Big Tech

From ATMs to Flights, Epic IT Crash Leaves Trail of Chaos

Disruptions rippled across systems from Asia to the US
Issues triggered by a botched update of CrowdStrike software

WATCH: A series of technical glitches disrupted services at airlines, banks and the London Stock Exchange on Friday.Source: Bloomberg

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By Amy Thomson, Shona Ghosh, and Vlad Savov

July 18, 2024 at 11:31 PM EDT

Updated on

July 19, 2024 at 8:21 PM EDT

This article is for subscribers only.

In what will go down as the most spectacular IT failure the world has ever seen, a botched software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. crashed countless Microsoft Windows computer systems around the world on Friday.

Microsoft Corp. and CrowdStrike have rolled out fixes, and systems are gradually being restored. But for several hours, bankers in Hong Kong, doctors in the UK and emergency responders in New Hampshire found themselves locked out of programs critical to keeping their operations afloat. Some businesses are facing the prospect of continued disruptions as the restoration process is, in some cases, requiring tech workers to manually reboot systems and remove faulty files.