The source of Friday's massive computer outage that affected millions of people and caused travel chaos across the world has been found.
Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said a “flaw” in one of its software updates was affecting Windows operating systems worldwide, but added that a fix had now been rolled out.
CrowdStrike's chief executive said he was “deeply sorry” for the incident, but warned it would take “some time” for systems to be fully restored.
Many banks, airlines and media companies remain offline, and one IT expert warns it could take “weeks” for all computers and systems to be fully restored.
More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide as UK rail and airline companies warn of “widespread IT issues”.
Some NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde systems have also been affected. The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
Rowlands Pharmacy said none of its tills or computers were working, but added: “We can dispense prescriptions that are already ready but we will not be able to prepare new ones.”
In Scotland, Midlothian Council said it was unable to accept card payments, while East Lothian Council said it was “experiencing technical difficulties with our health service telephone lines”.
ScotRail says it is not affected by service cancellations by rail companies in England.
Morrisons has told STV News it is experiencing issues with its payment system while Asda, M&S and Iceland are not reporting any problems.
Meanwhile, football clubs across Scotland have been affected, with Celtic, Hibernian and Hearts postponing ticket sales due to disruption to their online systems.
CrowdStrike President George Kurtz said the issue was caused by a “flaw found in a single content update for Windows hosts.”
He said the company would “ensure that every customer is fully recovered” from the ongoing global IT outage.
Speaking on NBC's Today Show, Kurtz said many businesses were rebooting their computers and coming back online, but added that it could still be “a while” before all systems are fully restored.
“We've been working with our customers all night and working with them. A lot of our customers are rebooting the system and it's up and running because we fixed it on our end,” he said.
“We're working with some of the systems that aren't recovering, so it might take some time for some systems that won't recover automatically, but our mission is to make sure that every customer is fully recovered and we're not going to relent until we get every customer back to where they were and we're going to continue to protect them and keep the bad guys out of their systems.”
Asked if he ever thought an outage of this magnitude was possible, the CrowdStrike founder said: “Software is a very complex world and there are a lot of interactions, and staying one step ahead of the adversary is a daunting task.”
Microsoft said: “We are aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update to a third-party software platform. We expect a resolution soon.”
Adam Leon Smith, an industry expert at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned it could take “weeks” for all computers and systems to be fully restored.
“The fix will need to be applied to many computers around the world. So if computers have blue screens and endless loops, it could be more difficult and take days or even weeks,” he said.
“Microsoft Windows is not the primary operating system for critical systems, Linux is – and it could have been a lot worse.”
Ryanair and Edinburgh Airport warn of disruption to flights
Ryanair continues to be hit by “network-wide disruption”, alongside BA and other airlines, as more than 1,000 flights worldwide were cancelled on Friday.
Edinburgh Airport has asked passengers whose flights have been cancelled to leave the airport and contact their airline.
The airline said waiting times would be longer than usual due to the outage, which caused its departure board to crash.
The airport does not accept incoming flights that are not already in the air.
Glasgow Airport said it was “largely unaffected”.
Service status monitoring website Downdetector said users were reporting problems with Visa, BT, major supermarket chains, banks, online gaming platforms and media outlets.
The Scottish Government said its resilience room had been activated to assess the impact of the IT outage across the country.
Government systems are “operating as normal”, a spokesperson said, adding that there had been “minimal impact” on NHS services across the sector.
They said: “In response to the global IT issues, the Scottish Government Resilience Room (Sgorr) has been activated to assess any potential impacts across Scotland.”
The statement added: “We are aware of the impacts at Edinburgh Airport and urge those travelling today to check with their operator.
“The impact is being felt by a limited number of UK rail operators, but at present ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper service are unaffected.
“The SGORR will continue to liaise with its partners and ministers will be kept informed throughout the day.”
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