A massive global IT outage caused chaos today at banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, and more after Windows workstations were hit by 'blue screen of death' error messages due to a CrowdStrike software update.

The first reported issues came from Australia, quickly spreading to the US, UK, and other regions.

The outage led to ground stoppages at airports, terminal pile-ups, and communication system failures, including the disruption of TV networks like Sky News in the UK.

The problems gradually eased throughout the day.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz admitted on X (formerly Twitter) that the issues were caused by 'a single content update for Windows hosts.' He assured that the problem was identified, isolated, and a fix deployed, although residual effects persisted for hours across various sectors, including health services and financial institutions.

This outage marks one of the most significant global IT disruptions in recent years.