Major Cyber Outage Strikes Australia, New Zealand, Disrupts Government, Media, Aviation, Telecom Services
The disruption affected various sectors, including media, retail, banking, aviation, and telecommunications. Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest financial institution, reported that some customers experienced difficulties with money transfers due to the service outage, Reuters reports.
A widespread cyber outage, linked to technical issues at Crowdstrike and Microsoft, impacted numerous industries across Australia and New Zealand on Friday.
The disruption affected various sectors, including media, retail, banking, aviation, and telecommunications. Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest financial institution, reported that some customers experienced difficulties with money transfers due to the service outage, Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, Qantas, the national carrier, and Sydney Airport announced flight delays, although operations continued.
The outage’s far-reaching consequences underscore the interconnectedness of modern digital infrastructure and the potential for cascading effects in the event of a significant technical failure.
The incident is reportedly linked to an issue at Crowdstrike, a prominent global cybersecurity firm, according to a spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs Minister.
The outages have been confirmed by crowdsourced monitoring site Downdetector, which has reported significant service interruptions affecting several banks and telecommunications providers.
The office of Australia’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, Michelle McGuinness said in a post on X, stating, “I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon.
“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”
“There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”
Her statement did not mention Crowdstrike.
https://x.com/AUCyberSecCoord/status/1814183825192227277
Reuters reports that ABC, Australia’s state broadcaster, has confirmed a ‘major network outage’ is currently affecting its services, but did not provide a reason for the disruption.
In a pre-recorded statement played on Sky News Australia, correspondent Tom Connell indicated that the outage is not believed to be the result of a hacking incident, as the network’s regular programming was disrupted.
“Our computers, our systems are down, all the things that make Sky News run down and indeed for many other major companies around the country,” he said.
Australia and New Zealand cyber outage hits government, media and telcos
Australia and New Zealand cyber outage hits government, media and telcos
Acyber outage related to an issue at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike an
