Airlines

A widespread global information technology system outage on Friday caused chaos at airports worldwide, including Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, where flights from Lagos to the United States of America, Europe, and other international destinations were delayed and cancelled.

The glitch, reported to have emanated from a faulty software update issued by cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, affected Windows computers worldwide, leaving businesses, airports, banks, broadcasters, and the healthcare sector disrupted.

According to Cirium, the largest aggregator of flight status information, at least 2,691 out of 110,000 commercial flights scheduled for Friday were cancelled globally.

Our correspondent gathered that United Airlines cancelled its Lagos-Washington flight on Friday, leaving its Nigeria passengers stranded. The affected passengers were accommodated in hotels while some returned home.

Delta Airlines, the world’s largest operator by passenger volume, also delayed its Lagos-Atlanta flight, pushing the departure time from 12noon to 3pm on Friday.

“Any customers whose flights are impacted will be notified by Delta via the Fly Delta app and text message. Customers should use the Fly Delta app for updates. We apologise for the inconvenience as our teams work through this issue,” the airline said in a statement.

Earlier on Friday, airline officials at the Lagos airport said they were awaiting signals from their head offices overseas to determine the flight status.

“No signals have been received yet. Certainly, the flight won’t go as planned,” one official of Delta Air Lines, who declined to be named told Saturday PUNCH.

The disruptions extended beyond US carriers, impacting European, Middle Eastern, and African airlines operating in Nigeria. Air France and KLM experienced significant delays, with flights into Nigeria postponed, while outbound flights also faced delays.

Specifically, Air France’s Paris-Lagos flight, initially scheduled to arrive at 9:10 pm, was rescheduled to 12:35 am on Saturday. The outbound Lagos-Paris leg, originally set for 11 pm, may not depart until around 3 am on Saturday, an official not authorised to speak with the media told Saturday PUNCH on Friday night.

KLM’s Amsterdam-Lagos flight, expected at 8:05 pm on Friday, was delayed until 10:35 pm, resulting in an additional two-hour delay for the outbound leg.

Other affected airlines include Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic.

Foreign flights

In Europe, Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport announced delays to passenger check-ins. Similarly, Aena, which oversees 46 airports in Spain, reported an incident in the computer system that could cause delays.

The Associated Press noted that several budget airlines in South Korea also faced technical issues and delays. Sydney Airport, one of Australia’s largest, confirmed it was experiencing delays as well.

Paris’ airport authority clarified that although its systems remain unaffected ahead of next week’s Olympic Games opening ceremony, the situation has impacted operations at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airports. This has led to delays in check-ins, flight delays, and the temporary suspension of some flights, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association issued a statement urging travellers to check with their airlines for updated information and to expect extended wait times at airports.

The association said it was working with airline representatives to manage the crisis and restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

“Several of our platforms are impacted by the IT issues being experienced globally. Unfortunately, this is affecting some customers of various IATA services,” IATA stated.

The President of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, Dr Kingsley Nwokeoma, has called for understanding and patience from passengers as the global IT outage continues to disrupt services across various sectors, including aviation.

“Passengers will have to understand the situation because it is a global issue, not just affecting the airlines. It is impacting hospitals and banks as well,” Nwokeoma told Saturday PUNCH.

He emphasised that airlines needed to be proactive and take the necessary steps to address the issue.

“This will affect network punctuality, and aeroplanes can develop faults. These are uncertainties that can happen,” he added.

Nwokoma highlighted the importance of airlines adhering to international standards during such crises.

“The airlines have to do what they need to do. Passengers need to be fed, taken to hotels, and ensure that the IATA standard is met in times of distress like this,” he said.

He urged them to prioritise customer care and maintain compliance with the International Air Transport Association guidelines to mitigate the impact on travelers.

Resolutions

In response to the crisis, Saturday PUNCH gathered that governments and industry leaders were collaborating to mitigate the impact on affected sectors.

Microsoft had in a statement, said a configuration change in a portion of ‘our Azure backend workloads, caused interruption between storage and compute resources’ and resulted in connectivity failures that affected downstream Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections.

The tech giant also said that the issue may impact any user attempting to use various Microsoft 365 apps and services.

It added that “services affected include — PowerBI, Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 admin center, and Microsoft Purview.

“We will continue to progress on our mitigation efforts for the affected Microsoft 365 apps and services. We still expect users to see remediation as we address residual impact,” Microsoft said.

