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Global IT outage impacts drinks trade
Microsoft-based IT systems with cybersecurity provided by Crowdstrike have gone down across the globe, impacting retail but also the business operations of the drinks industry.
The systems went down across the world when a tiny 41 kilobyte software upgrade was undertaken by Crowdstrike, a third party provider for Microsoft, which caused an outage on IT systems. It impacted a large range of companies and operations, including travel, retail, and even media companies, with Sky News not being able to go live on television this morning.
In the UK, wholesaler Booker’s was only taking cash payments at present, but this was also causing knock-on issues when local cash points were under stress, and running out of notes.
Customers have already been reporting that it has been challenging to pick up their bottles and other goods as a result of the outage — and the situation has also impacted e-commerce businesses, including global players such as Amazon as well as smaller online retailers.
The situation also means that retailers aren’t able to take card payments at present on some systems, although the overall picture is still unclear of the level at which it has impacted.
Booker (wholesale) in Oxford can’t take card payments so they’ve been sending customers out to get cash. Of course, now all the cash points in the vicinity are empty. #CrowdStrike
— Robert Wilson (@nakedfingers) July 19, 2024
In addition, hospitality venues including Wetherspoons have also been impacted by the situation, according to reports.
The website DownDetector has shown issues with certain types of payment, including Visa, as well as outages in Waitrose and Morrison’s with card payments, although it doesn’t appear to have impacted Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s.
Hi Jim. I can understand your concern regarding the Microsoft outage but our stores are operating as normal. Thanks – Chris
— Tesco (@Tesco) July 19, 2024
A COBR meeting was convened by the government with officials coming together in order to assess the issue and deliver a government-wide and agency-related response to the crisis.
Govt departments are working seamlessly together to understand the nature of today’s outages and respond appropriately and swiftly. https://t.co/tKkfSGUNrk
— Peter Kyle (@peterkyle) July 19, 2024
The situation hasn’t impacted Apple and Linux operating systems, and Crowdstrike has released a statement stating that the outage was related to a “content update” and it has delivered a fix to the system, and are working with firms to resolve the issue.
It is understood though that this cannot be done centrally, and will be to be done manually at a computer-by-computer level.
A statement was released by the company, with the president and CEO George Kurtz taking to social media.
CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We…
— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) July 19, 2024
The outage has also impacted those directly using Microsoft and app-based software for their business operations alongside the issues with frontline retail operations and card payments.
A statement from Microsoft said: “We’re continuing to progress on our mitigation efforts for the affected Microsoft 365 apps and services. We still expect users to see remediation as we address residual impact.”
“This issue may be impacting any user attempting to use various Microsoft 365 apps and services.”
Something super weird happening right now: just been called by several totally different media outlets in the last few minutes, all with Windows machines suddenly BSoD’ing (Blue Screen of Death). Anyone else seen this? Seems to be entering recovery mode: pic.twitter.com/DxdLyA9BLA
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) July 19, 2024
The issue also had a big impact on international travel and global travel retail, with flights cancelled and retailers across the globe impacted by the outage.
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