ST. LOUIS — A major internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Airlines and airports in the United States, Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere were reporting problems, with some flights grounded. Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared to be an unprecedented internet disruption.
In an update posted on X, Microsoft said it was aware of the issue caused by a recent update to CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software and the underlying cause of the outage has been fixed. However, residual impact was continuing to affect some Microsoft 365 apps and services.
St. Louis impacts
Banks across the world are reporting issues with the cyber outage. A 5 On Your Side videographer saw multiple ATMs in the St. Louis area with an "out of service" message.
Government agencies
The Social Security Administration announced its local Social Security offices would be closed to the public on Friday and that some online services would be unavailable due to the outage. Longer than normal call wait times can also be expected for the National 800 Number, 1-800-772-1213.
The State of Illinois announced the outage had impacted several public-facing online systems and said it was working on restoration and minimizing the impact on state operations and public services.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said on X that the outage was impacting the state's DMVs. Illinoisans should call 800-252-8980 before visiting a DMV location, as operating hours and services may be impacted. Online services can be accessed at ILSOS.gov.
At 12:40 p.m., Giannoulias posted an update saying DMV locations in the Chicago area are running normally, with all other DMV locations across the states open and serving customers in some capacity.
5 On Your Side reached out to law enforcement across the Bi-state and has had no confirmation of 911 services out locally. Wentzville police said they have experienced computer issues. Clinton County, Illinois, said they had some internal communication issues.
Illinois State Police said the outage was impacting ISP systems, but its six 911 call centers remain operational.
Missouri State Highway Patrol staff experienced some telephone issues overnight due to the outage, an MSHP spokesperson told 5 On Your Side. Since then, those issues have been addressed, and only a minor disruption of services occurred. MSHP's non-emergency and emergency phone lines and communication systems are fully operational.
St. Louis County police said they have also been affected by the outage but have still been able to cover emergency calls for service.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said it also experienced technical outages overnight, mostly in its jail. "Fortunately, we have backup procedures in place and the impact was minimal," Public Safety Information Coordinator Grant Bissell said.
Medical services
Nationwide, hospitals reported issues with internal computer systems making it harder for employees.
We reached out to multiple hospitals, and Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights, Illinois, said it was dealing with computer systems down because of the cyber issue. The hospital said it using paper to document cases instead of computers, but it was not impacting patient care.
A spokesperson with SSM Health said the health system was impacted by the IT issue overnight. "While we are continuing to provide exceptional patient care without disruption, we do have some phone systems down and are postponing a limited number of procedures," the spokesperson said. "Our team is working to resolve these issues and expect to have all operations fully restored today."
At around 8 p.m., a spokesperson said "SSM Health has full operations across all hospitals and clinics. We are thankful to our teams who continued to deliver exceptional patient care as we worked throughout the day to resolve the issues caused by the global IT outage."
BJC Health System said on Facebook that its IT teams were working to restore access to numerous servers, programs and computers impacted by the outage. Patients with Friday appointments were instructed to arrive at the normally scheduled appointment time. However, appointments may take longer and wait times may be extended in the meantime.
A spokesperson for OSF HealthCare said "the issue is for organizations using CrowdStrike security software on Windows machines. OSF proper is not affected by this issue."
A spokesperson for HSHS said "HSHS is not significantly impacted by the global outage being reported."
Businesses
The Missouri Botanical Garden said on social media it's experiencing online ticketing issues, but are still open this Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with tickets available in-person only.
The Saint Louis Art Museum said it would not be opening as scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday and instead will open at noon.
Washington University in St. Louis shared that multiple WashU and BJC services and applications were impacted, with the Surgery Center on New Ballas Road, Optum software and many ATMs down. BJC has also closed its cafeterias because they cannot take any payment.
One 5 On Your Side viewer said they tried logging on to pay bills on Friday morning but were unable.
Flights
The outage has caused issues for airlines nationwide, including some at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
At 7 a.m., the St. Louis airport said the FAA issued a ground stop due to the global IT outage.
As of about 11 a.m., United Airlines appeared to be the only carrier still experiencing significant issues in St. Louis, but some flights were still going out. Southwest, American Airlines and Delta have resumed flying.
A spokesperson for Lambert Airport said the airport was back to "somewhat normal" operations, but passengers can still expect delays and cancelations throughout the day. They should check their flight status before heading to the airport.
The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon.
The parent and educator communication app, Schoolcomms, said it was among the companies impacted. On X, the company said, "There has been a global outage with CrowdStrike, our anti-virus software which is affecting a number of major companies worldwide, including Microsoft, banks and airports."
Just before 5 a.m., CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted to X an update on the issue saying, "CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."
In the post, he ensured the issue is not a security incident or a cyberattack. "The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," said Kurtz.
News outlets in Australia reported that airlines, telecommunications providers and banks, and media broadcasters were disrupted as they lost access to computer systems. Some New Zealand banks said they were also offline.
Australian outages reported on the site included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.
News outlets in Australia — including the ABC and Sky News — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels, and reported sudden shutdowns of Windows-based computers.
An X user posted a screenshot of an alert from the company CrowdStrike that said the company was aware of “reports of crashes on Windows hosts” related to its Falcon Sensor platform. The alert was posted on a password-protected CrowdStrike site and could not be verified. CrowdStrike did not respond to a request for comment.
Are you feeling the impact of the worldwide outage? text your experience and/or questions to 314-425-5355.
This is a developing story. Please check back with KSDK for the latest developments.