Global IT Outage Disrupts Airlines and Brokerages

A global IT outage disrupted operations for Indian airlines, brokerages, and major oil and gas trading desks, impacting systems globally. Airline functions such as booking and check-in, as well as brokerage operations, faced interruptions. Even major U.S. airlines reported communication issues. Some speculated the cause to be linked to cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.

A global IT outage disrupted operations for Indian airlines and brokerages on Friday, according to reports from multiple traders and airlines.

Major oil and gas trading desks in London and Singapore were also impacted, with a cyber outage affecting trade executions, as confirmed by six industry sources. LSEG Group's Workspace news and data platform experienced worldwide user access disruptions. SpiceJet acknowledged technical challenges with their service provider affecting online services including booking, check-in, and manage booking functionalities.

Other airlines including Indigo, Akasa Air, Vistara, Air India, and Air India Express reported similar issues on social media platform X. New Delhi airport confirmed temporary IT problems.

Brokerages in India such as Nuvama Wealth Management, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Motilal Oswal, IIFL Securities, 5Paisa Capital, and Angel Broking faced technical difficulties. Despite emails, none responded for confirmation or comment.

India's interbank trading platforms remained functional, and banks reported executing bonds and foreign exchange transactions smoothly. A source from the central bank noted awareness of the global outage but assured their systems were operational.

Australia faced widespread outages affecting banks, telecom networks, and media services, potentially linked to cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike. Major U.S. airlines issued ground stops due to communication issues, with Crowdstrike's recorded phone message indicating awareness of crashes related to its Falcon sensor on Microsoft's Windows operating system.