Airlines grounded flights. Operators of 911 lines could not respond to emergencies. Hospitals canceled surgeries. Retailers closed for the day. And the actions all traced back to a batch of bad computer code.
A flawed software update sent out by a little-known cybersecurity company caused chaos and disruption around the world on Friday. The company, CrowdStrike, based in Austin, Texas, makes software used by multinational corporations, government agencies and scores of other organizations to protect against hackers and online intruders.
But when CrowdStrike sent its update on Thursday to its customers that run Microsoft Windows software, computers began to crash.
The fallout, which was immediate and inescapable, highlighted the brittleness of global technology infrastructure. The world has become reliant on Microsoft and a handful of cybersecurity firms like CrowdStrike. So when a single flawed piece of software is released over the internet, it can almost instantly damage countless companies and organizations that depend on the technology as part of everyday business.
“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of Britain’s National Cyber Security Center and a professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University.
A cyberattack did not cause the widespread outage, but the effects on Friday showed how devastating the damage can be when a main artery of the global technology system is disrupted. It raised broader questions about CrowdStrike’s testing processes and what repercussions such software firms should face when flaws in their code cause major disruptions.
How the airline cancellations rippled around the world (and across time zones)
Share of canceled flights at 25 airports on Friday
#g-timezone-box ,
#g-timezone-box .g-artboard {
margin:0 auto;
}
#g-timezone-box .g-aiAltText {
position: absolute;
left: -10000px;
width: 1px;
height: 1px;
overflow: hidden;
white-space: nowrap;
}
#g-timezone-box p {
margin:0;
}
#g-timezone-box .g-aiAbs {
position:absolute;
}
#g-timezone-box .g-aiImg {
position:absolute;
top:0;
display:block;
width:100% !important;
}
#g-timezone-box .g-aiSymbol {
position: absolute;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
#g-timezone-box .g-aiPointText p { white-space: nowrap; }
#g-timezone-335 {
position:relative;
overflow:hidden;
}
#g-timezone-335 p {
font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;
font-weight:regular;
line-height:17px;
height:auto;
opacity:1;
letter-spacing:0em;
font-size:14px;
text-align:left;
color:rgb(0,0,0);
top:1.1px;
position:static;
text-transform:none;
padding-bottom:0;
padding-top:0;
mix-blend-mode:normal;
font-style:normal;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-pstyle0 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:14px;
height:14px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:12px;
color:rgb(96,96,96);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-pstyle1 {
font-weight:700;
line-height:14px;
height:14px;
font-size:12px;
text-transform:uppercase;
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-pstyle2 {
font-weight:300;
height:17px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-pstyle3 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:16px;
height:16px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:13px;
text-transform:uppercase;
color:rgb(255,255,255);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-pstyle4 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:14px;
height:14px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:12px;
text-transform:uppercase;
color:rgb(96,96,96);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle0 {
letter-spacing:0.029em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle1 {
letter-spacing:0.039em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle2 {
letter-spacing:0.014em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle3 {
letter-spacing:-0.04em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle4 {
letter-spacing:-0.015em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle5 {
letter-spacing:0.024em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle6 {
letter-spacing:-0.01em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle7 {
letter-spacing:-0.02em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle8 {
letter-spacing:-0.029em;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle9 {
font-weight:500;
}
#g-timezone-335 .g-cstyle10 {
letter-spacing:-0.119em;
}
#g-timezone-600 {
position:relative;
overflow:hidden;
}
#g-timezone-600 p {
font-family:nyt-franklin,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;
font-weight:regular;
line-height:17px;
height:auto;
opacity:1;
letter-spacing:0em;
font-size:14px;
text-align:left;
color:rgb(0,0,0);
top:1.1px;
position:static;
text-transform:none;
padding-bottom:0;
padding-top:0;
mix-blend-mode:normal;
font-style:normal;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-pstyle0 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:16px;
height:16px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:13px;
color:rgb(96,96,96);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-pstyle1 {
font-weight:700;
line-height:14px;
height:14px;
font-size:12px;
text-transform:uppercase;
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-pstyle2 {
font-weight:300;
height:17px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-pstyle3 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:16px;
height:16px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:13px;
text-transform:uppercase;
color:rgb(255,255,255);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-pstyle4 {
font-weight:300;
line-height:14px;
height:14px;
letter-spacing:0.029em;
font-size:12px;
text-transform:uppercase;
color:rgb(96,96,96);
top:1px;
position:relative;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle0 {
letter-spacing:0.029em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle1 {
letter-spacing:0.039em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle2 {
letter-spacing:0.014em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle3 {
letter-spacing:-0.04em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle4 {
letter-spacing:-0.015em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle5 {
letter-spacing:0.024em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle6 {
letter-spacing:-0.01em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle7 {
letter-spacing:-0.02em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle8 {
letter-spacing:-0.029em;
}
#g-timezone-600 .g-cstyle9 {
letter-spacing:-0.119em;
}
50% of flights
Airport
Bengaluru Kempegowda
0%
Dhaka Shahjalal
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
Stuttgart
Melbourne
Berlin Brandenburg
Zurich
Istanbul
London City
Amsterdam Schiphol
Chicago O’Hare
Raleigh−Durham
Bradley
Atlanta
LaGuardia
Norfolk
Richmond
Charlotte
Detroit
Reagan National
Philadelphia
Houston
Cancún
Dulles
Tucson
1:20 a.m. ET
8 a.m. ET
50% of flights
Airport
Bengaluru Kempegowda
0%
Dhaka Shahjalal
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
Stuttgart
Melbourne
Berlin Brandenburg
Zurich
Istanbul
London City
Amsterdam Schiphol
Chicago O’Hare
Raleigh−Durham
Bradley
Atlanta
LaGuardia
Norfolk
Richmond
Charlotte
Detroit
Reagan National
Philadelphia
Houston
Cancún
Dulles
Tucson
1:20 a.m. ET
8 a.m. ET