Y-2K came late? Software glitch leads to closures and disruptions at airports, banks

The software company CrowdStrike says that the a major computer outage affecting banks, businesses, airports, and even Alaska’s 911 emergency system was not a cyberattack. Instead, it’s a “single content update” is to blame for the meltdown, but that the patch for the error “has been deployed,” referring customers to its support portal for updates.

Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted, the company said.

It’s the kind of widespread computer disruption that was expected when the year 2000 rolled around, due to expected computer errors related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates. The worldwide disruption, however, was anticipated and was mostly avoided when the clock struck 12 on Jan. 1, 2000.

The current outage has stranded thousands of travelers, including Alaska Republican delegates and guests coming back from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the airport is experiencing what would be one of its busiest days of the year.

Members of the Alaska delegation to the convention who are flying Delta are experiencing up to two-hour delays leaving Milwaukee or Chicago, sources said, but Alaska Airlines flights were operating normally.

“With the global technology issue impacting several airlines this morning, please check your flight status directly with your carrier. Longer lines and wait times are possible, please allow extra time,” Chicago O’Hare International Airport said on Facebook.

Although Alaska Airlines was not impacted directly, it felt the effects of transfer passengers not showing up for flights.

Airlines and airports around the world are feeling the domino effects.

In Anchorage, state courts and some hospital services were impacted.

By 6:45 a.m., Alaska’s 911 system had been restored, according to a notice by the Alaska State Troopers.

In Seattle, Seattle Children’s Hospital clinics closed, as are most Social Security offices. In Southern California, Boston and New York, court proceedings and operations were disrupted as workers were unable to log into their computer workstations.

One major impact was to bump a lot of the news about the Republican National Convention off of the pages of America’s news websites, as the focus turned to CrowdStrike.

What is CrowdStrike?

CrowdStrike is a dominant supplier of software that businesses use to protect from ransomware attacks. Over half of Fortune 500 companies use the software. According to the company’s website, Crowdstrike hs been around since 2012 and currently has the “world’s most advanced cloud-native platform that protects and enables the people, processes and technologies that drive modern enterprise.”