Rail companies are among those affected by the global cyber outage first reported early this morning (Friday 19 July).
The incident, believed to be linked to a software update by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, has hit multiple industries across the globe, forcing airlines to halt flights, knocking broadcasters off-air, and impacting the operations of services from banking to healthcare. Some UK retailers have been forced to switch to ‘cash only’ transactions.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “Train operators have been affected by ongoing global IT issues which may result in some short notice service changes and cancellations, also impacting real-time information screens and services at stations. We are sorry for any customers experiencing disruption to their journeys today; staff are working hard to resolve the issues as soon as possible.
“Most trains are still running across the country and rail staff will be able to provide the latest information to customers in person. You can also visit the National Rail Enquiries website for the latest updates.”
This morning, Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express, and Great Northern – all of Govia Thameslink Railway’s brands – posted on social media: “We are currently experiencing widespread IT issues across our entire network.
“Our IT teams are actively investigating to determine the root cause of the problem.
“We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.
“Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.
“We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.”
The incident marks the largest IT outage since 2017’s WannaCry cyber-attack which impacted systems in over 150 countries. While there is no indication that today’s events are the result of malicious actions, government ministers are being urged to call an urgent COBRA meeting to address the chaos being caused.
The Liberal Democrat’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Getting critical infrastructure up and running again must be priority number one. The National Cyber Security Centre should also be working with small businesses and other organisations to help them deal with the outage.
“This once again lays bare the need to improve our digital infrastructure and truly modernise our economy in order to prevent the incidents from happening again.”
Image credit: iStockphoto.com
