Another expert comments

The CEO of StickmanCyber Ajay Unni said: "It may take a number of hours, even days, [before systems all come back online].

"Especially as it's a Friday afternoon. People have gone home and gone away for the weekend.

"If you don't have resources, then this could take a very long time to fix and come back to business as usual."

Expert warns of further problems

Top Australian web security consultant Troy Hunt fears the worst in the coming days if issues aren't resolved soon.

He said on X: "I don’t think it’s too early to call it: this will be the largest IT outage in history.

"This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it's actually happened this time."

The feared Y2K malfunctioning, or "Millennium Bug", was a computer programming flaw that many worried could trigger widespread chaos at the turn of the new millennium.

Ticket trouble

Football clubs, including Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, have faced issues with ticket sales.

Manchester United were forced to delay their planned morning ticket release due to the outage.

Sky News and BBC's CBBC hit by tech glitch

Earlier today, Sky News' Friday morning breakfast show was unable to air, but later returned with reporters reading from printed notes. The BBC's CBBC channel also experienced issues.

Meanwhile, Paramount Global channels, including MTV, VH1, CMT, and Pop TV, went offline.

Experts Suggest Update May Be Behind the Problems

The major disruption is reported to have been caused by a CrowdStrike software update.

The company regularly updates its systems with new anti-virus software

Toby Murray, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, Australia said:

"If Falcon is suffering a malfunction then it could be causing a widespread outage for two reasons .

"One: Falcon is widely deployed on many computers, and two: because of Falcon's privileged nature.

"Falcon is a bit like anti-virus software: it is regularly updated with information about the latest online threats.

"It is possible that today's outage may have been caused by a buggy update to Falcon.".

Pharmacies experiencing issues

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) confirmed earlier that the IT outage is also disrupting community pharmacies.

"We kindly ask for your patience when visiting your pharmacy," they wrote on X.

Amsterdam flights cancelled from Bristol

More chaotic scenes have emerged at Bristol Airport as flights to Amsterdam have been cancelled. Bea, who was scheduled to travel there for a holiday today, told The Sun:

"Our flight was cancelled almost an hour ago and we haven't had any further information, they've cancelled the next one to which means the earliest flight is 5.30pm.

"We had checked in, we were boarded, and then we were told there was a points failure at the other end.

"They told us it would be a three hour delay so they got us to disembark the plane.

"Once we got off, a stewardess said it would probably more likely be five hours - and now of course it's cancelled."

Gatwick Chaos: Travellers Queuing for Over 3 Hours

A traveller at Gatwick Airport said he had been queuing for more than three-and-a-half hours ahead of a flight to Miami, Florida.

Dean Seddon, 42, from Plymouth, told the PA news agency: "There are just people everywhere, there must be 400 people in this queue for the check in desk I'm at… it's just bedlam.

"It's one of those things where you kind of know we're not going to fly, but you don't want to leave because you don't know."

Another traveller reported spending $6,800 on a one-way trip home.

"I didn’t know what else to do. I just wanted to get us home," they said.

Surgeries cancelled in Germany

Two German hospitals have been forced to cancel emergency operations due to the ongoing global IT outage.

The hospitals, located in the northern cities of Lübeck and Kiel, have also postponed all elective surgeries scheduled for today.

Cybersecurity experts issue warning

Cybersecurity experts warn that hackers could use tactics similar to today's global IT outage to disrupt systems worldwide.

Martin Jartelius, Chief Security Officer at Outpost24, told The U.S. Sun that the incident highlights the risks of supply chain attacks.

"If an attacker had backdoored such an update to open systems to attacks or to encrypt them, the exact same systems would have been impacted," Jartelius explained.

"Blue Screen of Death"

PCs around the world were booted up on today only to be met with the "Blue Screen of Death."

The issue has been linked to a problematic update from security company CrowdStrike, who provide protection against hackers.

Security expert Adam Pilton told The U.S. Sun that it will take days for bigger businesses to recover.

"CrowdStrike has released a fix and provided guidance which is working for many users.

"For smaller organisations, this will take hours, for larger organizations this may take days to resolve."

The outage first emerged in Australia as businesses there came online ahead of the rest of the world.

A Day of Mayhem

Brits continue to face major disruptions today due to the global IT outage, which has led to chaos with NHS appointments, mass train and flight cancellations, and more.

Major airports, airlines, railways, and supermarkets have been affected by the CrowdStrike issue, which caused a worldwide crash of Microsoft services.

