A worldwide CrowdStrike system error has led to massive failures on Windows systems, and Israel is not left out.
Hospitals, mailrooms, ports, and shopping centers have been forced to halt or alter operations.
CrowdStrike is an American cybersecurity technology company that provides penetration workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack services. The issue allegedly occurred because of an error in a recent system update.
Here are the different systems impacted that we know of so far in Israel:
Hospitals and healthcare systems
The system error impacted the following hospitals:
- Shaare Zedek Medical Center
- Hillel Yaffe Medical Center
- Laniado Hospital
- Barzilai Medical Center
- Sheba Medical Center
- Wolfson Medical Center
- Shamir Medical Center
- Rambam Health Care Campus
- Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center
- Galilee Medical Center
- Tzafon Medical Center (Poriya)
- Bnai Zion Hospital (Rothschild)
- Ziv Medical Center
- The French Hospital in Nazareth
- The Italian Hospital in Nazareth
Since then, most medical centers have either returned to full operation or diverted to a manual tracking system and continue operating normally.
Nevertheless, the hospitals are in a state of chaos. One Sheba doctor told Maariv, “We are in complete chaos. Work without computer systems is impossible. We are experiencing extremely heavy loads, and I only pray that our patients do not die here because tests were not taken or a mess was created in the registration.”
The system bug was falsely reported to have also impacted Magen David Adom’s emergency lines. A fake online message claiming to be the organization urged the public to dial 100 instead of 101 in medical emergencies. MDA has since clarified that emergency medical line 101 is in full operation.
Meuhedet Health Maintenance Organization reported that the system issues were impacting its functionality. They have diverted to manual operations until the issue is resolved.
Israel Post
The Communications Ministry said on Friday that the system error is impacting mailrooms nationwide.
According to them, service is currently impossible at post offices or Israel Post’s call center and website.
Indeed, the Israel Post soon after said that “due to a global software failure in an external company that affects many companies in Israel, it is currently not possible to receive service at the post offices and on the website.”
Shopping centers and malls
People around the country have taken to social media to state that stores are being shut down in shopping centers and malls, supposedly due to this malfunction.
Ashdod Port
Ashdod Port is investigating how the error is impacting its systems and has notified that trucks and ships are not currently served.
Airlines
Due to computer failure, the airlines American Airlines, Delta and United have grounded all planes.
Why did this happen?
On Friday morning, the National Cyber Directorate explained that CrowdStrike issued a technical alert regarding a significant problem affecting Windows systems worldwide. The directorate emphasized that this is not a cyber attack.
Microsoft has notified that it is investigating the issue.
In the meantime, CrowdStrike’s stock has dropped 12% since initial reports of the error came to light.
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