Banks, telecom operators, and ministries without major technical issues, CrowdStrike takes responsibility

A major global computer failure did not significantly affect the operation of computer systems and the provision of services by banks in Croatia, reported the Croatian Banking Association (HUB) on Friday.

– According to currently available information, global difficulties have not significantly affected the operation of computer systems and the provision of services by banks in the Republic of Croatia. HUB and the banks will timely and accurately inform their users and the public about possible delays in the regular provision of certain services – HUB’s response to Hina’s inquiry.

Global airlines, airports on at least four continents, healthcare systems, banks, telecoms, media, and other companies, institutions, and organizations are experiencing operational difficulties on Friday due to a major computer failure that is crashing their systems. The cause of the failure is the Falcon Sensor software from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which has also taken responsibility.

Among the larger Croatian banks, Erste Bank and Addiko Bank detected certain technical difficulties.

– Erste Bank and Erste Card Club have not recorded any major technical difficulties in the operation of digital services that would be related to global difficulties. Digital banking, including the George and KEKS Pay applications, as well as transactional and card operations, are functioning normally. Due to difficulties experienced by one of our suppliers, certain technical disturbances are present only in the segment of sending SMS messages to users, which consequently implies sporadic difficulties in using some smaller services, such as the digital request for a credit card through the ECC mobile application or digital opening of George – said Erste Bank.

Addiko Bank also reported technical problems.

– Like many organizations around the world, we are facing a technical problem (The Global CrowdStrike Glitch) that caused some of Addiko Bank’s services to be unavailable during the morning. ATMs and card operations functioned uninterrupted. Our teams have been diligently and intensively working to find alternative ways to restore the unavailable services, and Addiko Bank’s mobile and internet banking is now back in operation, with the full restoration of all services underway – stated Addiko Bank, which apologized to clients for the inconveniences they may have experienced during the morning.

Other major banks did not face the global problem, while Zagrebačka Banka (Zaba) did not respond to Hina’s inquiry.

Croatian Postal Bank (HPB), after checking all its applications and services, confirms that it has not been affected by this global problem. HPB is closely monitoring the situation and will inform the public in case of changes, they responded to Hina from the largest Croatian bank in state ownership.

OTP Bank also reported that they did not face any problems and that all their systems are functioning. ‘But we continue to closely monitor the development of the entire situation and continuously control and work on preventing such events. The constant improvement of technology and the knowledge of all our experts is aimed at preventing the possibility of such situations occurring,’ wrote OTP Bank.

RBA’s digital operations are proceeding normally, all services are available to clients, and all digital channels are functioning as usual, responded Raiffeisen Bank.

PBZ has no operational problems, all services are functioning normally, wrote Privredna Bank Zagreb (PBZ).

Ministries without difficulties

The Ministry of Justice, Administration, and Digital Transformation announced on Friday that the state information infrastructure has not been affected by the difficulties caused by the technological failure that has caused system crashes worldwide, for which CrowdStrike has taken responsibility.

– The Shared Services Center (CDU) is operating correctly, as are the systems of service providers APIS, Fina, and AKD. The Ministry of Justice, Administration, and Digital Transformation will continue to monitor the situation in cooperation with all stakeholders to ensure all measures and will timely inform the public if there are changes in the state information infrastructure system – they announced.

The State Secretary of that Ministry, Bernard Gršić, explained in a media statement that the Republic of Croatia has its infrastructure that uses Microsoft technologies, but other antivirus protection tools that are not affected by these problems.

During the morning, the CEZIH system also crashed, and Gršić noted that it has just come back online.

– The CEZIH system has been restored, but that problem is not related to this technological failure. As you know, CEZIH has had difficulties several times recently, which was announced by the Ministry as work on it and the relocation to new equipment and new technological systems are ongoing, and I believe that these problems, given that the work is nearing completion, will soon completely disappear – he said.

Regarding Air Traffic Control, the state secretary emphasized that there are no problems in the operational system for managing aircraft in the airspace of the Republic of Croatia. ‘They are fully operational. There were some minor administrative difficulties, but they have also been resolved,’ he said.

Defense Minister Ivan Anušić also confirmed in a conversation with N1 that the Ministry of Defense has no operational problems.

– We use other systems that are not affected by these failures – he said.

Global airlines, airports on at least four continents, healthcare systems, banks, telecoms, media, and other companies, institutions, and organizations are experiencing operational difficulties on Friday due to a major computer failure that is crashing their systems. The cause of the failure is the Falcon Sensor software from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which has also taken responsibility.

– CrowdStrike is actively working with clients affected by a deficiency found in a content update for Windows hosts. This does not affect Mac and Linux hosts. This is not a security incident or a cyberattack. The problem has been identified, isolated, and is being repaired. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike clients – stated CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz via the ‘X’ platform.

CEZIH faces an unrelated problem

The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Activities (HAKOM) emphasized to Hina that on Friday morning they did not receive any notification from operators under their jurisdiction regarding problems due to the global cyber incident.

Recall that the major failure on Friday caused problems for airlines, banks, telecommunications companies, media houses, and others on at least four continents. Major American airlines such as American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines canceled flights, and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, one of the busiest in Europe, as well as airports in Berlin, Prague, Edinburgh, and Spain reported problems.

The Croatian Air Traffic Control sent a statement before noon that it is experiencing difficulties with its administrative computer system caused by the global antivirus software problem.

Gršić also emphasized to Jutarnji list that Croatia has been spared from the global IT failure that is causing flight cancellations worldwide, preventing bank transfers, broadcasting television programs, and more.

Problems with the Central Health Information System of the Republic of Croatia (CEZIH) are, according to him, unrelated to the problems at Microsoft, but are a completely different, local problem.