UK Government Holds Emergency Meeting On Global Tech Outage Affecting Aviation, Media, Other Services
The outage, which has affected numerous technology platforms and services worldwide, prompted swift action from the government to assess the impact and coordinate a response.
The UK government convened an emergency meeting on Friday to address the widespread global tech outage, Downing Street confirmed, according to PA media.
The outage, which has affected numerous technology platforms and services worldwide, prompted swift action from the government to assess the impact and coordinate a response.
CNN reports that a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters on Friday: “We recognise the impact this is having on services and the Government is working closely with the respective sectors and industries on this issue, which is affecting services not only across the UK but also globally.”
The spokesperson further stated that she has no knowledge of any government operations being impacted by the outage.
When asked why British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not chair the committee meeting, the spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister’s had bilaterals with President Zelensky and Cabinet this morning, but all ministers including the Prime Minister are being kept informed with the latest.”
Earlier on Friday, SaharaReporters reported a massive global technology failure, resulting in widespread IT system shutdowns across various sectors.
European airports have been severely affected, experiencing significant delays and operational issues due to the tech outages.
The disruption has also impacted other transportation links, causing additional travel disruptions. In the UK, major news channels, including Sky News, were affected by the technical issues, with Sky News unable to broadcast live as scheduled.
David Rhodes, the network’s executive chairman, apologized to viewers for the interruption, noting that many news reports are still available online.
CNN reports that the tech outage also caused significant disruptions on a global scale, with airports and media outlets experiencing difficulties across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Professor Salil Kanhere from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, the global IT outage appears to have been caused by an issue with the CrowdStrike antivirus software.
“It appears to have impacted Windows machines with this software installed, causing them to crash (blue screen error) and get stuck in boot loops.
“An update to their software appears to have been rolled out globally without proper testing,” he said.
