Yesterday experienced what is being labelled as the 'Largest IT outage in history' Meanwhile one in ten Democrats call for action from US President Joe Biden.
However, online orders and deliveries are out of action for some supermarkets and customers are being asked for patience while the issues are resolved.
The outage is believed to have been caused by an update by cyber security firm CrowdStrike and affected transport, flights, banking services and supermarkets around the world.
In New Zealand, there were issues with banking and transport services, including delayed flights, shop and supermarket checkout systems went down and some Woolworths stores even closed.
Queues of people had trouble at supermarket checkouts across the country due to the Eftpos issues, while others struggled to pay for fuel.
“We have no current issues and expect all stores to trade normally with all payment types available,” said a spokesperson for Foodstuffs, owner of New World, Pak’nSave, Four Square and Liquorland.
“While we’re not currently impacted, we recognise there may be third-party impacts as this global situation evolves.
“We want to thank our customers for their patience.”
Customers queue at Woolworths Hobsonsville amid a mass IT outage on Friday night.
All Woolworths stores were open and trading with cash and card today, confirmed director of stores Jason Stockill.
“Some checkouts continue to be affected by the global outage so we thank customers in advance for their patience and for showing respect to our team,” he said.
“It’s likely to be a busy day in stores with the end of the school holidays and we have plenty of stock.
“Our online system remains affected by the global outage meaning we are unable to receive, fill or deliver online orders at this stage.
“We are working hard to resolve this and early signs are encouraging. We will update customers as we have new information.”
The Herald has heard reports of customers being charged twice at supermarkets during the outage.
Neither Woolworths nor Foodstuffs would comment on whether any of its customers were impacted.
Passengers seated at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand, with piles of luggage as a global IT disruption has affected retail, travel and other services. Photo / Getty Images
Retail NZ reported supermarkets were open and operating without difficulties, and early indications were that retail and payment systems were back up and running.
”Supermarkets are opening and are not currently experiencing difficulties with payments and point of sale systems, however, as this global issue is now in ‘fix mode’ there is the possibility of further outages,” Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said.
”We urge consumers to be patient and if possible to have the ability to pay via cash and/or Eftpos, which was a more stable platform last night due to the agreements amongst banks to be able to transact offline.
”This is still a live issue that will continue to develop over the weekend and it emphasises how much we rely on technology and the cloud to enable us to go about our daily activities.
“While we are a long way from the United States, we are not immune to being impacted by global events such as what we saw on Friday evening.”
Young said online shoppers may continue to experience delays in purchases being dispatched as retailers would need to wait for confirmation of payment once this issue was resolved.
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
