Global tech outage: Austin-based CrowdStrike blames update defect; airlines, businesses affected

CrowdStrike response to global IT outage

Tierra Neubaum has more on local services affected by the outage and what the company had to say.

AUSTIN, Texas - A global IT outage grounded flights and is causing massive disruptions affecting companies and services in Austin and around the world.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

In a post on social media, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said:

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

CrowdStrike offers cloud-based security solutions to businesses. Its Falcon tool - one of the reasons for the outage on Friday - identifies unusual behavior and vulnerabilities to protect computer systems from threats such as malware.

The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Austin, Texas, and employs over 7,000 employees and operates in more than 170 countries.

Flights and services affected in Austin

The FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded amid the global outage. That has since been lifted but delays and cancelations are expected throughout the rest of the day.

In Austin, several flights have been delayed and some have been canceled. You can get the latest flight information from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport here.

The Austin Fire Department says their dispatch was affected. AFD says instead of a computer helping with dispatch, they did what they did in the past and a human did it. Officials say the outage was fixed by around 5:45 a.m.

CapMetro says it was also impacted and that customers could experience delays.

Texas DPS also says that its offices across the state are closed due to the outage. In a social media post, DPS says its IT teams are working to fix the issue but that "no current estimate" on when offices will reopen.

Global IT outage causes flight issues

A major outage hit industries in Austin and around the world and for a time, FAA ordered all airlines to ground planes. Jessica Rivera has more from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Global IT outage: Here’s what to know

The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing it.

The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta.

News outlets in Australia reported that airlines, telecommunications providers and banks, and media broadcasters were disrupted as they lost access to computer systems.

Airlines in the U.K., Europe and India reported problems and some New Zealand banks said they were offline.

Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion" and that they were "observing a positive trend in service availability."

FOX TV Digital Team and The Associated Press contributed to this report.