Ongoing Issues with Microsoft 365 and Azure Cloud Services
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has confirmed that the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is actively coordinating with Microsoft to address a global outage affecting numerous services, including those in India. This outage has disrupted various businesses and institutions, including major airlines in the country.
Impact and Response
The downtime has led to significant disruptions, including problems with Microsoft 365 apps and Azure cloud services. Microsoft’s status pages have acknowledged ongoing issues, particularly in the central US region, and are working on mitigation. The company has identified the underlying cause and is applying updates to resolve the issue.
Cert-In’s Advisory and Workarounds
India’s nodal cyber agency, Cert-In, has issued an advisory related to the outage. It highlights that recent updates to the CrowdStrike ‘Falcon Sensor’ may be causing Windows hosts to crash. The advisory includes workarounds for affected users:
Boot Windows into Safe Mode or Windows Recovery Environment.
Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory.
Locate and delete the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”.
Reboot the host normally.
Check the CrowdStrike portal for the latest updates.
Airline Disruptions
The outage has significantly impacted major airlines in India. Indigo, Akasa Air, and Air India Express have all reported operational challenges due to the issue with Microsoft Azure.
Indigo has experienced system-wide impacts, leading to longer wait times at contact centers and airports. They have switched to manual operations and are working closely with Microsoft Azure to resolve the issue.
Akasa Air has temporarily halted online services such as booking and check-in. Passengers are advised to arrive early for manual check-in at the airport.
Air India Express has also faced disruptions, affecting operations across multiple airlines and airports globally.
SpiceJet has reported technical issues with flight disruption updates and is working to resolve them while requesting passengers’ patience.
Conclusion
The ongoing global outage has had a widespread impact, affecting a range of services from cloud computing to airline operations. Both MeitY and Cert-In are working diligently to address and mitigate the effects of this disruption, while Microsoft continues to apply solutions to restore full service functionality.