After a system reset, the Hunter is starting to get back up and running today following a global IT outage.
A Windows update from software company Crowdstrike plunged the world into chaos late on Friday afternoon, with train services on the Hunter Line, Newcastle Airport, local shops and supermarkets, banks, government agencies and media outlets all having their systems disrupted.
Founder of Pickr and tech expert Leigh Stark told NEWFM a fix is being rolled out, but the situation could take days to completely resolve.
“A lot of Windows computers across the country and much of the world went down, they had these things called blue screens of death,” he said.
“There was very little [users] could do about it, but there is a patch rolling out now from Crowdstrike that should fix all of this very gradually.”
Crisis meetings were held by the Federal Government overnight with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil confirming it was not a cybersecurity incident and the nation’s critical infrastructure remained intact.
“I understand Australians are concerned about the outage that is unfolding globally and affecting a wide range of services. My Government is working closely with the National Cyber Security Coordinator,” the Prime Minister said.
“The government has conducted a National Coordination Mechanism meeting,” Minister O’Neil said.
“Crowdstrike attended the meeting and we can confirm there is no evidence that this is a cyber-security incident.”
In a statement, the company in question said the outage was caused by a defect found in a single content update for Windows.
“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed”
“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption.”