SEATTLE — A global technology outage caused by a faulty software update grounded flights, knocked media outlets offline and disrupted hospitals, small businesses and government offices on Friday, highlighting the fragility of a digitized world dependent on just a handful of providers.
The trouble with the update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected customers running Microsoft Windows. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.
Businesses and governments experienced hours-long disruptions and scrambled to deal with the fallout.
Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed around the world — including at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — leading to long lines in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Airlines lost access to check-in and booking services in the heart of the summer travel season.
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Several local TV stations in the U.S. — including KOMO News — were prevented from airing the news early Friday, and some state and local governments reported problems at courts, motor vehicles departments, unemployment agencies and other offices.
Affected hospitals had problems with appointment systems, forcing them to suspend patient visits and cancel some surgeries.
KOMO News’ 11 p.m. Thursday show could not be broadcast and its Friday morning shows experienced some technical glitches.
Western Washington airports
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, travelers have been waiting in heavy lines all morning.
“A global IT outage is impacting systems for some airlines that fly from SEA,” the airport posted on X. “Travelers, please check with your airline for the latest flight information and give yourself extra time arriving to the airport.”
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In a post on X, Paine Field in Everett said the “IT outage is affecting airline operations across the globe. Please check with @AlaskaAir for information regarding your flight. We request that you give yourself additional time for travel today as the airlines work to get you to your final destination.”
Alaska Airlines said via statement that “at this time, we continue to be able to dispatch flights.” Delta and United both said they were affected.
Health care
University of Washington Medicine and Harborview Medical Center said it “has been impacted and are fully operational.”
Seattle Children’s, Virginia Mason Francsican Health, Providence Swedish and MultiCare Health Systems all said they were affected by the outage Friday morning.
“Our urgent care centers are open, but we can’t accommodate virtual appointments due to the network outage,” Seattle Children’s said in a social media post. “All our clinics, including Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, regional clinics and ambulatory clinics, are closed on Friday, July 19. We are contacting patients and families to reschedule certain appointments and surgeries. We will continue to provide updates throughout the day.”
“We continue to provide safe, high-quality care to our patients and thank everyone for their patience as our teams take immediate action to restore any impacted systems,” Virginia Mason said via email. “Patients will be contacted directly if their appointments are affected.”
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“Our IT teams have been working overnight to respond to the issue and have restored key functionality in the Epic electronic health record so that nurses, physicians and other caregivers can access patient records and perform clinical documentation,” Providence Swedish said via email. “However, other clinical applications and workstations continue to be impacted, and our IT teams are working to restore these services as soon as possible.”
“Our team members are working hard to minimize disruption to patient care and system operations, and we are bringing systems back up as quickly as possible,” MultiCare said via email. “Our emergency departments and Indigo urgent cares remain open.”
Others
Sound Transit said there has been no impact on light rail service and trains are running on schedule.
The King County Sheriff’s Office said it’s not “aware of any such outages at KCSO’s 911 Communications Center.”
Seattle Public Library said some of its systems, including e-books, were down from the outage but eventually went back up.
Washington’s Social Security offices closed for the day.
