Airports, train passenger information services and the Dart Charge were all hit by the global IT outage which appears to have stemmed from an issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
The IT (information technology) incident continued to affect banks, health services, transport networks and other industries globally during 19 July.
The secretary of state for transport Louise Haigh said on social media: “We are aware of IT failures impacting several transport operators and terminals today, and we’re working at pace with industry and across government on the issue.
“There are no known security issues at present.
“If you’re planning to travel today, please follow operator advice and check ahead before leaving.
“Manual check-in may be required at airports and there may be train cancellations and delays.”
It was widely reported that a meeting of the UK Government’s emergency Cobra committee had been held, attended by civil servants but not ministers, to discuss the incident.
Transport networks
Airports were by far the worst affected on 19 July.
An Airports UK spokesperson said: “Like many other sectors all over the world, aviation experienced some challenges as a result of IT issues.
“Multiple airports were able to quickly implement their contingency plans, are keeping passenger disruption to a minimum and helping the vast majority of travellers get away to their destinations.
“We’ll continue working with all the relevant authorities as the challenges continue to be addressed and to keep passengers informed of the latest developments.”
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The railway’s essential train control, communication and running systems are unaffected by today’s IT issues with the vast majority of the network open and running as normal.
“Some passenger information and train crew roster systems are seeing some impact that may lead to some short notice delays and cancellations. Passengers are advised to check individual train operator websites for the latest travel information.”
A National Highways spokesperson said: “Smart motorway technology is not affected by the global outage and we have no reports of any other operational technology being affected. We will continue to monitor our IT infrastructure.”
The spokesperson also said that parts of National Highways Dart Charge service, which collects payments for using the Dartford Crossing, were being impacted by the incident.
At 04:51pm on 19 July, National Highways sent out an update, where a spokesperson said:
“The Dart Charge service is now fully operational following the global incident affecting IT systems. Payments for crossings and account top-ups can be made online or via the call centre.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said there was “nothing of note” impacting its networks, but said the public should keep an eye on updates from Edinburgh Airport on social media.
A Welsh Government transport spokesperson said: “We have not experienced any disruption at this time but will continue to monitor the situation.
“Our National Security and Resilience team are also monitoring impact across the wider public sector.”
Energy networks
Companies and trade associations in the UK energy sector said there were no impacts on critical systems but they were monitoring the situation.
A National Grid spokesperson said: “There is no current impact on the operation of our networks or our core processes. As you would expect, we are closely monitoring the situation.”
An SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) spokesperson said: “SSE’s operations are currently unaffected and continuing as normal.”
EDF owns several nuclear power stations in the UK and is building Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.
An EDF spokesperson said: “EDF is not experiencing any direct impacts to critical business systems. We are supplying power and serving our customers as normal but will continue to monitor the situation.”
An ENA (Energy Network Association) – which represents the UK’s energy networks – spokesperson said: “The UK’s energy networks are operating as normal [on the morning of 19 July].”
An ESO (Electricity System Operator) spokesperson said: “We are aware of the global issue impacting Microsoft. There has been no impact to ESO IT systems as a result of the global Microsoft outage.
“Our ability to operate the electricity system and supply electricity remains unaffected. Our engineers have been and continue to monitor the situation closely.”
An ONR (Office for Nuclear Regulation) spokesperson said: “ONR has not been affected at this current time.”
IT and cybersecurity companies
Early reports pinned the blame for the incident on Microsoft, but it gradually emerged that CrowdStrike, a US based cybersecurity firm, was to blame.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: “We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming.”
Microsoft’s reference to a third-party platform was widely understood to be CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike president and CEO George Kurtz said: “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted.
“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.
“We further recommend organisations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilised to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
Cloudflare provides critical components of internet security architecture.
A Cloudflare spokesperson said: “Cloudflare’s systems are not affected by the CrowdStrike issue affecting a large number of Windows users.”
This article was edited later on 19 July to include an update from National Highways.
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