Microsoft estimates that the incident, described as one of the worst IT outages in history, affected 8.5 million computers worldwide.
Businesses, banks, hospitals, and airlines were among the hardest hit. For several hours, bankers in Hong Kong, doctors in the UK, and emergency responders in New Hampshire were locked out of programs essential to their operations. McDonald's Corporation, United Airlines Holdings, and the LSE Group were among the major companies reporting problems with communications and customer service, with airports ranging from Singapore to Zurich being affected.
In South Africa, it disrupted Capitec Bank, preventing users from performing banking transactions on Friday morning. Bank users experienced declined cards, difficulties with cash transfers, and problems with the banking app either not functioning or failing to receive funds.
Capitec's bank services were restored at 2pm on Friday.
At the time, the bank issued a media statement: “Capitec experienced significant disruptions across all our banking channels today due to a global downtime incident involving Crowdstrike, a key technology service provider. We recognise the inconvenience this has caused and wish to provide clarity and assurance to our valued clients.
“Our tech team has worked quickly to resolve the problem – we are pleased to report that all our banking has now been fully restored. Importantly, we want to reassure our clients that their bank accounts and personal data remain secure and unaffected by this incident.
“Client service remains our top priority, and we deeply regret the severe impact this disruption has had on their banking experience. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and appreciate their patience and understanding during this challenging time.”
A bank user expressed frustration that recurring issues with Capitec's services are a common problem and urged the bank to find a permanent solution, noting that this is not the first occurrence of such problems.
CrowdStrike chief executive officer, George Kurtz posted on X on Friday that the fault had been identified and "a fix has been deployed," clarifying that it wasn’t a cyberattack. Additionally, Microsoft reported an apparently unrelated issue with its Azure cloud service.
The incident underscores the risks associated with the global shift towards digital, interconnected technologies. CrowdStrike's website states that it serves 29,000 customers globally, including several major companies in the US.
