CrowdStrike outage: 3 ways IT outage is still causing disruption in the UK and around the world

• GPs facing “backlog” it has been warned.
• Stranded passengers could take “days” to get home.
• Flights still being cancelled in parts of the world.

A major global IT outage continues to cause disruption despite a fix being rolled out. CrowdStrike has said that a “significant number” of Windows devices have been “resorted” but the aftermath continues to rumble on. 

Geoff Kurtz, the founder and CEO of the company, issued an apology on Friday (19 July) after the problem was first spotted. CrowdStrike has since confirmed that the issue was not the result of a cyberattack. 

CrowdStrike has also said that around 8.5 million Windows devices were affected by the outage - with the company having around 29,000 customers in the US alone. It caused disruptions to trains, banks, health services in the UK and Germany, as well as resulting in flights being cancelled. 

A fix has been rolled out and is resolving the issue for many users. But despite this some disruption still lingers. Here’s all you need to know: 

GP services facing ‘backlog’ 

The IT outage caused major disruption for GP practices across the UK on Friday. Dr David Wrigley, deputy chairman of GPC England, described it as “one the toughest single days in recent times for GPs”. 

NHS patients have been warned that despite CrowdStrike rolling out a fix GP services “cannot be resumed immediately”. There is expected to be a “considerable” backlog as a result of the disruption. 

Dr Wrigley told The Guardian : “Without a clinical IT system, many were forced to return to pen and paper to be able to serve their patients. While GPs and their teams worked hard to look after as many as they could, without access to the information they needed much of the work has had to be shifted into the coming week 

“Even if we could guarantee it could be fully fixed on Monday, GPs would still need time to catch up from lost work over the weekend, and NHS England should make clear to patients that normal service cannot be resumed immediately.” 

Flights still being cancelled or delayed 

Airlines are still being majorly disrupted by the aftermath of the CrowdStrike, particularly in the United States. Delta Airlines is one of the worst hit companies and FlightAware showed that on Sunday, 21 July, over 7,000 flights were disrupted in America. 

The budget airline Wizz Air has confirmed that its systems are back up to normal. However it does warn that flight schedules would take “some time to return to normal”, the Guardian reports. 

TUI cancelled 11 flights from the UK on Sunday, after axing 32 on Friday at the height of the disruption. Customers travelling with the airline were sent an email over the weekend advising disruption on 20 and 21 July. 

Stranded passengers could take ‘days’ to get home 

The cancellation of flights across the globe due to the CrowdStrike outage left passengers stranded. However The Guardian reports that some have been warned it could take “days” to get home and in the worst case scenario passengers have been left without accommodation due to hotels being booked up due to summer holidays starting. 

CrowdStrike’s share price continues to fall 

For investors who had shares in CrowdStrike, the prices continue to tumble on Monday (22 July) as the aftermath of the IT outage rumbles on. The share price in CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. was down 0.83% on the NASDAQ overnight Sunday (21 July) into Monday and it may take time for prices to bounce back. 

Have you been affected by the CrowdStrike outage - either directly or indirectly. If you’ve had your summer holiday disrupted or been unable to access your computer - contact our tech writer by emailing [email protected]