Breaking: massive IT outage plunges banks, airlines and more into chaos

Banks, airlines, TV networks and more are suffering a massive IT outage seemingly caused by problems with Windows software.

The problem appears to be global, but is particularly impacting Australia right now.

Down Detector is currently reporting huge spikes for everyone from Microsoft to Amazon to Delta in the US, and for RyanAir and Sky in the UK.

In the US, three major airlines have grounded have reportedly requested the Federal Aviation Administration issue a "global ground stop" as of the time of writing.

Delta, United and American Airlines are not currently flying, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's status page.

This story is developing – we'll bring you all the latest details as we get them below.

Good morning. Here's the latest on the global IT outage taking place right now.

Here's what Down Detector is currently showing in the US – with multiple companies impacted across all manner of industries including transport, banking, media and more. 

The situation in the UK is every bit as severe, with Microsoft – and Microsoft 365 – Visa, BT and more all seemingly impacted by the outage.

Microsoft's own Service Status page states that everything is running normally right now, which clearly isn't the case.

"We're all good! Everything is up and running."

However, earlier in the day Microsoft did report that users might not have been able to access Microsoft 365, its cloud-based app service. 

It seems the problem may stem from an update by the cybersecurity company Crowdstrike, which is causing Windows PCs to display the Blue Screen of Death, and to then be unable to reboot.

An email sent to TechRadar and other publishers by Tesserent cyber solutions company appears to confirm that the issue is with CrowdStrike.

It states: "CrowdStrike have deployed a new content update which resolves the previously erroneous update and subsequent host issues. As your devices receive this update you may need to reboot for the changes to take effect and for the blue screen (BSOD) issues to be resolved.

"If hosts are still crashing and unable to stay online to receive the Channel File Changes, the following steps can be used to workaround this issue:

"Workaround Steps:

"1. Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment

"2. Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory

"3. Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it. 

"4. Boot the host normally."

TechRadar has not yet been able to verify those steps independently. 

Microsoft's Twitter account (Sorry, X, whatever) is reporting that it's still investigating issues but that it is working on fixing them.

That previous post was some eight hours ago, but one hour ago it stated that "Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions. More details can be found within the admin center under MO821132 and http://status.cloud.microsoft"

Airlines appear to be one of the hardest hit areas in this outage. 

As well as the problems in the US, that have seen Delta and United ground flights, there are delays and problems everywhere from Japan – where the Narita airport outside Tokyo says JetStar, Jeju Air, Qantas, HK Express and Spring Japan all have issues with their systems – to India, where Delhi airport says some services have been temporarily impacted.