In the UK alone, over 100 planes were grounded, and more than 1,300 flights were cancelled globally. The situation could continue for several days.

President & CEO of CrowdStrike, George Kurtz, has apologised for the chaos.

Writing on X, Kurtz commented that: "The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.

"We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website."

GP Surgeries Struggle with IT Outage

In the UK, GP surgeries have reported being unable to access patient records or book appointments due to IT issues. Many practices have taken to social media to highlight problems with the EMIS Web system.

An Oxfordshire GP  practice has advised patients with "routine concerns" to wait until Monday due to the ongoing IT outage.

Concerning reports are also saying 911 emergency lines are down in several US states.

Royal Surrey Declares Critical Incident

Royal Surrey has declared a Critical Incident due to external IT issues impacting its radiotherapy services.

They ask patients to attend their appointments unless notified directly.

The disruption to the radiotherapy system may affect appointments into next week.

The incident comes as NHS fights to deal with the mayhem caused by the IT outage.

Ryanair cancels flights

Ryanair have issued an apology after cancelling flights due to the disruption across their network.

Affected passengers are advised to login to their account say they cannot help customers at the airport.

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this Global 3rd party IT outage, and we are working hard to minimise disruption and keep passengers informed," they wrote on X.

Edinburgh airport asking passengers with cancelled flights to leave

Edinburgh Airport is asking passengers with canceled flights to leave and advises all passengers to check their flight status online before coming to the airport.

Hundreds of passengers have been left stranded, with many waiting over an hour to get through security.

Meanwhile, United Airlines say that some flights are resuming.

Some airports, including Belfast International and Manchester, have reverted to "old school" methods during the outage, displaying flight information on whiteboards with marker pens.

Crowdstrike boss confirms problem cause by 'content update'

The IT failure causing global chaos could take “some time” to fix for many companies, according to the CEO of the antivirus software business responsible for the outages.

George Kurts, CEO of Crowdstrike, told NBC:

"It wasn’t a cyber attack. It was related to this content update.

"It could be some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover but it is our mission… to make sure that every customer is fully recovered and we’re not going to relent until we get every customer back to where they were."

"The same as a Black Mirror episode"

Senad Aruc, founder and CEO of Imperum Security Operation Center (SOC) platform, has likened today's IT outage to "doomsday."

He went on to explain that this incident represents a modern version of doomsday, as it disrupts everyday activities and infrastructure, contrasting with the traditional notion of doomsday, which was associated with wars.

Speaking to The Sun, Senad said: “The doomsdays that we used to know for the wars is now happening for the IT. So that's how it is.

"Even the best hackers groups cant do such an outage or damage."

Senad stressed that Microsoft is not to blame for the global meltdown, as the issue stemmed from CrowdStrike’s software update rather than Microsoft's operating system.

The incident is likely to cost CrowdStrike both financially and reputationally. Despite this setback, they remain a leading cybersecurity firm, the expert added.

School systems affected

As schools across Britain break up for the summer holidays today, the communication app Schoolcomms, used by over 3,000 schools, reported being affected by the outage.

The IT failure has caused chaos, with frustrated parents taking to social media to let off steam. Many have been unable to add money to their children's accounts for school meals and drinks.

One parent shared, "Last day of term and I can’t add money to my son’s account as neither the @Schoolcomms app nor website are working. Any ideas how he can buy a drink?"

"Cash is King"

On X, the phrase "Cash is King" is trending.

One user complained that his local bakery didn't accept cash and warned against the risks of relying solely on card payments.

"To be so reliant on one option, that you can't even accept cash payments is a big risk to take," he wrote.

Another user said: "This is why we need to stay in a cash society.

"If you think relying on people in IT for food and supplies, you [are] going to continue to be fooled around."

Manual fix available

Microsoft users are advised to manually address the issue by rebooting in safe mode and deleting certain files.

On their website, Microsoft advises to restore your computer to a '' before applying the update.

"We're deeply sorry" says Crowdstrike boss

In an interview with NBC News, George Kurtz, the CEO of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, has apologised for the disruption caused by their software update.

"We're deeply sorry for the impact on our customers, travellers, and everyone affected, including our partner companies," Kurtz said.

Co-Op advises customers to use cash

Some Co-op stores have posted signs advising shoppers to pay with cash only due to the ongoing issues.

Staff have informed customers that the problem is affecting all Co-op locations across the UK.

Regional Co-op stores, which operate independently from the national chain, also reported similar issues this morning.