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IT outage in the UAE: Ministries, Dubai Airports, Emirates and cybersecurity authority on Crowdstrike and Microsoft glitches

UAE authorities react to global IT outage of Microsoft computers caused by Crowdstrike software failure

by Staff Writer
UAE

UAE cybersecurity and transport authorities and companies have spoken out on the impact of a global IT outage in the country.

A widespread technical issue has affected television channels, airports and banks worldwide, causing Microsoft‘s Windows computers to shut down unexpectedly.

Cyber-security firm Crowdstrike announced one of its updates caused the problem, which it said affected Microsoft Windows devices.

Crowdstrike and Microsoft IT outage in the UAE

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation said customers may experience disruption to selected services. In a statement on social media, it said: “Due to a global technical issue, and as our services are integrated with our partners’, you may experience difficulties accessing some of our online services.

“Our technical team is actively working with the relevant authorities to overcome this challenge”.

The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued an urgent and important notice on social media, advising users to not conduct transactions on its attestation service.

It said: “Please be informed of a global technical issue that has affected some of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ electronic systems, including MoFA’s attestation service.

“We advise users to refrain from conducting any transactions until this issue is resolved”.

The UAE Cybersecurity Council confirmed no indications of cyberattacks or breaches following the global technical outage with CrowdStrike software that affected electronic systems across various strategic sectors worldwide.

In a statement on Friday, the Cybersecurity Council advised caution to avoid potential exploitation of the technical glitch by cyber criminals.

The UAE Council emphasised that efforts are underway to address the global technical issue in collaboration with official and international partners.

The Council urged the public to seek information from official sources and avoid spreading rumours.

Dubai international airport

A spokesperson from Dubai Airports affirmed that that Dubai International (DXB) Airport is operating normally following a global system outage that affected the check-in process for some airlines in Terminals 1 and 2 this morning.

He explained that the affected airlines promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly.

Additionally, a flydubai spokesperson reported that the technical issue did not affect the airline’s services and that it continues to monitor the situation closely.

An Emirates spokesperson confirmed that there has been no impact on Emirates’ flight operations.

In a statement on Friday, the spokesperson said, “We are aware of the global IT disruption and are monitoring the situation closely. At this time, there has been no impact on Emirates’ flight operations.”

He noted: “There could be delays to some flight timings later today due to potential knock-on effects from earlier delays at some airports around our network.”

He advised customers to check the website and app for the latest flight information and update their contact details on their bookings.

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