Capitec and Airlink among local companies affected by Microsoft’s global service disruption

JOHANNESBURG – Banks, airlines, telecoms companies and even retail stores have been severely affected by a global service outage caused by Microsoft.

An update from a cybersecurity firm affected updates to Microsoft’s cloud services, causing the system to crash.

READ ALSO: Microsoft says it is taking ‘mitigation actions’ following service issues

The problem has had a domino effect, affecting banks, retailers, airports and news networks.

Capitec Bank and Airlink are among some of the local companies that have been affected by Microsoft’s global service outage.

However, in other countries the impact has been much worse.

Steven Werner, station manager of KIIS Radio in Sydney, Australia, said all radio stations in the country were offline for more than three hours.

“People can’t stream. All the presenters posted videos on Instagram and Facebook of them sitting in the studio and saying, ‘Well, we messed up the technology, we can’t use it.’”

Werner highlighted other affected sectors.

“Flights are being delayed and people are unable to check in properly at the airport. Australia’s largest mobile network, Telstra, is also being affected.

“Retailers are being affected here because people can’t pay unless they have cash because EFTs (electronic funds transfers) don’t work for them to use their cards.”

Several major airlines around the world have had to suspend flights due to the Microsoft service outage.