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A flawed software update from the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike resulted in major tech disruptions at banks, news outlets, airlines and even several hospital and healthcare systems around the world.
The update, which contained a software bug, was rolled out globally on Friday to computers running Microsoft Windows brining down computer systems worldwide. Over half of Fortune 500 companies use CrowdStrike’s software, according to a promotional video from the firm earlier this year.
England’s National Health Service (NHS) said on Friday that that tech outage had caused disruptions with its appointment and patient record system at the majority of its general practices.
“The NHS has long standing measures in place to manage the disruption, including using paper patient records and handwritten prescriptions, and the usual phone systems to contact your GP, “ an NHS spokesperson said in a statement. “There is currently no known impact on 999 so people should use these services as they usually would in emergency situations.”
The NHS added that were also some issues with administrative systems at hospitals, resulting in staff having to do some tasks manually on paper .
Early on Friday morning, Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford, England, declared a “critical incident” because of external issues that are affecting its systems, including one used to deliver radiotherapy treatments. Although the hospital is now able to resume radiotherapy services, it expects disruptions that may affect some appointments.
Boston’s Mass General Brigham has canceled “all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits,” while New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has paused all procedures that require anesthesia. Health centers in Germany and Israel have also been affected.
Disruptions tied to the outage were also reported in Phoenix, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, New York.
Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz said on a post on X that incident was not a cyberattack and the company is working with customers impacted by the faulty update.
Kurtz added that a “fix has been deployed” to resolve the issue and that customers should visit an online support portal with the latest updates over the issue. Over half of Fortune 500 companies use CrowdStrike’s software, according to a promotional video from the firm earlier this year.
-William Gavin contributed to this article.