A global IT failure has occurred in the world: Nova Poshta, Vodafone, Windows, banks, hundreds of flights canceled. All the details

On July 19, hundreds of companies around the world shut down due to a failure in Microsoft Azure and Crowdstrike programs. In Ukraine, the services of Nova Poshta, Vodafone, and Sense Bank were temporarily unavailable. In addition, the ability to create banks in Mono disappeared. At the same time, hundreds of flights had to be postponed around the world, airports temporarily stopped working, and Microsoft 10 users lost the ability to use their computers.

Read about what happened and how Ukrainian companies survived the IT failure in the OBOZ.UA article.

The situation in Ukraine: companies managed to resume their work in a few hours

The reasons for the failure are the same all over the world, including for Ukrainian companies. Vodafone and Sense Bank confirmed to OBOZ.UA that their problems were related to Microsoft Azure and Crowdstrike.

"This morning, for an hour, some Vodafone subscribers in all regions of Ukraine had difficulty receiving services. The company's specialists responded promptly to the situation, and all basic services have been gradually restored since 9.20 am. The reason was a failure in information systems that affected the infrastructure of many companies around the world," Vodafone said. Thus, when trying to dial a number, the system "dropped" the call. "The Internet is available, but you can't call anyone," complained one of the mobile operator's subscribers.

"Nova Poshta" has already resumed operations."All client systems and services have been restored. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are waiting for you in our branches and at post offices," the company told OBOZ.UA. Earlier, they noted that the failure occurred "due to some software updates, there was a technical failure in the customer service system. The company also clarified that there was no hacker attack."

Sense Bank also experienced failures. The company noted that the problems affected a number of functions. In particular, they did not work:

• display of products, cards, and accounts
• transfers and currency exchange
• payment for services
• purchase of bonds and car insurance
• opening deposits and loans
• collections and references.

"This morning we experienced technical difficulties in Sense Bank's digital services. The bank's team has now restored most of the digital functions. The cause of the failure has already been established and is not related to a DDoS attack or other hostile actions of the aggressor country. All data and tools will be fully restored in the near future," the company told OBOZ.UA.

And at 11:23 the company said that the difficulties had been overcome. "As of now, the technical difficulties we faced this morning have been successfully overcome. All digital services and functions of Sense Bank are back to normal," the bank's press service said.

Monobank also had difficulties – transfers and card transactions worked, but it was impossible to create a bank. "There is a global IT failure around the world related to the interaction of the Crowdstrike antivirus and Windows. Many companies are knocked out," explained Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-founder of Monobank.

Failures are not only in Ukraine: problems are reported all over the world

Thus, in the United States, Spain, and Germany, there are problems with the operation of airports, which has delayed or canceled flights. American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Airlines have banned all their planes from taking off due to global connectivity issues.

Some of the consequences:

• United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines have suspended all flights. The Federal Aviation Administration cited communication problems and did not say how long the "ground stop" would last. Allegiant Airlines flights were also suspended.
• Microsoft said it is investigating an issue that affects users' ability to access various Microsoft 365 programs and services. Earlier on Thursday, the company reported on its Azure status report website that the service had stopped working for some customers in the United States, adding that it had identified the cause and was working to resolve it.
• Other global airlines, including Virgin Australia and Qantas, have been affected by the IT outage, saying they are still operating but with delays.
• Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney airports are experiencing similar disruptions, although flights are still arriving and departing.
• Australian banking and telecommunications institutions such as ANZ, Westpac, Visa, and Optus are also affected, according to Downdetector, a website that tracks cyber disruptions.
• Chinese Microsoft customers are seeing a "blue screen" with an error message, commonly known as a BSOD (blue screen of death), Microsoft confirmed on Friday.
• The London Stock Exchange said that its news service has experienced a "global technical problem" that has prevented news from being published on its website. Other services of the company, including the exchange itself, continue to operate normally, it added.
• Other businesses affected include supermarket chains, state police, the national television station, and banks in New Zealand.
• 911 emergency lines are down in the US states. The 911 emergency service lines in the US state of Alaska have stopped working, according to the state's military service.
• The Bank of Israel claims that the global CrowdStrike outage is causing some disruptions in the country's banking system. The central bank says that the problem has caused "a partial impact on the banking system, which is aware of the incident and will cope with it." Earlier, the Israeli Ministry of Health and Emergency Services said its servers and hotline were experiencing disruptions due to a technical problem.

• The famous sphere in Las Vegas after the global Crowdstrike outage also shows the "blue screen of death".

According to CNN, the US Federal Aviation Administration has announced the suspension of flights by American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines. Spanish airports have faced a "computer system incident" that could lead to flight delays, according to airfield operator Aena.

Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport has also stopped working. Airplanes can neither take off nor land. A global technical failure has occurred in Australia, causing massive damage to telecom operators, banks, and airlines, due to problems with Microsoft laptops, the Australian ABC TV channel reports. The failure of the Microsoft Azure cloud storage platform caused the cancellation of at least 130 flights and delays of more than 200 flights of American airlines.

British railroad companies also said they were facing "widespread IT problems." And Sky News was forced to interrupt its live broadcast. The London Stock Exchange is also experiencing disruptions.

There are also reports of problems with the Windows operating system. Users are being presented with a "blue screen of death". It is noted that the massive Windows 10 BSOD crash is related to the update of Crowdstike, a cybersecurity software.

• What experts say

Prof. Jill Slay, SmartSat Chair in Cyber Security at the University of South Australia, said the "impact" of the large global outage is "enormous" but that it is "too early to draw conclusions" about the cause.

"There is currently a large-scale global technical failure affecting numerous companies and services," Slay said. "Some attribute it to the security services offered by CrowdStrike. Others are attributing it to Microsoft or Amazon. Authorities and the industry will be watching, but it's too early to draw conclusions at this stage."

Slay noted that the failure "could be the result of misconfiguration by one of these companies or 'interference' between products."

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