Worldwide IT outage impacts SA banks

A worldwide IT outage that grounded aeroplanes and affected South African banks caused much confusion among thousands of consumers this morning.

While the issue has since been resolved, many people were unable to access their banking apps, or even use ATMs or make card purchases.

According to reports, the outage was caused by Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity service designed to stop internet breaches or hacks for the world’s biggest companies.

The service conducted a software update which is believed to have been behind the worldwide outages.

CrowdStrike president and CEO George Kurtz said they are actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.

“Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack.

“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.

“We further recommend organisations ensure they are communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

Due to an unexpected issue with an international service provider, we are currently experiencing nationwide service disruptions.
Note: Card payments & Capitec ATMs are working & your account remains secure.
We’re resolving the matter asap. We apologise for the inconvenience. pic.twitter.com/u8rfg2rIyT

— Capitec (@CapitecBankSA) July 19, 2024

All flights grounded nationwide? After 2 hrs on the tarmac we had to deplane, this red eye flight just got a lot longer with no end in sight. #Crowdstrike pic.twitter.com/IJnTSI0J4Z

— Scott Sanders (@SeahawkSanders) July 19, 2024