The global firm stated that Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Intune, OneDrive for business, and SharePoint Online, are some of its services that had been restored.

American cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, said the global IT outage affecting multiple sectors was not caused by a security incident or cyber attack.

The CEO of the company, George Kurtz, stated on X that the disruption was caused by a defect in a content update for Windows hosts.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyber attack,” he wrote on X.

He added, “We have referred customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.”

The CEO emphasised the importance of communicating with CrowdStrike’s representatives through official channels, warning against potential phishing attempts.

“Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” he assured.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on X that it was closely monitoring a significant technical issue impacting IT systems at various US airlines. Several airlines have requested FAA assistance in implementing ground stops until the issue is resolved.

“We continue to work closely with airlines as they work to resume normal operations. Ground stops and delays will be intermittent at various airports as the airlines work through residual technology issues.”

Despite the global IT issue, FAA operations remain unaffected. “Our operations are currently not impacted by this issue. We continue to monitor the situation closely,” the spokesperson added.

Experts react

Experts said that by adopting decentralised approaches, industries could minimise the impact of outages and ensure continuity of essential services.

“The global outage is a stark reminder of the dangers of centralisation,” Bobola Ojo-Ami, co-founder of Recital Finance, told Saturday PUNCH. “When a particular infrastructure is overloaded or consolidated on a single entity, it becomes problematic. That’s why decentralisation is very important.”

Ojo-Ami noted that decentralisation allowed for redundancy, distribution, and autonomy, reducing the risk of a single point of failure. “This is the same idea behind cloud computing, cryptocurrency, and other decentralised technologies,” he explained.

He added that Nigeria, in particular, needed to establish a core infrastructure that is decentralised to avoid similar outages in the future. “Issues like this make it clear that we need to prioritise decentralisation, especially in areas like finance and transportation,” Ojo-Ami emphasised.

The Chief Executive Officer of Evessio, Gary Clement, said in a note obtained by Saturday PUNCH, “Today’s global IT outage has underscored the critical role that technology plays in our daily lives and the vulnerabilities that come with it.”

“As airlines, media outlets, and banks work to recover from the disruption, the focus will shift to understanding the cause of the failure and implementing measures to prevent future occurrences.

“For now, the priority remains on resolving the immediate issues and restoring normalcy to the affected sectors,” he expounded.

A cybersecurity researcher at King’s College London, Chukwuka Jerahmeel, outlined the significant impact those vulnerabilities have had on Nigerian businesses.

He explained that CrowdStrike rolled out a flawed software update that caused many Windows machines running the affected software to crash. The problem, affecting its Falcon platform, led to server outages at airlines, locked computers at banks, and disrupted healthcare services.

Jerahmeel noted that those issues have raised alarm bells within the cybersecurity community, prompting businesses to re-evaluate their security strategies.

Nigerian businesses relying on CrowdStrike for endpoint protection experienced operational disruptions, leading to downtime, loss of productivity, and potentially compromised data integrity.

“In a market where reliability and continuity are paramount, such disruptions can erode client trust and lead to financial losses,” Jerahmeel explained.

The financial repercussions extend far beyond immediate operational disruptions. “Businesses face significant monetary losses due to paused operations,” he added.

“Downtime can result in lost revenue, missed opportunities, and increased costs as organisations scramble to mitigate the damage. For Nigerian SMEs, these financial hits can be particularly devastating, potentially jeopardising their survival in a competitive market.”

He emphasised that the incident served as a crucial reminder for Nigerian businesses and global firms of the importance of a multi-layered cybersecurity approach.

“Relying solely on one solution can be risky. Diversification of security tools and regular audits of cybersecurity infrastructure are essential steps in mitigating such risks,” he advised.

He also highlighted the importance of investing in employee training programmes to enhance cybersecurity efficiency.

“Human error is often a significant factor in cybersecurity, and one mistake could take down a whole corporation. A well-informed workforce can serve as the first defence against cyber challenges,” Jerahmeel said.

While the issues with CrowdStrike’s Windows platform present immediate challenges for CrowdStrike, they also offer an opportunity for Nigerian businesses to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

“By adopting a comprehensive and proactive approach to cybersecurity, Nigerian companies can safeguard their operations and ensure long-term resilience in an increasingly digital world,” he concluded.