Microsoft IT outage latest: Global IT ‘disaster’ thought ‘not to be cyber attack’ – as airports and banks cope with ‘chaos’ | World News

By Sam Doak, OSINT desk producer

Data from various sources shows networks and services have been affected across the globe after an update to software provided by the company CrowdStrike reportedly caused widespread issues with computers running Windows.   

According to a live map provided by the internet monitoring company Thousand Eyes, applications and networks have reported outages on all continents.  

The map shows a particularly high number of reported outages in Europe, the United States and Australia. 

Google search data provides further insight into the scale of the problem. 

According to Google Trends searches for the term ‘blue screen’, have spiked globally. This refers to the blue screen and text displayed on affected machines. 

Searches for ‘Windows’ have also spiked worldwide, referring to the operating systems affected by issues. 

While the data for today is still incomplete, it appears as though interest in the term “Microsoft down” could be at a historical peak. 

Google Trends also shows a surge of interest in the term “CrowdStrike”. 

Users in East Asia and Australia are particularly highly represented, likely due to the time zones these countries are in, and the timing of the malfunctions. 

Data from the website DownDetector sheds some light on the companies and services affected in the UK. 

Based on reports from users, it shows a surge in outage reports relating to companies including Microsoft, Visa, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ryanair, BT, and Sky.