in Paris. With more than 200 countries participating in what many consider the most important test of athleticism, University Archives decided to look at how the University of Dayton has contributed to the excellence of this international competition.

Casey Bogues

Casey Bogues, a junior track and field athlete at UD, competed in the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials in Oregon in early July. While she did not make the U.S. Olympic team for javelin throw, Bogues set a new personal and school record with a distance of 57.41 meters, topping the UD record she set in March 2023 by 3.61 meters. She will return to UD in the fall to start her senior year.

Katie Nagoette Moon

Former Flyer Katie Nagoette Moon, who competed in pole vaulting for UD during her freshman year in 2009-10, earned a gold medal in Tokyo during the 2020 Summer Olympics. Moon transferred to Ashland University for her sophomore year and continued to excel in pole vault, winning two NCAA Division II titles. She qualified for this year’s U.S. Olympic track and field team.

Christine Bayley

As a senior at UD in 2002, Christina Bayley was selected to carry the Olympic torch for the Salt Lake City Games through a .02-mile leg in her hometown of Kettering, Ohio. A taekwondo instructor and fifth-degree black belt, Bayley has been involved with the Olympics as an athlete and coach. She attended the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney as a delegate with the U.S. taekwondo team and missed a turn in the Atlanta Games when the sport was pulled. This did not stop Bayley from continuing her involvement in Olympic competition. She has served as an Olympic team coach since 2005 and is head master instructor at her taekwondo studio in Kettering.

Mike Sylvester ’74

Mike Sylvester ’74 medaled at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow while playing basketball for Italy. Sylvester played for UD’s men’s basketball team from 1971 to 1974 and scored 36 points in the 1974 NCAA Tournament game against UCLA. Of Italian descent, Sylvester was able to claim dual citizenship in 1977 while playing professionally for Olimpia Milano. Unsure of whether he should participate in the Summer Games in Moscow since the United States boycotted the games that year, Sylvester contacted the State Department. Sylvester was given the go-ahead to play and took home a silver medal with the Italian national basketball team.

Don Donoher ’54 

The late Don Donoher, a 1954 UD graduate and head coach of the UD men’s basketball team from 1964 to 1989, was an assistant coach for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics under head coach Bobby Knight. The team took gold.

Chantae McMillan

Chantae McMillan, a volunteer track coach for the Flyers during the 2015-16 academic year, participated in the heptathlon in the 2012 London Olympics. This event consists of 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter, long jump, javelin throw, and 800-meter. While McMillan did not medal in 2012, she set personal bests in several events.  McMillan went on to place fifth in the 2015 Pan American Combined Events Cup before joining the UD coaching staff.

Joe Tyler ’70

Joe Tyler ’70, a Flyer football standout, made the 1980 Winter Olympics in the bobsleigh, as the event was called that year. He competed in both the two-man and four-man sled events, although he did not win a medal. Tyler later went on to coach, working with the Jamaican bobsled team.

Carol Siciliano

Athletes need a tremendous amount of medical and training support to keep them in top-notch condition. Carol Siciliano, UD professor emerita of health and sport science, was involved in both the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, volunteering with the medical team to provide massage therapy for athletes. She was one of 120 massage therapists selected out of 2,100 applicants in Atlanta. For Siciliano, working with the athletes eight hours a day for four weeks was a learning experience and the “ultimate education.”

Terry Miller

While the spotlight is always on the athletes during the games, it takes a multitude of people to plan and implement the smooth running of the entire production. Terry Miller ’77, a UD School of Law graduate, was appointed general counsel for the London 2012 organizing committee. Lawyers play an important role in contractual agreements that need to be drawn up for all of the contractors, partners and suppliers. Miller’s main priority focused on protecting intellectual property, such as symbols and emblems of the Games.

Fun fact for 2024

The opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place on the Seine River  — a modern twist on Olympic tradition. Boats will parade the athletes of each national delegation through the city on this historic waterway. This is the first opening ceremony that will not be held in a stadium. 

— Kristina Schulz is the University archivist and coordinator of special collections.

Sources consulted: 

Olympians from the Dayton Area: A History of 60 Top Athletes 

Bogues Shines at Olympic Trials

USA Men's Olympic Basketball Coaches  

Off-Script with Liam Gibler: Olympian Joe Tyler

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AB Yachts Launches 24M AB 80 superyacht

Gruppo FIPA has launched a 24-metre AB 80 yacht from its AB Yachts brand, the second of five yachts set to be launched for the 2020 season.

Described as a “Formula One car of the seas”, the 24-metre yacht is designed by the Tuscany-based studio Acube Design .

Intended for both family-friendly cruising and as a luxurious day boat, the AB80 features a planing hull that acts as a “blade that cuts the water”.

Key features include a completely customisable interior, with a main-deck saloon encompassed in 360 degrees of natural light leading directly to the open aft cockpit.

Accommodation on board is for a total of eight guests in four cabins, with a staff of two crew.

The elite propulsion package comprises three MJP waterjets with three MAN v-12 2000hp engines for a top speed of over 59 knots.

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Wildfires prompt evacuations of northern Alberta oilsands sites, remote community of Chipewyan Lake

Meg energy, imperial oil say there have been no direct impacts to their sites.

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Out-of-control wildfires blazing in northern Alberta have prompted evacuations of workers from oilsands sites, as well as residents of a remote community.

On Thursday night, an evacuation order was issued for Chipewyan Lake in the Municipal District of Opportunity. The alert states there is an out of control wildfire east of Chipewyan Lake heading toward the community, and the fire threatens the only route in and out.

Residents are being told to register at the reception centre at the Wabasca Lakeview Sports Centre, located at 102 Opportunity Drive, where accommodations will be arranged.

MEG Energy Corp. said late Wednesday evening that it is evacuating non-essential personnel from its Christina Lake oilsands site, while Imperial Oil Ltd. confirmed in an email Thursday that it has begun reducing the number of non-essential workers at its Kearl oilsands mine.

Both companies said there have been no direct impacts to their sites and the moves are precautionary.

"Our first operating priority is to care for ourselves and all others," said MEG CEO Darlene Gates in a news release, adding production at the company's Christina Lake site continues as normal.

"Our focus is to minimize and mitigate any potential impact on our people and our operations."

MEG's Christina Lake site is located about 150 kilometres south of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, while Imperial's Kearl site is located 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

MEG's Christina Lake site has a current production capacity of about 110,000 barrels of oil per day, while Kearl has a production capacity of 220,000 barrels per day.

Wildfire threat impacts oil prices

There are several wildfires currently burning in the Fort McMurray area, and Alberta Wildfire classifies the current wildfire danger in the area as "extreme."

As of Thursday, there were 133 active wildfires in Alberta. 

Since the start of the year there have been 88 wildfires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area, burning a total of about 151,077 hectares.

Two weeks ago, Suncor Energy Inc. — Canada's second-largest oilsands producer by volume — evacuated non-essential personnel and curtailed production at its Firebag oilsands site north of Fort McMurray.

The company has not disclosed how much production has been taken offline. In the first quarter of 2024, before the curtailment, Firebag produced 229,000 barrels of oil per day.

The fires and the threat they pose to oilsands production have helped to boost Canadian oil prices this week. Western Canada Select heavy crude was up $1.73 or 2.63 per cent on Wednesday.

With files from CBC News

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