Airlines, banks or media companies: massive problems with computer systems are being reported in several countries. Germany is also massively affected. The disruption could be related to a faulty software update.
An IT glitch has caused massive disruptions worldwide. Numerous industries, including airlines, banks, media organizations and government agencies – including in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Europe – reported major problems.
Germany is also affected, and it is clearly noticeable in air traffic, among other things: At the capital’s airport BER in Schönefeld, no planes took off or landed for hours. In a statement, the airport spoke of “a technical fault” that led to delays in processing.
Problems were also reported at Hamburg Airport. Many travelers were just about to start their summer vacation. Computer systems of four airlines were affected, said a spokeswoman for the airport. They were Eurowings, Ryanair, Vueling and Turkish Airlines. The airlines are now issuing the tickets manually.
The airports in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Memmingen and Nuremberg were also affected.
Clinics in Kiel and Lübeck cancel planned operations
There were problems not only in air traffic: The Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital canceled all planned non-life-saving operations at its locations in Kiel and Lübeck for today. The outpatient clinics also remained closed, the hospital announced on its website. “The care of patients at the UKSH is guaranteed, as is emergency care.”
Supermarkets also reported disruptions – for example the Tegut chain. There are problems with the cash register systems, reports the MrThe Frankfurt service provider Wisag, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Hesse and the job center in Bad Homburg also reported problems. Other businesses nationwide were also affected and some were unable to open.
According to initial findings, Deutsche Bahn did not report any software problems. All systems were running smoothly and train traffic was not affected in any way, a railway spokeswoman said when asked.
Breakdown at Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike as a trigger?
The exact cause of the IT disruption is still unclear. However, the possible starting point could be a problem at the US cybersecurity company Crowdstrike. The customer service hotline of the company from the US state of Texas played a recording in which the company announced that the Microsoft operating system was crashing in connection with an update to the company’s own anti-virus protection Falcon.
“The problem has been identified, isolated and is being resolved,” the US company has since announced. Crowdstrike is currently working with affected customers on the issue, company boss George Kurtz explained in the online services X and Linkedin. According to the report, the error lies in an update for applications in the Microsoft Windows program.
Jan Lemnitzer, an IT expert at Copenhagen Business School, also assumed that it was not a hacker attack, but a software problem at a cybersecurity company. The fact that it started in Australia suggests this, he said at dailynews24Because that’s where the new day begins first and if there are problems with a software update, they appear first at this end of the world.
“Then they roll out worldwide as soon as the sun rises, and a misprogrammed update means that no more planes can fly in America.” Companies can hardly protect themselves if there are problems with a software provider, the IT expert continued. However, it is sensible to have a “Plan B” in the drawer for such cases.
The authorities in Great Britain and France also do not believe that this was a cyberattack.
news channel, Healthcare and payment systems affected worldwide
The effects of the breakdown were also felt internationally, not only but especially at airports. As in Germany, there were flight cancellations, delays and delays in processing in many cities around the world – for example in Sydney, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Dubai, Prague, Amsterdam and Zurich.
Microsoft users were no longer able to access their programs as usual. News channels in Australia – including ABC and Sky News – were unable to broadcast their TV and radio channels and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers. Sky News in Great Britain also reported similar things. The stock exchanges in London and Singapore were also affected.
Australia calls emergency meeting
In Great Britain, there were also disruptions to the IT of the health system used by doctors’ offices to manage appointments. There were also disruptions to rail traffic there. In South Africa, numerous ATMs were out of service. The organizing committee for the Olympic Games in Paris, which begin in a few days, reported that the technical failures made preparations more difficult.
The Australian government called an emergency meeting because of the problems. “The Australian government is working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator on these evolving outages,” the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper quoted a government spokesman as saying.