Qantas’ suggestion amid tech outage

Qantas has made a stunning suggestion to passengers after a tech outage wreaked havoc in Australia and around the world on Friday afternoon.

Frustrated travellers were left facing delays across Australia, with many reporting being stranded at airports or told to find temporary accommodation.

The devastating outage was caused by a rogue update of the Crowdstrike antivirus technology on Microsoft computers.

About 3pm on Friday, computers across the country began shutting down with multiple workers reporting issues at multiple different businesses.

The issue comes from a “bluescreen error” which is a result of a Crowdstrike outage, with servers and devices getting stuck in “boot loops”. 

The IT issue has affected multiple countries including New Zealand, Japan, India, the US and the United Kingdom.

Multiple businesses have been affected including media organisations such as News Corp’s global operations, the ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9, and Network 10.

But it has also hit EFTPOS services, airlines, banks and supermarkets, throwing the entire nation into chaos.

It is also affecting multiple major institutions, with crowd-sourced website Downdetector listing outages for Foxtel, NAB, Bendigo Bank, Suncorp Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Me Bank and more.

Follow below for live updates.

Qantas tells passengers to ‘Google’ flights

One passenger took to X on Friday so say that frustrated airport staff had told them to Google their flights for more information as their IT systems crashed.

“Qantas (is) telling passengers to Google their flight to find out when it leaves and at what gate because everything is down,” the passenger wrote on X.

Several Australian airlines have reported significant issues.

Jetstar has cancelled several domestic flights, while Virgin Australia anticipates delays and possible cancellations.

Qantas is experiencing some delays, though widespread cancellations haven’t been reported.

Melbourne Airport released a statement on social media detailing the varying impacts on airlines.

“Passengers arriving on international flights are being processed normally,” a 6.15pm statement said.

“Passengers departing internationally on Jetstar and Scoot are experiencing ongoing issues, all other international airlines are currently processing passengers normally.

“Domestically, Rex is unaffected, and Qantas and Virgin are slowly processing passengers while Jetstar is experiencing a significant outage.”

Sydney Airport also warned travellers to be prepared for issues. “Flights are currently arriving and departing; however, there may be some delays throughout the evening,” a statement said.

“We have activated our contingency plans and deployed additional staff to our terminals.”

If you’re travelling today make sure you leave plenty of time to come to the airport and check with your airline regarding the status of your flight.”

Aussie at the centre of outage 

The global president of CrowdStrike – which is being blamed for the mass outage – is a Melbourne man worth $225 million. 

Mike Sentonas became president of CrowdStrike in 2023 after joining the company in 2016. 

On the company’s website, Mr Sentonas is described as a 20-plus-year cybersecurity veteran. 

“Mr Sentonas is an active public authority on security issues and the evolving threat landscape and is regularly featured as a speaker at key industry events, an expert source in the media, and a trusted advisor to governments and company boards, alike,” his bio states. 

Before CrowdStrike, he was the Chief Technology Officer at McAfee.

Crowdstrike says “fix deployed”

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz announced a fix for the IT outage affecting systems globally.

“CrowdStrike 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,” Kurtz stated on X.

He clarified, “This is not a security incident or cyberattack.”

“The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed,” he said.

Kurtz advised customers to check the support portal for updates and stated, “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.”

A thousand flights cancelled

More than 1000 flights have been cancelled worldwide as a result of the global IT outage. 

The number has come from aviation analytics firm Cirium who say the current figure – 1078 – will only grow as delays continue. 

In the UK, Friday was set to be the busiest day for flight departures since October 2019, with more 3200 flights scheduled. 

Microsoft makes statement 

More than five hours after the outage first being detected by users in Australia, Microsoft has issued a statement. 

A Microsoft spokesman said: “We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming.” 

The outage is believed to be connected to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company that has Microsoft Windows among its clients.

What we know so far 

• A major IT outage is causing tech issues globally. 
• Many major airports have cancelled and delayed flights as a result, including LAX, Sydney Airport and Heathrow Airport.
• Supermarkets, telcos, banks, media outlets and public transport systems have been affected across the globe. 
• The outage is believed to be caused by a bad software update from US-based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which has Microsoft as one of its major clients. The company say they have identified the issue and are working to fix it.
• The company says the problem is not a security incident or cyberattack. 
• Cyber security company Tesserent gave a work around for the problem: 1. Boot in Safe Mode 2. Navigate to WindowsSystem32driversCrowdStrike – Find and delete “C-00000291*.sys” 3. Reboot normally.v

Outage ‘more serious than a cyber attack’: Tech experts

Australian cyber experts have warned a global outage, which is the “biggest the world has ever seen”, could possibly be a “dress rehearsal” for what a cyber terror attack would look like.

Cyber security expert Professor Richard Buckland told the ABC that the attack seemed to be “far more innocuous” than sinister.

“Attacks we have seen in the past at this stage, normally if a criminal was doing, they would have made various demands before issuing an attack,” Professor Buckland said.

“It is playing out how an attack would play out… we could be getting a taste now, even if it is just a dress rehearsal for what a cyber warfare or cyber terror attack would look like.

“This is new for us, it is a good rehearsal.”

The National Cyber Security Coordinator has assured there is no evidence of a hack or cybersecurity incident causing the outage.

Professor Buckland confirmed the outage is “not just a mistake or an error”.

“This is more serious than a cyber attack, really, because it shows our systems aren’t even proofed against randomness.”

Technology analyst from Monash University Nigel Phair said this outage is the “biggest the world” has ever seen.

Government holds emergency meeting 

A snap meeting of emergency authorities has been called to respond to the global tech outage affecting millions of people across Australia.

A government spokesperson confirmed the meeting of the National Emergency Mechanism just before 6pm AEST, with the group set to meet on Friday evening and co-chaired by the National Emergency Management Agency.

The Prime Minister has issued a statement, saying he understands Australians are “concerned about the outage that is unfolding globally and affecting a wide range of services”.

“My Government is working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator,” Anthony Albanese said.

“There is no impact to critical infrastructure, government services or Triple-0 services at this stage.

“The National Coordination Mechanism has been activated and is meeting now.”

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