By Aaron Bunch, AAP
A massive IT outage has hit major institutions across the nation including banks, media outlets and government services.
Crowd-sourced website Downdetector has listed Telstra, Microsoft, Google, NBN, Foxtel, National Australia Bank, ABC, ANZ, and Bendigo Bank as suffering outages.
Victoria Police also released a statement confirming that while some internal systems had been affected it was “currently able to receive and dispatch calls from Triple Zero Victoria.”
“There are some internal application systems affected by the national outage, these are not impacting our ability to dispatch or respond to incidents,” a spokesperson said.
“Victoria Police are continuing to investigate and manage any ongoing impact the outage is having.”
A global software glitch is understood to be behind the issue that is also causing problems for Qantas, the federal and NSW governments.
A Qantas spokesperson confirmed it had been affected “due to a global software issue that is affecting a number of other businesses”.
Reports were emerging that the outage was not malicious, however, there was no information as to how long it could last.
Many media organisations are being affected by the outage with the ABC unable to broadcast.
“The ABC is experiencing a major network outage, along with several other media outlets,” it said in a news story on its website.
Nine said dozens of editors and reporters’ laptops crashed shortly before 4pm.
In Melbourne, Nine News was forced to improvise the start of its 4pm bulletin amid problems with their prepared news packages.
Sky News has had similar problems with its services reduced because of the outage.
The Australian National Relay Service confirmed it was working to restore services.
It said it was able to make emergency triple-zero calls.
“We understand the global Microsoft outage, which is affecting many government and business services, is the cause of the National Relay Service outage,” a spokesman said.
The NSW government said a Microsoft outage was affecting a range of services.
“Departments are activating business continuity plans to ensure ongoing service,” a spokesman said.
Microsoft reported problems with its services, saying some users may be unable to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services
“We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services”, the tweet posted on the social media platform X said on Friday.
Qantas, Coles, Woolworths, CBA, ANZ, Westpac and NAB have been contacted for comment.
