(Trinidad Guardian) What should have been a simple update turned into a major glitch with global consequences. The issue was linked to a cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, which affected customers running Microsoft Windows.
International airports, banks, and even media houses were sent into a panic as daily operations were disrupted, with some highlighting the world’s vulnerability to reliance on technology.
In T&T, the Minister of Digital Transformation, Hassel Bacchus, reported “no significant impact on government services.” He said local branches of multinational companies may have been the most affected.
He acknowledged in a press release that some sectors may have experienced minor setbacks, but the majority of them have been resolved.
In a phone interview with Guardian Media, he said he was happy with the response.
“One of the things that we’ve noticed is that there is a heightened awareness around incidents like this, in that the reactions of people, while they didn’t know what it was, the way people reacted to it shows that security and IT hygiene have increased. It means people are more aware and they’re looking out,” Bacchus said.
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The Government, through its related assets, will continue to monitor activities across ministries, departments, and agencies as part of its sustained vigilance and will keep the public updated on all relevant future developments on this matter.
Meanwhile, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) said it was affected by the global IT outage.
In a statement, T&TEC said, “A brief disruption to its online payment platforms, due to the current global IT outage, has been resolved. Customers can therefore resume payments via Quick Pay and Customer Web Access (CWA). Payments at service centres via card and cash are also being processed as normal.”
Other utility companies remained mostly unaffected. Officials at the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) confirmed the company was not affected.
The Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) said in a statement, “TSTT’s services have not been impacted by the recent global IT issues affecting multiple sectors. At this time, our services to government, business, residential, and mobile customers remain fully operational and uninterrupted. We are actively monitoring the situation as it develops to assess any potential impact on our vendors and stakeholders. Rest assured that we are prepared to take the necessary action to ensure the reliability, continuity, and security of our services.”
Digicel was not directly affected but was not spared either.
Colin Greaves, head of Public Relations, said, “Digicel does not use the IT or cyber software or service that has been experiencing issues worldwide, and as such, Digicel’s services remained unaffected and continue to function as they should. That being said, some of our stores, however, experienced issues with their point of sale terminals when attempting to accept card payments, as some local banks have been affected by the IT issue.”
RBC and Scotiabank affected
RBC and Scotiabank were affected. Guardian Media was shown an internal memo sent to the Caribbean banking division that states, “Due to a global outage beyond our control, different business sectors worldwide, including RBC, have been affected. As a result, some of our Caribbean banking applications are currently down, which is impacting our operations and the ability of our clients to transact via ATM, POS (point of sale) and digital banking.”
The memo said “a fix has been deployed,” but it may take some time before all systems are fully operational again. Customers reported having issues trying to pay with cards or at businesses with RBC terminals.
Customers walking into Scotiabanks were told they would only be able to conduct “basic transactions.”
In an official response, Scotiabank T&T acknowledged it was affected but did not say to what extent.
“Scotiabank’s recovery is well underway following the large-scale technology outage that has affected a number of sectors globally. Our branches, contact centre, digital banking, and wealth management channels are fully operational and available to clients,” an official said.
Republic Bank, however, said, “At present, our operations remain unaffected. However, we take this opportunity to encourage customers to be more vigilant regarding online activity on personal accounts and credit or debit cards.”
Several calls to First Citizens Bank went unanswered.
The Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago said, “Banks in Trinidad and Tobago are reviewing the situation based on updates from their technology partners. Our customers can be reassured that our banking system is well-protected and resilient. Any current impact on banking services would be temporary.”
While the outage sent some Asian and European airports into chaos, sources at the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago confirmed flights were departing and arriving as normal at the Piarco International Airport and the ANR Robinson International Airport.
However, United Airlines’ 12:30 am (Friday) flight (UH 1459) to Houston was cancelled. On its website home page, United said, “A third-party software outage impacted computer systems worldwide, including at United. We are resuming some flights, but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday.”
Caribbean Airlines, though, said it was not affected.
CAL said in a statement, “We are aware of the global IT outage currently impacting many services worldwide. We are pleased to inform you that Caribbean Airlines’ flights and operations remain on schedule.”
The airline did, however, remind passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
Guardian Media reached out to the Energy Chamber to find out if energy companies were affected, but no response was available up to late yesterday. BPTT, however, in a response to an email, said there were “no operational impacts.”
Crowdstrike CEO apologises
Crowdstrike CEO, George Kurtz, apologised for the disruption in a statement on his website.
“All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority,” Kurtz said.
“The outage was caused by a defect found in a Falcon content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack. We are working closely with impacted customers and partners to ensure that all systems are restored, so you can deliver the services your customers rely on.”
