A major IT outage impacting Microsoft Windows systems on Friday caused widespread disruption globally, affecting airlines, stock markets, and other services. The outage, linked to a severe issue with the latest update of the CrowdStrike agent, Falcon Sensor, led to system crashes and the “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD), impacting numerous Windows hosts equipped with the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor. Microsoft acknowledged the outage affecting its online services globally, including in India.
Hundreds of flights were affected on Friday, with IndiGo cancelling over 200 flights on July 19 and 20. The Delhi airport reported temporary disruptions to services due to the global IT issue, stating they were working with stakeholders to minimize inconvenience to flyers.
However, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu said on Saturday that airline systems across Indian airports have “started working normally” since 3 AM. He confirmed that flight operations are now going smoothly, despite a backlog from Friday’s disruptions which is being cleared gradually. “By noon today, we expect all issues to be resolved,” the minister said, adding that they are constantly monitoring operations and ensuring travel readjustments and refunds are being handled.
Meanwhile, the impact on stock market exchanges was less severe. A joint statement released by all Indian stock exchanges on Saturday confirmed that they functioned without any impact from the Microsoft outage. “On July 19, 2024, there was a global outage of Microsoft Systems. This outage has been reported to have caused disruptions across various sectors globally. In India, all Exchanges and Clearing Corporations functioned without any impact,” the statement said. The statement also noted that only 11 trading members reported disruptions, which were either resolved or being resolved, with no major impact on clearing activities in the Indian securities market.
The government, through Union Minister for Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, assured the public that they were in close contact with Microsoft to address the issue. “MEITY is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage. The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue. CERT is issuing a technical advisory. The NIC network is not affected,” the minister stated on Friday.
