Mexico City.- A global technology blackout caused by a botched software update has grounded flights, knocked banks offline and caused disruptions to customs, hospitals and businesses.
In Mexico, the flaw, triggered by an update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and which only affected Microsoft users, forced the cancellation of 75 flights and the delay of 582 operations. At AICM, 27 flights were suspended and more than 230 were delayed.
The blackout also caused chaos at international crossings with the United States. Long lines of drivers were seen from Tamaulipas to Baja California, having to wait several hours to cross into the US.
Internationally, as of yesterday afternoon, more than 5,000 flights had been cancelled worldwide, 4.2 percent of all scheduled departures.
The failure also affected European hospitals, the London Stock Exchange, ambulances in Dallas, 911 in New Hampshire, computer operations for the Paris Olympics and automotive plants in the US and Europe, among others.
The scale of the failures exposed the fragility of a digital world that relies on a handful of IT service providers to function properly.
Businesses and governments around the world suffered hours-long outages after their computer monitors filled with error messages. George Kurtz, chief executive of CrowdStrike, said some of its systems will require time-consuming manual fixes.
By late afternoon, the worst was over, although cancellations and delays continued due to the cascading effect of the software incident.
Several local television networks in the United States were unable to broadcast news early yesterday, and some state governments reported problems at courts, vehicle registration, unemployment agencies, emergency call centers and other offices, but as the day progressed many of the systems returned to normal.
Hundreds of hospitals also experienced problems with their appointment systems, forcing them to suspend patient visits and cancel some non-urgent operations.
“It really makes you realize how much we rely on technology,” said Alison Baulos, whose 73-year-old father was awaiting heart surgery.
American Express also said it was having some difficulty processing transactions, while TD Bank was forced to restore customers’ ability to access their accounts.
Elsewhere, people experienced minor inconveniences, such as problems placing pre-orders at Starbucks, leading to long queues at some of the coffee chain’s stores.
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