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Poland unharmed by global IT outage: officials

19.07.2024 18:00
A global Microsoft outage that wreaked havoc on airlines, businesses and governments worldwide did not affect Poland’s critical infrastructure or threaten national security, authorities said on Friday.
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Poland emerged unscathed from a global Microsoft outage that wreaked havoc on airlines, businesses and governments worldwide, officials said on Friday.
Poland emerged unscathed from a global Microsoft outage that wreaked havoc on airlines, businesses and governments worldwide, officials said on Friday.Photo: EPA/ANDY RAIN Dostawca: PAP/EPA

Despite causing disruptions across various sectors worldwide, including aviation, Polish airports remained fully operational, though delays were reported, state news agency PAP reported.

A global Microsoft outage caused by a faulty software update grounded flights, disrupted hospital operations and knocked banks and media outlets offline in a massive disruption on Friday that affected companies and institutions around the world, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Microsoft Poland spokeswoman Anna Klimczuk said that the outage stemmed from two problems: one related to the Azure platform and another to an update of the CrowdStrike antivirus software.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the global disruptions did not threaten Poland's security and critical infrastructure.

All critical systems continued to function normally, they said.

Microsoft reported issues with its Azure cloud service, which it said were being analyzed and addressed.

What caused the global cyber outage?

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the outage was due to a faulty update to its Falcon Sensor software for Windows devices, which led to the affected computers showing a blue screen, known as the "blue screen of death."

'Not a security incident or cyberattack'

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on the X social media platform that the company was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

He added that the incident was "not a security incident or cyberattack."

Kurtz further declared that "the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

Polish cybersecurity expert Piotr Konieczny said the issue can be easily resolved by deleting a single file, but this requires administrator privileges, which are typically not available to end users.

The outage affected many industries, including aviation and finance, leading to the cancellation of 1,390 flights worldwide.

Despite the global disruptions, Polish airports operated relatively smoothly, news outlets reported.

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Source: PAP/x.com

Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.


Microsoft on Global Outage: "It’s not a hacking attack"

19.07.2024 14:14
"We are dealing with a Windows system failure. It is not a hacking attack," assured Deputy Minister of Digitalization Paweł Olszewski. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalization Krzysztof Gawkowski had informed that the issue with the IT systems is being monitored by Polish authorities.

No national security risk from global IT outage: Polish PM

19.07.2024 15:15
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that a global IT system outage affecting airlines, banks and businesses in various countries posed no immediate national security risk to his country.