A massive Microsoft outage has crippled Australian media outlets and left reporters,presenters and viewers staring at blank screens.
The unprecedented worldwide event,traced back to a glitch with CrowdStrike security software,struck Australia about 3pm on Friday.
Media organisations including the ABC,SBS,Channel 7,Channel 9,Sky News and News Corp Australia,reported issues with their networks.
#windowscrash #breakingnews @abcnews pic.twitter.com/d8jZ4d3iXg
— Andy Park (@andy_park) July 19,2024
The ABC was unable to broadcast.
"The ABC is experiencing a major network outage,along with several other media outlets," it said in a news story on its website.
ABC News anchors were left without autocues and graphics with one ABC reporter explaining they could not put vision to air.
'Somehow,studios and cameras seem to be working,but I was sitting at my desk,scripting a story for the news when ... the system we use to build our news bulletin and the output our news bulletins crashed,' they said.
'Social media friends working for different companies all being affected by the same blue screen popping up on their computers.
'It appears it is making things pretty impossible in terms of putting news together and the news to air.
Radio National Drive presenter Andy Park posted this video of himself in a radio studio with blank screens
Sky then started playing a pre-recorded message from reporter Tom Connell,standing in front of a blue error screen.
Along with media outlets multiple internet platforms,telecommincations,banks,stores and government services have been effected by the outage.
Massive queues formed as checkouts failed at Woolworths supermarket stores and airport departure boards failed prompting airline staff to advise customers to 'Google' when their flights left.
Financial services include Bendigo Bank,NAB,Commonwealth Bank,Westpac,ANZ,Bank Australia,St George,Adelaide Bank,Me Bank,Bank of Queensland and Visa have been impacted,according to Down Detector.
Other services affected include MyGov,NBN,Centrelink,ASX,and Australia Post,along with a number of social media entertainment services including Netflix,Facebook,Instagram,X,Xbox,Google Cloud,Open AI and Reddit
Vodafone,Optus,Aussie Broadband,iiNet,and Opticomm were among the telecommunications companies impacted by the outage.
The National Cyber Security Coordinator informed users the outage was not due to a hack.
It said: 'There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident.
'Our current information is this outage related to a technical issue with a third-party software plarform employed by affected companies.'
CrowdStrike promises to 'provide cloud workload and endpoint security,threat intelligence,and cyberattack response services.'
A message on the CrowdStrike support page read: 'CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor.
'Symptoms include hosts experiencing a bugcheckblue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor. Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket.
'Status updates will be posted below as we have more information to share,including when the issue is resolved.
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