"Largest IT Outage In History" Sparks Disruptions Worldwide 

Early Friday, a global IT outage caused by an issue with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike disrupted flights, banks, retailers, stock exchanges, 911 call centers, and media outlets. Experts say this could be one of the largest IT outages in modern history.

Bloomberg reported that CrowdStrike warned customers that its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring product was the source of the chaos, causing Microsoft's Windows operating system to crash. There was no mention of what triggered the issue, and there were reports of disruptions in Microsoft's Azure cloud and 365 Office software. 

"We're aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform," Microsoft said in a statement, adding, "We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming." 

Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, told Bloomberg this global outage is "unprecedented" and warned "the economic impact will be huge." 

Australian web security consultant Troy Hunt wrote on X, "I don’t think it’s too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history." 

Following the news, Microsoft shares slid 2% in premarket trading. Meanwhile, Crowdstrike tumbled as much as 14%. 

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X that the company 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," Kurtz said. 

He added, "We further recommend organizations ensure they're communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers." 

The first disruptions were reported in the overnight hours and have since become global.

Major disruptions are listed below:

More specifically, in the US, the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta, and Allegiant had all been grounded. 

Whoops. 

Bloomberg provides more color on the individual companies suffering from the global IT outage: 

On Friday, McDonald's Corp., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and the LSE Group were among the major companies to disclose a variety of issues with communications to customer service. KLM said it was suspending most flights because of a global computer outage. They were among the more prominent global corporations to report issues with their operations.

On the disruption, Musk comments with "..." 

Sigh.

She has a point.

Bitcoin still worked during disruption. 

*Developing..