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A widespread Microsoft outage linked to a cybersecurity software disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday, delaying the start of News4 Today and knocking Metro's website offline.
Computer systems are slowly returning to normal and services are coming back online, but the overnight disruption is having ripple effects on air travel.
Dozens of flights from D.C.-area airports are delayed. Local airports encouraged travelers to check their flight status. Across the world, Windows users reported seeing a blue screen when they tried to log on.
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Metro trains, buses and Red Line shuttles began running on time after concerns about operations, the agency said. The agency had earlier said that it planned to start train service late because of technical problems, but trains started running at 5 a.m.
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) said it's working to determine how the outage affects its systems.
"We can confirm that each of our member organizations have implemented downtime procedures to ensure orderly operations and patient safety," UMMS said.
Children's National Hospital isn't experiencing issues.
News4 Today was unable to start as scheduled at 4 a.m. as the outage put computers offline, but the news broadcast went live at 5 a.m. Watch us here.
Major carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, all issued ground stops Friday morning citing communications issues, NBC News reported.
Computer fix deployed to CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity system at root of outage
The outage is linked to a recent update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company was working to fix problems created for Windows users of its tools by a recent update in a post on the social media platform X.
"This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," Kurtz wrote.
Microsoft 365 posted on X that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”
Delays reported at DC-area airports
More than 100 delays and 15 cancelations were reported at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport, according to FlightAware.
Anyone traveling at airports should check for delays or cancelations.
News4's Joseph Olmo reported there was a lot of confusion at Reagan National Airport as some check-in kiosks showed blue error screens. But many passengers apparently were able to check-in and get tickets.
Video of the airport showed little action about 6:15 a.m. when we'd typically expect to see baggage handlers loading planes and aircraft preparing to taxi for takeoff.
Several airlines at BWI remained affected at 9:30 a.m., the airport said.
“Locally here at BWI Marshall, some airline flights, both arrivals and departures, are operating,” the airport said.
Metro website went down, but service continues
Metro said it opened on time even though its website and internal systems were impacted by a global IT outage, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said. The agency is sharing updates on X.
The website went back online about 9:30 a.m.
SmarTrip cards are working, but commuters were not able to use train tracker, bus tracker and "Plan My Trip" services while the WMATA website was down.
MetroAccess' call center went down, causing delays. Metro said it would contact anyone who has a delayed trip.
Metro Transit Police are unaffected by the outage, WMATA said. Anyone who needs assistance can call 202-962-2121 or text MYMTPD (696873).
"There is no impact to Amtrak operations," Amtrak said.
Local 911 services working as expected
D.C.'s Office of Unified Communications said there is no impact on 911 or 311 services.
Arlington and Alexandria's dispatch services also said they are not affected.
Vienna, Virginia, said the police nonemergency line isn't working, but 911 is fine.
News4 has reached out to other dispatch offices to confirm that they are working as expected, but no local outages have been reported.
News4 Today delayed
The NBC4 Washington newsroom was affected by the outage. News4 Today began airing one hour late, at 5 a.m. Many computers showed a "blue screen of death," and several systems used in our broadcast weren't working.
Storm Team4 Meteorologist Chuck Bell said only one of seven computers used by Storm Team4 was working.
Microsoft users worldwide hit by outage
The massive IT glitch was caused by a problem with Microsoft cloud computing services early Friday, NBC News reported.
Escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Microsoft said the problem with its Azure Service and Microsoft 365 apps, including services such as the videoconferencing app Teams, was fixed early Friday, but companies across the U.S. and Europe were still reporting problems. The company said “a small subset of services is still experiencing residual impact," NBC News reported.
The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta.
Some of the worst impacts were seen in Europe, including on the United Kingdom's National Health Service. The outage hit in the middle of the workday overseas.
Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.
