A major technical outage is causing widespread disruption across the globe, affecting businesses in Tasmania and beyond.
Airlines, retail chains, fuel stations, supermarkets, banks, insurers and media outlets are among those impacted.
People have reported being ushered out of retail stores as they close their doors because they can’t take payments, with people stuck on fuel station forecourts also unable to pay.
The outage has even impacted media outlets, with several radio and television services including the ABC, ARN and SCA networks currently off the air.
Passengers at Hobart Airport have been told by airline staff that check-in and bag drop on impacted flights will remain open until their systems can be restored.
“We are still working alongside our IT department to resolve this issue. We are still unsure of how long this will take and are encourage you to take a seat and we’ll continue to update when the system is back up and running,” a staff member told the terminal.
Updated: The outage has since been attributed to a “defect” in a Windows update provided by the widely-used CrowdStrike anti-virus application.
CEO George Kurtz took to X to confirm the outage was “not a security incident or cyberattack”.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said.
“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.”
“We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.”
