Who is to blame for the mega-IT glitch affecting airlines, banks and other state institutions. How it all started

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Microsoft is experiencing significant problems with its cloud services and several of its applications, which has resulted in millions of Windows PCs being down in the last few hours.

According to recent information, the problems allegedly started with a US-based cybersecurity company called Crowdstrike, which makes anti-virus software. Microsoft’s partner issued a faulty update that crashed Windows devices with a blue screen (BSOD), according to CNBC. Crowdstrike provides cybersecurity services for Microsoft.

Impact global

The incident affected banking institutions, airlines and media outlets, resulting in a global outage with significant effects. Users in the US, UK, Australia, India, Germany, Spain and New Zealand are reporting issues. The problems started in Australia and quickly spread to the US and Europe. In Britain, rail activity was blocked and in the US aircraft were grounded, creating chaos in air traffic. Similar problems were also reported in Spain and Germany.

The Microsoft investigation

Microsoft has said it is investigating the problems with its cloud services, but has yet to provide clear details about the technical cause of the failure. There is currently no information to suggest that the disruptions are the result of a cyber security incident. However, the “symptoms” manifest themselves in various industries. For example, Sky News television stopped its broadcast suddenly, it took several minutes before the transmission could be resumed.