Local banks, airlines experience technical issues amid global Microsoft outage
Local banks and airlines issued customer advisories as they continue to face technical problems amid the global Microsoft outage.
The companies issued their respective statements following delays and temporary unavailability of some of their online services due to the widespread outage, which started due to a faulty update from Microsoft’s cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike.
In an advisory, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it affected their contact center and caused a slowdown in financial transactions such as bills payment and interbank fund transfers. “Our technical team is already coordinating closely with the provider on the resolution of this issue,” it said, noting it “should not be a cause of concern.”
BPI also noted that their branches, ATMs, CAMs, as well as online and mobile banking services are still available.
The Philippine National Bank released an advisory to let its users know that its technical team is on standby “to ensure affected channels are back to normal once the outage is fixed.”
UnionBank said the IT outage likewise affected a number of its services, including its Customer Service Hotline, some branch offerings, and online credit card transactions. It advised customers to use the UnionBank Online app or website or any of its ATMs nationwide to access their accounts for now.
According to Metrobank, clients can continue to access their accounts via its ATMs or deposit funds through Cash Accept Machines. “Our branch personnel are ready to assist or you may reach us through our hotline: 88-700-700,” it said in an advisory.
Affected local airlines have also issued statements on the matter. Cebu Pacific assured passengers that they are “working closely” with their teams “to mitigate disruptions to [their] operations.” They also said they will “provide regular updates as the situation progresses.”
According to AirAsia, the worldwide outage is “causing unexpected rebooting of machines, leading to some operational disruptions related to check-in processes, self check-in kiosks, and navigating the AirAsia MOVE app.” It advised passengers to visit its social media pages and website from time to time “for timely flight updates.”
The blue screen of death plagued Windows users globally on Friday, July 19. The outage was raised as banks, airlines, and TV broadcasters in Australia began to go offline. Sky News in the United Kingdom also had its broadcast stopped, while airports in Melbourne, Spain, India, and Germany as well as US air carriers Delta, United, and American Airlines grounded flights.
Microsoft issued a statement saying it was taking "mitigation actions" in response to service issues.
CrowdStrike also issued a support note saying it was "aware of reports of crashes on Windows hosts related to the Falcon Sensor." It provided users experiencing issues with a workaround:
- Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment
- Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory
- Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it
- Boot the host normally
