Dubai: On Friday, UAE authorities, including the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), Dubai Airports, airlines, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), issued statements as businesses were impacted by a massive global IT failure that grounded planes, disrupted TV coverage, and affected hospitals and financial markets.
UAE’s TDRA has urged users of Crowdstrike software to be wary of any software updates and not to perform any updates or downloads until the problem is resolved.
"We inform you that there is a technical defect in the CrowdStrike software update that may affect the electronic systems of the institutions that use it," said TDRA on social media. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, a US-based cybersecurity technology firm, serves major institutions globally. CrowdStrike reported awareness of a Windows vulnerability on one of the servers, and the TDRA continues to monitor the situation.
Check-in processes at DXB resume normalcy
Meanwhile, Dubai Airport operations resumed normalcy after the global outage, which momentarily disrupted check-in operations, an airport spokesperson told Gulf News. “Dubai Airports confirms that Dubai International (DXB) is operating normally following a global system outage that affected the check-in process for some airlines in Terminals 1 and 2 this morning,” the spokesperson said.
“The affected airlines promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly,” they explained.
In a statement to Gulf News, Emirates’ sister carrier, flydubai, said, “The third-party IT issue has not impacted our operations. We continue to monitor closely and are in touch with the supplier.”
Sharjah-based Air Arabia also said their operations have not been impacted due the outage. The airline said in a statement, "We are aware of the global IT outage affecting many parts of the world. Currently, there has been no impact on Air Arabia operations." The spokesperson said, "We are closely monitoring the situation. Customers can visit the Air Arabia website for the latest updates."
Abu Dhabi-based ultra-low-cost carrier Wizz Air Abu Dhabi said it is monitoring closely the ongoing situation with IT outages due to a third-party provider affecting the aviation sector worldwide. "We advise that all passengers arrive at the airport at least three hours before their scheduled departure time," the airline said in a statement.
"Our teams are working closely with the relevant stakeholders across our network to ensure a seamless travel experience for all our passengers," the spokesperson added.
MoFA: Refrain from transactions
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said the global technical issue has affected all of its electronic systems. “We advise all users to refrain from conducting any transactions until this issue is resolved,” the authority said. MoFA has also advised Emirati citizens abroad to contact airline companies before heading to airports to verify the status of their flights.
