According to the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), a global cyber outage has impacted several airlines across the continent. Since the early hours of Friday, July 19, numerous global institutions, including major banks, media outlets, and airlines, have reported a massive computer outage, hindering their ability to provide services.
Worldwide IT disruptions
Numerous airlines suspended flights worldwide over the weekend, while many others faced delays. The US state of Alaska reported disruptions to its emergency services. In Australia, supermarkets were paralyzed, and media outlets in several countries were hampered by systems failures. Sky News in the UK was temporarily forced to cease broadcasting.
The cause of the outage remains unclear, but many affected parties have linked it to Microsoft PC operating systems. Microsoft confirmed this in an official Microsoft 365 service release on X, stating, « We are investigating an issue affecting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 applications and services ». However, a Microsoft spokesperson indicated that the majority of services had been recovered a few hours earlier.
African airlines relatively unaffected
Disruptions were recorded in Nairobi, where Kenya Airways confirmed it was affected. « We are currently experiencing a system failure that has impacted our reservation system following a global system failure. We advise our customers to expect slower than usual service while we implement our business continuity plan », the airline stated.
Ethiopian Airways, one of the continent’s largest airlines, reported no current disruptions to its IT system for flight operations. « Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring any potential impact at all our stations worldwide. We will continue to monitor the situation and inform you accordingly », the company added.
In Cotonou, the situation is under close watch despite no impact. An airport official confirmed that everything is operating normally. « We don’t use their services for our flights, so we’re spared », said an official from Asky, the Togolese airline.
Abidjan, a major hub for Central and West Africa, has also been unaffected. The Ministry of Transport and air traffic control officials confirmed no reported disruptions. The same applies to Douala and Yaoundé, where an official from Aéroports du Cameroun stated that domestic and international flights have taken off and landed without issue.
Numerous airlines across the continent were also affected. According to the Association, the companies affected are those using the Microsoft system.
Worldwide consequences
Incidents were reported at international airports in India, Hong Kong, the UK, and the USA. Additionally, many airlines reported flight cancellations and delays. Emergency services were also impacted, with some hospitals canceling surgeries. The US state of Alaska warned that its 911 system could be interrupted.
Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity company, confirmed that the worldwide outage was due to a faulty software update for Microsoft Windows hosts. Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport was also affected, causing delays in flight departures and landings, although the system is now operational.
How did the fault occur?
According to Ben Roberts, an aviation industry specialist in Nairobi, Microsoft implemented a faulty update to CrowdStrike, its computer security application. This caused affected computers and servers to disconnect, forcing them into a recovery boot loop and resulting in improper startups.
Roberts explained that since the application impacts physical hardware, users find it difficult to log in, locate the problematic file, and delete it. If the application were cloud-based, it could have been managed remotely. However, IT administrators now need to perform a Safe Boot on affected Windows machines and navigate to the CrowdStrike directory to resolve the issue.
