A cyber security company blamed for a massive global IT failure apologised for a "defect" on Friday that grounded planes, knocked out TV broadcasts and affected banks, hospitals and financial markets.
CrowdStrike's faulty software update is believed to have sparked the chaos that led to Microsoft computers crashing, card machines breaking, Sky News going off air and traders waiting in vain for stock exchange news.
The US company's president and chief executive George Kurtz said a "fix has been deployed", requiring each user to reboot individually amid outages in the Middle East, Asia, the US, Europe and Australia.
"I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for today’s outage," Mr Kurtz said in a letter to company customers and partners.
"All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation."
The chief executive said that employees were on hand to respond to the outage and evaluate how it occurred.
Mr Kurtz said in posts on X that the failure was not a security incident or cyber attack, and vowed to be transparent about "the steps we're taking to prevent anything like this from happening again".
Flights were delayed around the globe, with airlines such as Turkish Airlines, Air France, KLM, Delta and Ryanair and hubs in Berlin, London and Amsterdam among those affected at the peak of summer travel season.
Dubai International Airport said it was operating normally after some airlines faced check-in problems. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its electronic systems were affected and told customers not to make transactions.
Major IT disruption hits companies around the world - in pictures
The UAE's Telecommunications And Digital Government Regulatory Authority said there was a “technical defect” with CrowdStrike.
“We advise users of the program to be patient and not perform any updates or downloads of CrowdStrike software until the problem is resolved,” it said.
UAE citizens and residents were advised to contact airlines before travelling. Meanwhile, the UAE Cyber Security Council recommended updating Google Chrome browsers to the latest version.
Software bug
Toby Murray, a cyber security expert in Australia, told The National that the cause appeared to be “a faulty update that was deployed to the CrowdStrike Falcon software, which is ubiquitous in large cyber-security-conscious organisations”.
He said Falcon, which monitors computers for threats, is “a pretty privileged piece of software in that it is able to influence how the computers it is installed on behave”.
Mr Kurtz in his letter to customers said that "this issue does not affect our Falcon platform systems".
"There is no impact to any protection if the Falcon sensor is installed. Falcon Complete and Falcon OverWatch services are not disrupted."
CrowdStrike “is a market leader for good reason, because of the effectiveness of their technology” but developers “need to implement careful practices for making sure the updates they are deploying won’t cause harm”, Mr Murray said.
Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the severity of the problem “boils down to how long it lasts”.
“A few hours’ disruption is unhelpful but not a catastrophe. Prolonged disruption is another matter, potentially causing damage to companies and economies,” he said.
“So far, investors have not shown any panic. Whether that remains the case as the day goes on is another matter.”
Troy Hunt, the creator of the security check website Have I Been Pwned, said the issue was not with Microsoft itself but with the CrowdStrike software.
The outage is “basically what we were all worried about with Y2K”, the so-called millennium bug, he said, “except it's actually happened this time”.
Microsoft said it was “aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform".
"We are aware of this issue and are working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement on X.
The CrowdStrike president said the faulty update was confined to Windows software and did not affect Mac or Linux users.
Shares in both companies were down but traders generally remained calm.
Worldwide problems
As users encountered a “blue screen of death” worldwide:
· Users reported service problems with Visa and Amazon on the website DownDetector, while payment problems hit supermarkets and currency exchanges were affected in Hong Kong
· Germany said “critical infrastructure” was affected, as two hospitals cancelled elective operations scheduled for Friday. Some UK doctors could not make appointments, and emergency call centres were down in Alaska
· Manchester United said it was postponing the release of football tickets, as several other clubs reported problems. The Paris 2024 Olympic organisers said their IT systems were hit
· Rail problems added to the travel chaos, with Britain’s biggest train company warning passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
It was not immediately clear whether all reported disruptions were linked to CrowdStrike problems or there were other issues at play, amid interruptions to Microsoft’s Azure and Office 365 services.
Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, said machines running Windows and CrowdStrike were getting stuck in a “restarting state”. It said it was investigating.
Russian banks and currency traders said they were having few problems, after Moscow was partly cut off from global markets under sanctions.
In the UK, Sky News was knocked off air before returning with limitations. Britain’s biggest train company warned passengers to expect disruption due to “widespread IT issues”.
The London Stock Exchange said that its Regulatory News Service was affected due to a “third-party global technical issue”.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor told The National that prices and indices on the London Stock Exchange “are now updating”, but not news stories.
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.
A representative for Dubai Airports said Dubai International was “operating normally” after the system failure affected check-in for some airlines. They said the companies affected had switched to an alternate system.
Budget airline Ryanair was affected, as were some of Europe's biggest airports in Berlin and Amsterdam. Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where queues grew as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled.
Airports affected by IT outage - in pictures
Five Indian airlines announced disruptions to their booking systems on Friday. National carrier Air India said its systems had been “impacted temporarily due to the current Microsoft outage”, causing delays.
Budget operator SpiceJet said it had reverted to manual check-ins and boarding after “technical challenges”.
John Strickland, an aviation expert at JLS Consulting, said it was a “major challenge to return to normality” when airlines had curtailed “all or sizeable parts of their operations”.
“For the Northern European and North Atlantic markets, this is peak season and costs will run to millions of dollars,” he said.
All airports in Spain were experiencing “disruptions” from the IT failure, the airport operator Aena said. Hong Kong's airport also said some airlines had been affected, linking the disruption to a Microsoft service interruption.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Stage result
1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 4:42:34
2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
5. Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
6. Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
8. Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
9. Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirate
More on Quran memorisation:
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Results
2pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: Mouheeb, Tom Marquand (jockey), Nicholas Bachalard (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Honourable Justice, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dahawi, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dark Silver, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Dark Of Night. Antonio Fresu, Al Muhairi.
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Habah, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
RESULTS
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Brraq, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Jean-Claude Pecout (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Taamol, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Eqtiraan, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Soft Whisper, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner: Etisalat, Sando Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
EVIL%20DEAD%20RISE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELee%20Cronin%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlyssa%20Sutherland%2C%20Morgan%20Davies%2C%20Lily%20Sullivan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
MATCH INFO
Southampton 0
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 16')
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Men’s singles
Group A: Son Wan-ho (Kor), Lee Chong Wei (Mas), Ng Long Angus (HK), Chen Long (Chn)
Group B: Kidambi Srikanth (Ind), Shi Yugi (Chn), Chou Tien Chen (Tpe), Viktor Axelsen (Den)
Women’s Singles
Group A: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn), Pusarla Sindhu (Ind), Sayaka Sato (Jpn), He Bingjiao (Chn)
Group B: Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe), Sung Hi-hyun (Kor), Ratchanok Intanon (Tha), Chen Yufei (Chn)
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
