On July 19, 2024, a global outage of Microsoft services caused major disruptions across the globe, including in Luxembourg. The incident was caused by a faulty update on Windows systems, in connection with an IT solution from the cybersecurity group CrowdStrike. Although this outage affected various sectors, Mac and Linux systems were not affected.
In Luxembourg, the outage has impacted several companies and services. Airlines, including Ryanair, have experienced delays and cancellations of flights departing from Findel. Luxair also reported issues with its reservation systems, resulting in temporary instability. Despite these difficulties, airport operations continued normally through manual management of check-ins. The CFLs, however, were not affected by this outage.
The outage also had repercussions in other sectors and regions. Global stock markets declined due to the economic uncertainties generated by the incident, and several media companies, banks and supermarkets suffered interruptions. In France, services such as TF1 and La Poste experienced disruptions, as did some channels of the Canal+ group, which stopped broadcasting for some time.
In neighbouring countries, the effects varied. Berlin airport was completely blocked for several hours, while the impact in Brussels was more limited. In Belgium, SNCB encountered problems with its website and applications, affecting ticket sales.
Globally, the outage also affected Sydney airport, supermarkets, and various broadcasting and telecommunications services. The London and Milan stock exchanges opened late, aggravating economic concerns.
Microsoft and CrowdStrike worked to deploy patches and resolve the situation, but the scale of the outage remains marked by its significant impact on global economic and technological operations.