From a global IT outage to floods: Torontonians caught in more 'crazy' chaos — as faulty CrowdStrike update hits Canadian IT

Canadians woke up Friday to the news of a global tech outage impacting banks, airlines, healthcare and other key infrastructure in different parts of the country. It was the result of American cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software update, which caused Microsoft Windows to crash and display the "blue screen of death."

While the IT disruption resulted in some Canadians expressing their frustration over missed flights, delayed package deliveries and impacted businesses, people in Toronto were dejected by yet another challenge they were forced to endure in a week. It was just a few days ago that Torontonians had to tackle severe flooding and power outages.

The tech outage, caused by a crash of Windows machines and servers — sending them into a loop of recovery so that they couldn't restart — had a varied impact across different Canadian sectors.

It especially affected airline traffic, which resulted in Toronto Pearson Airport warning flyers against possible disruptions, such as flight delays and cancellations throughout Friday.

Porter Airlines flights were also cancelled or delayed to start the day, affecting thousands nationwide.

The healthcare sector was also caught up in the Friday disruptions, as some Canadians seemed to find it difficult accessing essential medical services.

A few hospitals and healthcare providers were impacted, like the University Healthcare Network and Sunnybrook hospitals in Toronto, NL Health Services in Newfoundland, Dynacare in Ontario, B.C., Quebec and Manitoba, and also Vancouver Coastal Health.

CrowdStrike issued an apology after systems went down globally, pressing that they are working closely with their clients. Microsoft said on Friday that the underlying cause for the outage of its 365 apps and services has been fixed. However, the residual impact of the cybersecurity outages are continuing to impact Microsoft customers.

Ruthless Internet unfurls a meme fest following CrowdStrike and Microsoft outage

As with any other online event of such scale, the internet remained undefeated with accounts rushing to mock CrowdStrike and Microsoft, with many handing Mac and Linux the ultimate glory.

The outage also resulted in many people questioning the viability of digital currencies and defending it.

Globally, major disruptions to Windows PCs in the U.S., U.K., Australia, South Africa and other countries were reported, with emergency services, airports and law enforcement all being impacted.

American Airlines, United and Delta flights were delayed Friday morning due to service issue relating to their IT systems. In the U.K., media outlet Sky News also reported on its own television outage. The New Hampshire emergency services department reported it is back online after disruption to 911 services early Friday.

People across New Zealand, Australia and South Africa reported they were unable to login to their bank accounts, resulting in limited or zero control of their monetary assets. The issue also affected other sectors like retail and healthcare in those countries.