Major IT outage affects banks, airlines and companies worldwide

Windows computers and tablets crashed in countries from the US to China and Australia, with reports of forced restarts spreading across social media throughout Friday. Photo: IC Photo

(The Wall Street Journal) — Businesses, banks, airlines and emergency services around the world were grappling with a major computer outage Friday.

An update from cybersecurity software company CrowdStrike has apparently caused service disruptions for millions of Microsoft Windows users around the world, disrupting businesses from airlines to the London Stock Exchange.

Windows computers and tablets crashed in countries from the US to China and Australia, with reports of forced restarts appearing on social media throughout the day.

The issue appeared to be caused by a CrowdStrike update, Microsoft employees and outside technology experts familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Several cited a CrowdStrike-related error message on affected devices and a subsequent workaround that aimed to delete the CrowdStrike file.

CrowdStrike shares fell nearly 14% in premarket trading. Microsoft fell 2.4%.