Microsoft computer systems were crippled by a humble security update that brought some of the world's biggest companies to a halt and caused disruption on a massive scale, with experts likening it to the much-feared millennium bug that failed to materialise 24 years ago.
Affected Windows PCs were left unusable, showing a "blue screen of death" error message. The chief executive of CrowdStrike, the firm that issued the faulty software update, said he was "deeply sorry" but warned that it would take "some time" for systems to be fully restored.
In Britain, the chaos included:
• 3,700 GP practices - around 60 per cent - being hit by disruption to appointment booking and other services
• The FTSE 100 dropping 0.8 per cent
• Almost 300 flights being cancelled, with around 5,000 cancelled worldwide
• Nearly all independent pharmacies being affected
• Sky News and other channels being unable to broadcast
The bug's ramifications were on a scale not seen before. Banks, supermarkets and other institutions reported disruption, while many businesses were unable to take digital payments or access key databases.
Airports, which use myriad PC systems for managing customers and equipment, suffered some of the worst effects. On what was set to be the busiest day for UK airports in five years, some 50,000 passengers who were planning to fly to or from Britain yesterday were unable to do so.
Huge queues formed at the affected airports, with Gatwick staff forced to check in passengers manually for flights. Heathrow airport said yesterday afternoon that it was still "working hard" to get passengers "on their way".
In another dramatic consequence of the outage, CBBC and Sky News were both rendered unable to broadcast yesterday morning, with news presenters forced to use printed notes once the channel returned to air after more than an hour's blackout.
This story is from the July 20, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the July 20, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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