US 911 services, airlines hit by global Microsoft outage
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00:00So, we're still getting confirmation about the origins of the IT outage.
00:05Let's speak to Waseem Kornay in Los Angeles.
00:09He's standing by.
00:10We can speak to him now.
00:11Hello to you, Waseem.
00:14This outage occurring the middle of the night, what more do we know about the cause?
00:21Well, we know that it came from a company called CrowdStrike, which is a cybersecurity
00:28firm that is based here in the United States, based in Texas.
00:31Now, CrowdStrike is a major player in cybersecurity.
00:34They have billions of dollars in annual revenue, and they have multiple products, including
00:39things that they call EDRs, which are kind of like antiviruses.
00:43And of course, we all know that online threats change and evolve constantly.
00:47So these antiviruses that companies have and systems have worldwide need to adapt, and
00:51there are constant updates being pushed out to update those antiviruses.
00:55And so one of these updates contains a major glitch, a major issue, and that has been affecting
01:00some systems that are running on Microsoft.
01:02Now, there is some good news, is that it appears that there appears to be a fix that is being
01:07pushed out by CrowdStrike right now.
01:10But it does appear that this is supposed to be a manual fix and that every single computer
01:15affected by this outage has to be fixed one by one.
01:20Every single computer.
01:21Of course, that's going to mean a lot of delays, Waseem.
01:25This occurring overnight in the United States, what has the impact been on some U.S. companies?
01:31Well, the first signs of trouble came in just a little before midnight here on the West
01:39Coast, signs that there were some issues with the 9-1-1 emergency number services in a number
01:45of states.
01:46It reports that there were outages in the 9-1-1 emergency services number in places
01:52like Ohio, Arizona, Alaska, Minnesota, to name a few.
01:56And then just a few minutes later, a major news alert, which really doesn't happen that
02:00often, the three major airline carriers in the United States, American Airlines, United
02:05and Delta, all saying that they were issuing a nationwide ground stop because of those
02:09delays.
02:10Now, not many issues at that moment on the East Coast because, of course, it was in the
02:15middle of the night.
02:16But to those late night departures from west to east, those red eyes that depart from dozens
02:21of airports across the West Coast, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix,
02:28all incurring major delays and cancellations, and, of course, that will have trickle-down
02:33issues as we go, as the country starts to wake up in the next few hours.
02:38We've already seen some issues.
02:39For example, Atlanta Airport, those departure screens all blank, Atlanta, of course, is
02:44the busiest airport in the world.
02:47We can expect some very severe delays in that airport, thinking of New York, JFK, Newark,
02:52Washington, Dulles, Miami, all expected to see some major, major issues.
02:56Of course, it is Friday morning over there, and Friday is always a very busy travel day.
03:02So anyone traveling in that part of the world will definitely have to be very, very patient.
03:06Indeed.
03:07And, Waseem, we're hoping to speak to our London correspondent later in the day, but
03:12have you been following about the outages abroad beyond the U.S. and how that's affecting
03:18things?
03:19Oh, certainly.
03:20I mean, you know, overnight hours here in the United States, certain television stations,
03:27for example, carry programming from news channels in Australia, news channel in the U.K., Sky
03:32News, for example, which has been severely affected by this I.T. outage.
03:36They've been off there, I understand, for a few hours now.
03:39And even local news stations here, some of these national affiliates, I'm thinking specifically
03:45of NBC, for example, which has been severely affected by this outage.
03:49So this is certainly making news, not so much in the middle of the night here on the West
03:53Coast, but as the East Coast starts to wake up, certainly will be a major news headline
03:58because, of course, as you mentioned, this is affecting the entire world.