Key effects of major global outage:
Heathrow “working hard” to get passengers on their journeys amid global IT outage
Heathrow Airport has said it is “working hard” to get passengers “on their way” following a major global IT outage.
“We continue to work with our airport colleagues to minimise the impact of the global IT outage on passenger journeys.
“Flights continue to be operational and passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest flight information,” a spokesperson for the airport said.
Microsoft tells customers to contact CrowdStrike over ‘bug check’ message.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We are aware of a scenario in which customers experience issues with their machines causing a bug check (blue screen) due to a recent CrowdStrike update.
“We recommend customers to follow guidance provided by CrowdStrike.”
Some shops put “cash only” signs up as card payment system crashes
Some shops are putting up “cash only” signs on their doors.
A spokesman for the supermarket Morrisons said there were some “isolated incidents” with payment systems this morning, which have now been resolved and systems are working normally.
Waitrose said it had been “briefly limited on contactless payments”.
A shoe shop in Cambridge had taped a handwritten sign to its door, which read: “Due to global IT issue, cash only. Sorry for any inconvenience”, according to the Guardian.
Pictured: Gatwick Airport
AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images
Getty Images
‘Today was not a security or cyber incident,’ CrowdStrike CEO says
CrowdStrike’s chief executive has said the cybersecurity firm’s customers “remain fully protected” despite the ongoing global IT outage.
In a new statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, George Kurtz said: “Today was not a security or cyber incident. Our customers remain fully protected.
“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption.
“As noted earlier, the issue has been identified and a fix has been deployed. There was an issue with a Falcon content update for Windows Hosts.”
London Ambulance Service experiences ‘huge’ surge in calls
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) has experienced “huge increases” in the number of calls to its 999 and 111 services following global IT issues.
Chief executive of LAS, Daniel Elkeles, said: “Following the global IT outage that has impacted some NHS services across the capital, our call handlers and ambulance crews are incredibly busy with huge increases in the number of calls to both our 999 and 111 services.
“In fact, by 2pm today, we had received more than 3,000 999 calls and 3,000 calls to our 111 services – this is a third higher than we would usually receive in a full 24 hour period.
“Our teams are always here to help if you need us and we encourage anyone who needs our services to continue to contact us.
“We are working very hard to make sure we are getting to patients as quickly as possible, but please be aware that our response times today may be impacted by this global issue.
“We ask that people use our 999 services wisely and contact their pharmacy or visit NHS 111 online where possible. Londoners can continue to help us by only calling 999 in a serious medical emergency.”
More than 3,300 flights cancelled worldwide
More than 3,300 flights have been cancelled globally, accounting for roughly 3% of all scheduled services, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
Whilst this figure represents the total number of cancellations, it is worth noting that not all may be attributed to the ongoing IT outage.
Pay could be impacted, according to Global Payroll Association
Workers could face delays in receiving their wages due to a widespread IT outage affecting industries globally, according to the Global Payroll Association.
Chief executive Melanie Pizzey cautioned that the disruption could have “serious implications for businesses” nationwide, with firms processing weekly payroll likely to be hit hardest.
Pizzey warned that the technical issues might create a backlog, potentially pushing back pay dates for employees on weekly or monthly schedules.
She added: “At best, payroll staff will need to work overtime to resolve the problem.”
Londoners urged to continue donating blood amid IT chaos
Londoners are being urged to continue donating blood amid the outage, with NHS officials saying they have received calls wondering whether appointments are affected.
An NHS Blood and Transplant spokesperson says: “NHS Blood and Transplant are calling on Londoners to book and keep appointments to donate blood to boost NHS resilience at this time.
“There remains a particularly urgent need for O negative blood.
“Blood donation systems are not affected and we currently have a high number of appointments available at our donor centres across London this weekend and over coming days and weeks.”
Ryanair tells passengers on cancelled flights to leave airports
Ryanair urged passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave the airport.
The airline said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to cancel a small number of flights today due to this global third-party IT outage.
“Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to see their options.
“A full list of cancellations is available at http://ryanair.com. If your flight has been cancelled, we kindly request that you leave the airport as the IT outage means we cannot currently assist passengers at the airport.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this global third-party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed.”
