Internet down: Major IT outage impacting businesses including banks, Woolworths and Coles

A major IT outage is affecting businesses, media outlets, Government agencies and other organisations across Australia and globally.

The widespread outage is linked to CrowdStrike, cybersecurity software which touts itself as a “global cybersecurity leader with an advanced cloud-native platform for protecting endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and data”.

Outage alert website Downdetector is reporting a growing list of organisations affected while workers across the country are hit with a dreaded “blue screen”.

CrowdStrike

The firm at the centre of the outage boasts “29,000 customers trust CrowdStrike to secure their organisation’s data”.

The company is running a recorded phone message as it is inundated with requests for information about the ongoing problem.

“Thanks for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows … related to the Falcon sensor,” callers are told.

Banks and finance

Banks including Bendigo Bank, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Bank of Queensland and more are all down, with hundreds of user reports flooding Downdetector in the past hour.

Accounting software Xero and myob are also down, which could cause issues for anyone expecting their pay cheque in the next few days.

The Australian Securities Exchange said its website was affected but share trading was not because it operated from a standalone server system.

Retail

There are reports of chaos at retail outlets, including Woolworths and Coles, with shoppers desperately trying to draw out cash to bypass electronic payment methods.

At shopping centres across Perth, stores have closed early for the day.

The TAB and gambling services are also offline.

Some Australians have raised concerns about the decline of cash transactions in light of the outage.

“This is why cash is King,” wrote one Seven West Media reader.

“And this is why cash will always achieve victory — it never breaks due to technical issues,” another added.

Travel

A Perth Airport spokeswoman said flights at the airport had not been delayed at this stage.

She said some self-check-in systems were affected but passengers were having to check in over the counter, rather than online.

“We will keep you updated with any further impacts and if you’re travelling, stay alert for messages from your airline,” the airport wrote on X.

But, anyone travelling to the eastern States may hit issues. In Sydney, Virgin Australia is telling passengers there is a “complete ground stop”, meaning no flights are going in or out of the airport.

Melbourne Airport has reported issues with check-in and told passengers to allow extra time.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration or FFA has grounded all flights flown by major US airlines Delta, United and American Airlines.

Virgin Australia and Qantas have both acknowledged impacts from the outage.

Emergency services

WA Police said it was not experiencing any issues or problems in terms of receiving triple zero calls and dispatching officers to scenes.

Sources inside Royal Perth Hospital claim the facility is “absolutely fine” and running as normal but several ambulances have been seen ramping outside the building.

A St John WA spokesperson said some of the agency’s systems were affected.

“Triple zero ambulance response has not been interrupted,” the spokesperson said.

“St John health systems including urgent care have been impacted.”

Sport

Fremantle Dockers has told its members they might not be able to access their tickets on the app due to the outage.

TV programming ground to a halt as several media outlets are unable to go to air.

Sky News’ breakfast show in the United Kingdom could not go to air Friday morning, with The Telegraph reporting it had to be “replaced by archive footage”.

Postage and freight deliveries will likely face delays with Australia Post, Amazon and VISA also among the affected organisations.

It remains unclear whether the outage is being treated as suspicious.

The National Cyber Security Coordinator has posted to X, formerly Twitter, amid the chaos, saying it’s likely a technical issue and not cybersecurity-related.

“I am aware of a large-scale technical outage affecting a number of companies and services across Australia this afternoon,” the coordinator said.

“Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies.

“There is no information to suggest it is a cyber security incident. We continue to engage across key stakeholders.”