CrowdStrike global IT outage: New Zealanders react to banks, flights, supermarket issues

Cropped image of handsome man giving a credit card at the cash desk in the supermarket NZH 31May22 - Consumer NZ research has revealed a marked decline in trust towards the supermarkets. NZH 31May22 - Consumer NZ research has revealed a marked decline in trust towards the supermarkets.

• There are reports of major IT network outages across the world tonight
• New Zealanders are reporting issues with banking and transport services, including delayed flights
• Shops and supermarkets checkout systems have gone down and some Woolworths stores have closed
• People fuelling up their cars this evening have been told to use cash
• The issue is believed to have been caused by an update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike

There’s been chaos across New Zealand due to a global IT outage on Friday.

The issue is believed to have been caused by an update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, and has affected transport, flights, banking services and supermarkets around the world.

Queues of people had trouble at supermarket checkouts across the country due to the EFTPOS issues, while others have struggled to pay for fuel.

“No one will be able to pay for their Friday night beersies,” one person told the Herald.

Even KFC was affected, the fast food giant posting that its online ordering is currently down due to global payment provider issues.

“Cash and some cards still accepted in store,” it said.

“Was bloody chaos down at the supermarket,” a Herald reader wrote on social media.

“The self-checkouts all started running into errors and resetting themselves too. By the time I got to the front of the line there were only two or three that remained working.”

Customers queue at Woolworths Hobsonsville amid a mass IT outage tonight.

“I went into Chemist Warehouse today and Woolies and both had at least one computer system with a BSOD problem, with the Chemist Warehouse one stuck in a reboot and BSOD loop,” another said.

“Yeah we experienced the outage at around 5:15 at my work, all systems went down, not just payment systems. Customers were very angry. Reminder be kind to cx service reps!” one person posted to Reddit.

But some Kiwis saw the funny side, with one posting: “I have cash and Chardonnay just in case Western civilisation falls over this evening.”

What’s down across New Zealand

There are reports of outages involving some nationwide bank payment systems this evening, as well as global network problems with television and Microsoft services.

Herald readers have spoken of queues at supermarkets due to checkouts going down and commuters being unable to tag on or tag off with Auckland Transport HOP cards.

Issues with debit and credit cards including ASB, ANZ and Kiwibank are being reported.

“ASB customer (me) with debit card can pay for things manually if I insert my card and enter a pin, but payWave did not work and the internet banking is still not accessible,” one told Herald.

A New Zealander holidaying in Fiji told the Herald that he has been unable to access his funds through ASB bank for the last two hours and was not able to reach the bank for answers.

ANZ Tap n Pay and Visa payWave are also reported to be down.

Statement from Acting PM David Seymour

“Officials are aware of reporting related to a Microsoft outage that has caused disruption globally,” Seymour said.

“I have not currently received any reporting to indicate these issues are related to malicious cyber security activity.

“We are moving at pace to understand the potential impacts of this, which is a global issue.

“I understand emergency service lines are not impacted.

“Officials are working to ensure that impacts on lifelines services are minimised and national coordination structures are activated if required.

“We appreciate the inconvenience this is causing for the public, retailers and businesses. Officials across relevant government agencies are monitoring developments and will provide updates as organisations around the world work on fixing the issue.”