DICT 'vigilantly monitoring' global Microsoft outage

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is monitoring the ongoing global IT system outage which hit businesses worldwide, including major Philippine banks and airlines which caused major disruptions in airport operations and banking services.

In a statement on Friday, DICT Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Renato Paraiso said the ICT Department, through its Cybersecurity Bureau and the National Computer Emergency Response Team, "is vigilantly monitoring the ongoing software outage allegedly caused by a faulty update of a cybersecurity provider."

"This outage is affecting companies globally, including those in the Philippines, that use the said cybersecurity product," Paraiso said.

In a phone interview, the DICT official told GMA News Online that the global IT system outage was not due to hacking or a cyberattack.

“Hindi siya hacking, hindi siya cyberattack. It’s a faulty update,” Paraiso said.

(It's not hacking or a cyberattack. It's a faulty update.)

He said it was still not known when the issue would be resolved.

“We don’t know… because it’s a private issue, it’s a product issue,” he said.

Locally, major Philippine banks reported technical issues which caused difficulties in accessing digital banking services.

Major budget carriers Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines were also hit by the Microsoft global outage which caused flight delays, in turn causing long lines and congestion at airports.

"We assure the public that the Department does not use the same cybersecurity service provider and that no DICT systems or assets have been affected," Paraiso said.

"We are in continuous communication with relevant stakeholders to obtain detailed information and assess the full impact of this incident," he said.

Airlines, media companies, banks and telecom firms around the world have reported that system outages are disrupting their operations.

In Australia, media, banks and telecoms companies suffered outages, which the government said appears to be linked to an issue at global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.

Crowdsourced website Downdetector showed outages at several banks and telecoms companies.

Crowdstrike ran a recorded phone message on Friday when Reuters contacted its technical support saying it was aware of reports of crashes on Microsoft's Windows operating system relating to its Falcon sensor, without mentioning Australia.

The outages rippled far and wide, with Spain reporting a "computer incident" at all its airports, while Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned passengers of potential disruptions which it said would affect “all airlines operating across the Network," though it did not specify the nature of the disruptions.

Reuters said it was not immediately clear whether all reported outages were linked to Crowdstrike problems or there were other issues at play. — VDV/VBL, GMA Integrated News