KUALA LUMPUR July 19 — Chaos ensued following a global IT outage that has affecting many institutions including in Malaysia, among others taking banks offline and grounding flights in several countries.

Here’s the latest update:

  • The outage was caused by thousands of Windows machine experiencing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
  • The issue was reportedly caused by a faulty update from cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike. A fix has been deployed.
  • National Cyber Security Agency said: “The impact on Malaysia is considerable; it has caused delays, operational challenges across multiple sectors, affecting businesses and public.”

In Malaysia, here are the services affected:

  • There have been some reports of service slow-down at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) causing long queues especially in Terminal 2.
  • Malaysia Airports said it remains unaffected but some of its airline partners are experiencing disruptions.
  • Malaysian Aviation Group said flight schedules for Malaysia Airlines and Firefly remain unaffected, and no flights have been cancelled.
  • However, Firefly Airlines reported outage with its booking system.
  • Railway operator KTM is also currently facing disruption with its ticketing and customer service system.
  • AirAsia previously reported that its reservation and check-in system were affected, but flights were unaffected.

You can find a full list here.

Why were air travel were so susceptible and affected by this issue? According to Reuters:

“The aviation sector is hit particularly hard due to its sensitivity to timings. Airlines rely on a closely coordinated schedule often run by air traffic control. Just one delay of a few minutes can throw off a flight schedule for take-offs and landings for an airport and airline for the rest of the day.”

Travellers could not do online check-ins or via kiosks and were forced to queue. — Picture by Choo Choy May.
Travellers could not do online check-ins or via kiosks and were forced to queue. — Picture by Choo Choy May.

What is happening right now in KLIA? The chaos is real, as Malay Mail journalist Muhammad Yusry reported:

Passengers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) Terminal 2 are forced to do a manual counter check-in.

Bee-lines that are longer on normal days were formed in front of most counters here. According to the airport staff, the situation started about 2pm today.

Some users have also posted their experience on social media:

What is Crowdstrike?

  • CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity firm that provides protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.
  • It is widely used to manage the security of Windows PCs and servers by business firms.
  • The rogue update is believed to have sent Windows servers, PCs, laptops and computer terminals into a "death spiral of reboots" — causing the BSOD showing the message "DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER"

According to the company in a statement:

“CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor. Symptoms include hosts experiencing a bugcheckblue screen error related to the Falcon Sensor.

Our Engineering teams are actively working to resolve this issue and there is no need to open a support ticket. Status updates will be posted as we have more information to share, including when the issue is resolved.”

Long lines led to huge crowds and long waiting times for check-ins. — July 19 , 2024 . Picture by Choo Choy May.
Long lines led to huge crowds and long waiting times for check-ins. — July 19 , 2024 . Picture by Choo Choy May.

Déjà vu? KLIA previously faced a similar outage in August 2019, caused by a massive network outage that lasted close to five days.

Airport functions that were affected included the credit card system, internet connection, flight check-in, baggage handling, flight information display systems and MYairports mobile application.

The Transport Ministry later said it did not find any element pointing to cyberattacks, and it was due to a 21-year-old Core Network Switches system that had not been upgraded since operations began in 1998.

Read more to find out what is happening right now: