11:02 AM EDT, 07/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Technology systems around the world faced disruptions on Friday following a CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) system update, impacting industries from airlines to broadcasters in what has been billed as the largest IT outage in history.

CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) said in a statement it was "actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for" Microsoft ( MSFT ) Windows hosts. The company has isolated the issue while "a fix has been deployed," it said. Mac and Linux hosts weren't impacted, according to CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), which said the incident is not a cyberattack.

"This is being billed as the largest overall IT outage in history," Scotiabank said in a note.

Technology giant Microsoft's ( MSFT ) 365 Status account said on social media platform X that the underlying cause of the issue has been resolved. "Residual impact is continuing to affect some Microsoft ( MSFT ) 365 apps and services," according to the company's post. "We're conducting additional mitigations to provide relief."

CrowdStrike's ( CRWD ) stock was down 8.3% in Friday trading, while Microsoft ( MSFT ) was down 0.4%.

"While the issue is not a security breach, it is a significant software and process update failure and has caused significant operational and financial damage to CrowdStrike's ( CRWD ) customers globally," Oppenheimer said in a Friday client note. The incident is a "major blow" to the firm's reputation and is likely to weigh on business activity for several quarters, according to the brokerage.

Airlines, banks, and healthcare operators were part of the industry groups that faced technology and system troubles. Nearly 1,650 US flights were canceled and more than 4,000 delayed, according to data from FlightAware. American Airlines ( AAL ) and Delta Airlines (DAL) separately said they were resuming operations, after the Federal Aviation Administration said on X that several airlines had requested assistance "with ground stops until the issue is resolved."

Broadcasters were also forced off air, with the UK's Sky News and Australia's ABC unable to function properly, BBC News reported. Parcel delivery companies FedEx ( FDX ) and United Parcel Services (UPS) said on their websites that there may be delivery delays.

CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) will "need to go into next gear over the coming weeks and months" to curb some of the damage caused by the incident, Wedbush Securities said in a separate note. For Microsoft ( MSFT ), it's less of an issue, Wedbush wrote.

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