Many computer systems are down across the country as part of a major IT outage, resulting in significant disruptions to shopping centres, airlines, and companies nationwide.
As reported by The Guardian Australia, many devices running on Microsoft Windows have encountered blue-screen-of-death errors, including checkout kiosks and information displays. Crowd-sourced outage website Downdetector lists a large spike in impacted services across Australia’s big banks, telcos, and media networks.
At the time of writing, the National Cyber Security Coordinator provided an update on social media platform X confirming the scope of the IT outage.
“I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” wrote Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness.” 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.”
Both ABC News and The Guardian report that an issue with security firm Crowdstrike is at the centre of the issue. An update shared in the Crowdstrike subreddit has shared a workaround to help resolve the issue locally while waiting for a universal fix.
When will the IT outage end?
No timeline is known yet as to when IT systems will be back in working order. Fortunately, triple-0 calls are unaffected at this stage.
An Australian Government spokesperson provided the following statement:
“The Australian Government is working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator on this unfolding outage. The information as it stands is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.”
The spokesperson also reiterated that the outage is not being treated as a cyber security incident. In the meantime, the National Emergency Mechanism group will meet to discuss the next steps.
With many people unable to continue working, some have taken to social media to make light of the situation:
Kudos to the social media team at 10 News First for this alert, replete with Comic Sans:
Read more computer security news on GadgetGuy
The post Major IT outage takes down transport, shops, and more in Australia appeared first on GadgetGuy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment