Microsoft said the global IT outage that affected companies and slowed down transportation has been fixed, echoing the update of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Businesses hampered by the outage included those in Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Australia, the US and the UK.

Deemed the ”largest IT disruption in history,” the outage associated with Microsoft’s productivity tools grounded flights and disrupted financial, medical, transportation, media, and other services since the morning of 19 July.

However, devices running on Mac and Linux have been spared, early reports claimed.

On the social media platform X, Microsoft said it was working to resolve the matter. However, experts fear the massive disruption has already cost millions of dollars, as well as thousands of hours, in lost productivity.

Microsoft tried to allay the concerns of customers by redirecting the impacted traffic to ”healthy” systems.

“Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions,” Microsoft said earlier in the day.

What caused the massive IT outage?

At the centre of the turmoil is cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which purportedly released a faulty software update to devices running on Microsoft.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz took to X to announce the issue has been ”identified [and] isolated” and that ”a fix has been deployed”. He also clarified the outage was not from a security breach or cyberattack.

Kurtz advised affected customers to monitor updates. ”We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website,” he said.

”We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers,” Kurtz added.

Read More: Why Southeast Asia is a hot spot for AI cyberattacks

What is the ‘blue screen of death’?

Across the world, devices running on the platform were reportedly shutting down or rebooting, only to show the infamous “blue screen of death” (BSOD) that indicates system failure.

CrowdStrike said it had received multiple complaints of BSOD. The Microsoft service disruption allegedly began after CrowdStrike released a new software update worldwide.

The system crashes have reportedly led to the loss of data and the interruption of critical processes, such as bank transactions, patient care, and airline passenger check-ins, among others.

In Asia Pacific, carriers such as Singapore Airlines, AirAsia, Cebu Pacific, and SpiceJet were only a few of the businesses hit by the outages. Despite the technical issues, however, Singapore Airlines confirmed its flights are “operating as scheduled”.

It’s a different story in Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport, where ground staff have been forced to manually account for passengers on departing flights in a situation described as “very chaotic”.

Meanwhile, media outlets such as The Straits Times, Sky News and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have also been hampered by the global IT outage.