A worldwide IT outage that affected Windows PCs on Friday resulted in the cancellation of over 5,000 flights and “majority” of GP surgeries in England and Northern Ireland.
Due to the worldwide IT outage, experts have warned that it may take weeks for systems to fully recover, so this weekend there will likely be delays and cancellations of flights.
An update from international cybersecurity company CrowdStrike knocked many Microsoft Windows PCs offline with a “blue screen of death” appearing on screens, causing the outage to spread globally on Friday morning.
In addition to causing travel delays, the problem prevented access to NHS systems.
Later, the company’s founder stated that, contrary to what some had feared, a bug in the update was the cause.
Although a fix has been implemented, according to George Kurtz, it will take “some time” for all systems to return to normal, and an industry expert cautioned that it might take “weeks” for a complete recovery.
Postpones until the weekend
The Chartered Institute for IT’s Adam Leon Smith stated: “Many computers all over the world will need to have the fix installed.
“So, it might be more challenging and take days or weeks if computers are experiencing blue screens and never-ending loops.”
Airlines worldwide issued a warning about delays and cancellations as soon as the outage became apparent early on Friday, which coincided with what should have been the busiest day of the year for air travel in the UK.
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