Irish businesses and consumers have been hit by a major IT outage that grounded airlines, disrupted financial services and hit media groups globally.
Engineers were pushing out fixes for the problem, but there was still widespread disruption as a result.
The outage is understood to be down to two separate problems: first an Azure issue, which has been resolved, followed by a problem caused by an update to the CrowdStrike security software that caused an issue with Microsoft Windows software.
In a statement, Microsoft said it was working with customers to help resolve the issue. “Earlier today, a Crowdstrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of Windows systems globally,” the tech giant said. “We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery.”
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CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz said the problem was caused by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. “The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said.
However, it may take some time for the fix to be implemented on all the affected Windows machines, given the large number of computers involved. CrowdStrike is one of the world’s largest providers of “endpoint” security software, used by companies to monitor for security problems across a huge range of devices, from desktop PCs to checkout payment terminals. Its customers include Google, Amazon and Intel.
The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) warned passengers travelling through Dublin and Cork airports to allow extra time to get through the airport, with queues already forming.
Ryanair systems in Dublin and Cork airports have been impacted by the issues. A small number of flights have been cancelled, but travellers may be unable to check in online and have been asked to arrive at the airport three hours before their departure time.
“We’re currently experiencing disruption across the network due to a global third party IT outage which is out of our control,” the company said. “Unfortunately, we have also been forced to cancel a small number of flights today. Affected passengers have been notified and are advised to log into their myRyanair account once systems are back online to avail of their options of either a reroute or refund.”
Aer Lingus is not affected by the global outage, though there may be delays at airports, according to a spokeswoman for the airline.
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“The global IT outage is not currently impacting Aer Lingus services with flights mainly operating as normal,” he said. “There may be some processing delays at airports so customers should allow extra time for check-in, security, immigration and boarding. Customers should check the Aer Lingus website and app for updates.”
Passengers seemed to be moving through check-in at Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1 largely without issue on Friday morning.
By 11.45am, long queues had begun to form at Ryanair check-in and ticket desks, although they were moving steadily.
One man who spoke to The Irish Times, Jurgen Osmers, said his flight home to Germany from Dublin had been cancelled due to issues with check-in, on account of the outage. “I think we’ll go to a hotel and wait,” he said.
Ryanair was on Friday morning advising their passengers to arrive at airports three hours before the scheduled departure time.
Dublin Airport Authority (Daa) said it had deployed additional staff in terminals to ease the impact of the disruption.
Daa was restricting all media access to terminal buildings to avoid “congestion”.
Meanwhile, Transport for Ireland said its apps are down due to the outage.
These include the Leap card top-up app, and the TFI Live app, which displays live public transport times.
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, TFI said: “We apologise for the inconvenience caused this morning to our customers unable to use our TFI Live and TFI Leap Top-up mobile apps. There is a global outage affecting multiple countries at the moment. We don’t have an estimated resolution time.”
Car testing was also impacted, with NCT centres were also experiencing disruption and delays.
In an update, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) said it is experiencing “significant disruption” to its services due to the outage.
It said the NCT service, in particular, is facing disruption across a “significant number of its test centres”. It also said a further 11 NCT test centres are now operational and advised customers to check the NCTS website for updates.
“As a result, no tests are currently taking place in those centres. The following test centres are in operation: Athlone, Cork Little Island, Deansgrange, Fonthill, Greenhills and Limerick,” the RSA said in a statement, though its website is now back in operation. It also said a further 11 NCT test centres are now operational and advised customers to check the NCTS website for updates.
“Every endeavour is being made to rectify the technical issues and progress has been made this morning. Customers should check for updates on the NCTS website and social media platforms and updates will be provided as soon as they are available,” the statement reads.
Applications for learner permits and driving licenses, meanwhile, cannot currently be processed at NDLS centres and it is not currently possible to contact customers to cancel Friday’s appointments.
“Work is continuing to rectify this and the RSA will update customers as soon as possible as to appropriate next steps,” it said.
The RSA said all other services are operating as normal, including driving tests which can still be booked while customers are advised to arrive for the tests as scheduled.
Financial markets were also hit, with the London Stock Exchange saying it was unable to publish news earlier in the day.
The Euronext Dublin appeared to have escaped the problems. “We are aware of the current Microsoft outage,” it said. “It is not impacting trading across our venues, and we are closely monitoring the situation.”
Separately, a spokesman for Bank of Ireland said its services are operating as normal. “We continue to closely monitor the situation,” he said.
AIB and PTSB also reported no disruption to their services. Central Bank officials sent emails to regulated firms on Friday morning asking if they had been affected by the outage or had enacted business continuity plans. The incoming EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (Dora), which takes effect in Ireland next January, significantly ramps up financial institutions obligations in this area.
“The outage is a stark reminder to banks and others that they need to comprehensively respond when their critical or important business services are compromised. In the new electronic world of money movement, banks and fintechs cannot point the finger at their IT providers and say ‘It is their problem’,” said Peter Oakes, a former enforcement director at the Central Bank and an experienced independent non-executive director in the finance industry.
“Equally the outage highlights the level of concentration risk with so many companies relying on less than a handful of cloud service providers like US giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon and increasing China’s very ambitious Alibaba.”
Elsewhere Sydney Airport said “a global technical outage” had impacted its operations. It told passengers to expect delays, although flights were departing and arriving as planned.
Berlin’s Brandenberg Airport said it has also been hit by “a technical fault”, and that passengers have been delayed checking in.
Aena, Spain’s main airports operator, said “operations are being carried out using manual systems” due to an “incident” in its IT system. “Disruptions are occurring in Aena’s systems and in Spain’s airports network, which could cause delays. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible,” it said. – Additional reporting: The Financial Times Limited 2024
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