Canadian flights, hospitals, border disrupted due to global technology outage – StrathmoreNow.com

A global technology outage caused flight cancellations, disruptions at hospitals and traffic jams at border crossings in Canada on Friday, as reported problems continued hours after problems with Microsoft services were said to have been fixed.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the suspected reason for the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and the escalating disruptions continued after the tech company said it would gradually fix it.

Both Toronto Pearson International Airport and Montreal–Trudeau International Airport said the outage could lead to flight delays and cancellations.

Porter Airlines said flights were canceled until 12 p.m. ET due to the outage.

Air Canada, meanwhile, said there would be no major impact on flight operations, but added that it was monitoring the situation closely.

University Health Network, one of Canada’s largest hospital networks, said some of its systems were affected by the outage. A post on social media said clinical activity was continuing as planned, but some patients could experience delays.

Windsor police reported long delays at Canada-U.S. border crossings at the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

The government of Newfoundland and Labrador notified its “users of its digital platforms” of possible service interruptions. The provincial health authority, NL Health Services, said its IT services were also affected, including the main information system used to manage patient care and financial information.

Some companies report that their operations were not affected by the technical failure.

Rogers Communications Inc. says there has been no impact on its phone and internet networks or the media companies it owns. Air Canada says there is no major impact on its operations, but the airline is closely monitoring the situation.

Microsoft 365 posted on social media platform X that the company is “working to redirect affected traffic to alternative systems to mitigate the impact” and that it is “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

CrowdStrike said in an email statement to The Associated Press that the company is “actively working with customers affected by a flaw identified in a single content update for Windows hosts.”