Banks, media outlets, airports, supermarkets, retailers, government services and even hospitals were left scrambling by the outage that hit just after 3pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Friday.
It was later confirmed the outage was a result of major cyber security firm CrowdStrike deploying a software update with a defect, not a malicious cyber attack.
"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," CrowdStrike said in a statement on Saturday.
"We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption."
All of CrowdStrike continues to work closely with impacted customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored.— George Kurtz (@George_Kurtz) I'm sharing the letter I sent to CrowdStrike's customers and partners. As this incident is resolved, you have my commitment to provide full transparency on…July 19, 2024
The tech firm said it was working with all its customers to ensure they are back up and running after being felled for hours on Friday.
While the cause of the outage may be fixed, companies are battling the follow-on impacts of the major tech incident.
Numerous flights were cancelled around the country on Friday night with hundreds of people left stranded at airports.
But airports are reassuring customers things are back on track with minor delays.
"Airport systems are online and operations are normal, however there are some knock on impacts to individual airlines," Sydney Airport said in a statement.
"Anyone travelling today should check with their airline regarding the status of their flight."
It is understood Jetstar was one of the most affected airlines with more than 150 flights cancelled overnight.
Delays are expected again on Saturday as customers take alternative flights but the airline gave a reassurance that operations are returning to normal.
Update: Our IT systems are beginning to stabilise, and flights on Saturday 20 July are currently planned to operate as scheduled. Please follow latest updates here: — Jetstar Airways (@JetstarAirways) https://t.co/2D8KsyeemJJuly 19, 2024
Melbourne Airport issued a similar statement, warning of congestion at the site due to cancelled or delayed flights overnight.
"All airlines are online and can check in passengers," it said.
Other services impacted on Friday like supermarkets where shoppers were forced to abandon trolleys full of goods are back online.
Crowd-sourced website Downdetector listed services like Telstra, Microsoft, Google, National Australia Bank, ABC, Uber, ANZ, and Aldi are back up and running.
There was no impact to triple zero calls or services during the outage, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on Friday night.
The Australian Government has conducted a National Coordination Mechanism meeting, which I joined earlier this evening. — Clare O'Neil MP (@ClareONeilMP) Crowdstrike attended the meeting and we can confirm there is no evidence that this is a cyber-security incident.July 19, 2024
With operations returning to normal and news it was a software issue rather than malicious cyber attack, many breathed a sigh of relief.
But it raised concerns about the soft and exposed belly of the Australia and global IT systems.
"It just shows we live in a highly connected software-enabled, so digitally connected world," Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre CEO Rachael Falk told ABC Breakfast.
"It's incredibly vulnerable when something goes down."
Ms Falk said it should be a wake-up call for businesses and governments around the world, as if it had been a cyber attack, the impacts would have been catastrophic.
"I think it shows that one system can bring down so many other organisations," she said.
There is no impact to critical infrastructure, government services or Triple-0 services at this stage. — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) The National Coordination Mechanism has been activated and is meeting now.July 19, 2024
Other cyber security experts called the outage "the worst thing" that could have happened given the unprecedented scale.
"This is more serious than a cyberattack because it shows our systems aren't even proofed against randomness," cybercrime professor Richard Buckland, from UNSW's School of Computer Science and Engineering, said.
The financial costs are expected to be tallied by economists over the weekend as they estimate the money lost to businesses.
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