It has been described by cybersecurity experts as the biggest IT outage the world has ever seen. On Friday morning, a corrupted update by cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike led to approximately 8.5 million Windows devices crashing around the globe after encountering the so-called blue screen of death (BSOD). According to David Weston, vice-president at Microsoft, that is less than 1% of all Windows machines. However, “the broad economic and societal impacts reflect the use of CrowdStrike by enterprises that run many critical services,” such as ATMs, banks and hospitals. It also caused travel chaos. While the situation wasn’t too bad here in Japan, some trains and airlines were affected.  

On July 19, Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd. canceled approximately 20 domestic flights due to the outage. With the computers down, Jetstar staff at Fukuoka Airport decided to get their pens out and handwrite the passengers’ names and destinations on their boarding passes. On the Japan Airlines website, bookings, reservations and cancelations were briefly unavailable for both domestic and international flights. At Narita Airport, HK Express and Jeju Air also had system problems. West Japan Railway’s website and app, meanwhile, was unable to display the status of train services. 

McDonald’s and Universal Studios Japan Also Affected by CrowdStrike’s Outage

It wasn’t just travel that was affected in Japan. Around 30% of McDonald’s outlets across the country suspended operations due to a glitch in their cash registers. The outage also impacted cash registers at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. As a result, almost all the restaurants and stores in the park were forced to temporarily close. Fortunately for visitors, rides and other attractions weren’t affected. While it was mostly companies that encountered the dreaded BSOD, some individuals were hit with it too, including video game director and designer Masahiro Sakurai, who is best known as the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series.

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