Today’s global outage of computer systems caused problems in check-in at Prague Airport. Some flights have long delays in departure. The outage also affected most branches of BENU pharmacies, which were closed due to the outage of IT services. For the same reason, some services of the two largest Czech insurance companies were unavailable. The outage also affected the program of the Colors of Ostrava festival.
The global outage, caused by the CrowdStrike software update, today had less impact on the activities of companies and institutions in the Czech Republic than in other parts of the world. stated in the evening, Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan (STAN). According to him, the situation is gradually improving. In a number of countries, the IT outage caused problems in aviation, some media, banks, retail stores and other services using computer systems.
In the Czech Republic, the outage causes problems, especially at the Prague airport. Airlines have to check in passengers either in an alternate system or manually, which takes longer and causes delays. “For example, the morning flight to Naples departed with a delay of about five hours,” said Eva Krejčí, director of communications at the airport.
According to Krejčí, the problems concerned carriers using the GoNow check-in system, including Eurowings, Ryanair and Wizz Air. These carriers continue to operate flights via alternative routes. As a result, check-in is slower, flights are delayed, the airport said on the X network around 3:30 p.m. It advised passengers to monitor their web, or contact the carrier or travel agency. Other Czech airports outside the capital did not have a problem with check-in systems.
České banka was not affected by the worldwide global outage of IT services, Czech Banking Association spokesman Radek Šalša confirmed this to ČTK after 15:00. The Prague Stock Exchange also traded without problems.
But the outage affected the largest domestic insurance companies. Generali Česká pojišťovna does not have available online services and systems, there is no client line in operation. Her spokesperson told ČTK. In a limited mode, the website of the insurance company started working after 5:00 p.m. The web services and telephone center of the Allianz insurance company were also unavailable for about eight hours. According to ČTK findings, other insurance companies also faced problems.
The outage affected the BENU chain of pharmacies today, most of its branches were temporarily closed. In the early evening, the company said that all its pharmacies with weekend operations for patients are fully operational, as well as the e-shop and online e-Prescription booking. “The operation of the remaining more than 100 pharmacies is gradually being restored and we are working hard to completely resolve the complications,” BENU said in a press release at around 18:00.
The outage in the Czech Republic also affected Rokycanská hospital in the morning, which is why it temporarily limited the provision of outpatient care. Spokesman Jiří Kokoška told ČTK that as of 09:30, however, thanks to the response of IT specialists, the systems are running again and the operation of the hospital is unrestricted. Prague’s Na Homolce Hospital also experienced an outage, but because it does not use cloud services for basic operations, it was not affected, according to its spokesperson.
The worldwide outage of IT services also affected today’s program of the Colors of Ostrava festival. Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza’s flight was canceled by the airline. The organizers of the festival are still trying to get the artist to the Czech Republic so that she can perform at the festival on Saturday. The concert of today’s main star, singer Lenny Kravitz, is not threatened.
The National Office for Cyber and Information Security (NÚKIB) maps the impact of the incident. The office is in contact with entities that fall under the law on cyber security, i.e. they are part of the state’s critical infrastructure. ČTK was informed by NÚKIB spokesperson Alžběta Dvořáková.
Widespread problems with computer systems have affected many countries around the world today. According to an Australian IT expert Troye Hunt it may be the largest IT outage in history. According to experts contacted by ČTK, today’s incident showed that dependence on one supplier can have crippling consequences and that pencil and paper are irreplaceable tools. According to them, the outage also drew attention to the growing number of errors in software and the need to address comprehensively secure application development and testing.
Source: www.tyden.cz
