BY: CHIOMA MADONNA NDUKWU
A global technology outage on Friday caused massive disruptions across various sectors worldwide:
Airlines Grounded: Flights were delayed as airlines lost access to check-in and booking systems, affecting airports in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and during the Paris Olympics.
Healthcare Systems: Hospitals and doctor’s offices faced appointment system failures, particularly in the UK, Germany, and Israel.
Banking and Media: Banks in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia experienced outages, impacting payment systems. Major Australian news outlets were off air for hours.
Cause and Response: The issue stemmed from a faulty update to Microsoft Windows. Microsoft and CrowdStrike worked on a fix, assuring it wasn’t a cyberattack.
The incident highlighted global dependency on a few software providers and raised concerns about system resilience.
