A major cyber outage on Friday disrupted services in Australia and New Zealand due to problems with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
Reuters correspondents reported that the outage impacted multiple national services, including media outlets, retailers, banks, airlines, and telecom companies.
Australia's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank, announced that some customers were unable to transfer money.
National airline Qantas and Sydney airport experienced flight delays but continued operations.
Victorian state police stated that some internal systems were affected by the cyber outage, but emergency services were still functioning.
Several media companies also faced disruptions in their output.
A spokesperson for telecom firm Telstra said, "Global issues affecting CrowdStrike and Microsoft are disrupting some of our systems. This is causing delays for some customers, and we thank them for their patience."
Cause of the Outage
CrowdStrike had a recorded phone message stating that they were aware of crashes on Microsoft's Windows system related to their Falcon sensor. However, there was no mention of Australia specifically.
Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator, Michelle McGuinness, claimed that there was no evidence suggesting a cyber attack and that the problem seemed to be a technical issue with third-party software used by the affected companies.
Regional Impact
In New Zealand, parliament's computer systems were also affected.
State broadcaster ABC reported a "major network outage" without giving a reason.
During a disruption in Sky News Australia's programming, correspondent Tom Connell mentioned that the outage was not believed to be due to a hack, saying, "Our computers and systems are down, as well as those of many other major companies around the country."
A Reuters reporter saw error messages on payment systems at Harris Farm grocery stores in Sydney on Friday, showing the wide impact of the outage.
