(CNN) – Four days after a faulty software update from a cybersecurity company unexpectedly knocked out computers and technical systems around the world, airlines and some other companies continue to experience delays and other technical problems.
The “largest computer blackout in history”—caused by a software update for Microsoft devices late Thursday and early Friday—caused disruption at airports, outages in 911 services, and difficulties in health centers.
The outage affected an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices, less than 1 percent of all Windows machines, according to an article posted Saturday on Microsoft’s blog. But the effects were omnipresent and affected airlines, banks, companies, schools and public administrations, as well as some health and emergency services around the world.
Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group, told CNN that the costs of the disruption could amount to 1 billion dollars. But it is unclear if or how affected customers will be compensated.
Here’s what we know about the disruption and its effects.
The outage is related to a software update released by CrowdStrike, a major US cybersecurity company. Used by numerous Fortune 500 companies, including major global banks, healthcare and energy companies, as well as the US Government, this program detects and blocks hacking threats.
CrowdStrike informed its customers early this Friday that the interruptions were due to “a defect detected in a single content update of its software for Microsoft Windows operating systems,” according to a message posted on X by its CEO, George Kurtz. The problem was identified and isolated, and engineers deployed an update to fix the problem, Kurtz said.
The company’s engineers took measures to solve the problem, according to a notice consulted by CNNwhich instructed customers to restart their computers and take other actions if they continued to experience technical problems. The issue is specific to Falcon, one of CrowdStrike’s main software products, and does not affect Mac or Linux operating systems, according to the advisory. Crowdstrike claims that Falcon is designed to protect files saved in the cloud.
The company said the outage was not caused by a security incident or cyberattack.
Kurtz later apologized to customers and said that the company is “deeply saddened by the inconvenience and disruption.”
Travelers continued to feel the impact of the ruling. Thousands of flights in the United States have been canceled for the third day in a row, as airlines struggle to recover from the global technology blackout that left thousands of passengers stranded at airports.
In total, 1,883 flights to, within or out of the United States were canceled as of 11:59 p.m. ET this Sunday, and 9,939 flights were delayed, according to the flight tracking site. FlightAware.
Of those cancellations, 1,211 flights corresponded to Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines canceled more than 1,000 flights this Sunday, as the company continues to recover from the technological problem since Friday. Delta did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke with Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian on Sunday afternoon, according to the department.
Major hotels, including Marriott International and some Hiltons, were affected by both payment processing and delays in billing processes.
US airlines American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Allegiant Airlines, SunCountry and Frontier Airlines reported problems on Friday.
American Airlines declared this Friday morning that he had been able to “safely reestablish” operations. On Friday night, United declared that “most of our systems have recovered,” but warned that flight delays or cancellations could still occur as a result of the problems.
In a letter sent this Sunday afternoon to customers, the company’s CEO, Ed Bastian, stated: “The technological problem occurred on the busiest travel weekend of the summer, with our reserved loads exceeding the 90%, which limited our capacity to rearrange. I want to apologize to everyone who has been affected by these events. “Delta is in the business of connecting the world, and we understand how difficult it can be when your trips are disrupted.”
According to FlightAwareas of 8:00 p.m. (Eastern European time) 1,670 flights within, to or from the United States had been cancelled.
Delta also announced it would not allow unaccompanied minors to travel until July 24 due to the service disruption.
Other airlines returned to normal over the weekend, including one of the world’s largest carriers, Turkish Airlines, which declared on Saturday: “The global technical problem has been resolved. “All our operations are back to normal.”
On the same day, airlines Jetstar Japan, Hong Kong Express and Cebu Pacific they said that its operations were gradually being restored following disruptions due to the global technical blackout.
David Kennedy, co-founder of the cybersecurity company Binary Defense, explained to CNN on Saturday that although the faulty computer update has been reversed, it is not a quick fix for airlines, which have computers at thousands of gates that will have to be restarted. individually.
“It’s not as simple as restarting. There are many more steps and complexities,” Kennedy said. “There just aren’t enough people at those airports, at those places to go and do it.”
Amid the travel chaos, Buttigieg previously said in a post on social media this Saturday that it received reports from some airlines that they only offer flight credits to passengers for canceled flights.
“Let me be clear: You have the right to get your money back quickly if your flight is canceled and they don’t accept a new reservation,” Buttigieg said.
Airlines react after computer failure that forced mass cancellation of flights
The widespread use of CrowdStrike software meant that the bug affected numerous sectors, including emergency communications, utilities, and healthcare.
Large hospital systems, including Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts, Penn Medicine in Pennsylvania and Mount Sinai Health System in New York, reported Friday that they were affected by the outage.
Emory Healthcare in Atlanta said it had delayed “procedures at ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals are delayed until our systems stabilize.”
Some cancer centers, such as Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, also suspended some scheduled procedures and appointments.
Several blood banks also suffered interruptions.
And in some areas, such as Arizona and Alaska, 911 services were briefly interrupted before being restored.
Government agencies, including Social Security offices and local Department of Motor Vehicles offices, also temporarily halted operations due to the outage.
Public transportation in Washington and Pennsylvania were also affected by the blackout, but restored operations this Friday.
And delivery companies UPS and FedEx said that, although they remained operational, they expected delays in service on Friday.
– CNN’s Dalia Faheid, Ross Levitt, Brian Fung, Sean Lyngaas, Holly Yan, Paradise Afshar, Justin Lear, Jessie Yeung and Eva Rothenburg contributed to this report.
