Global IT problems plague eastern Ontario

A global tech outage that's affecting various industries from hospitals and airlines to broadcasters is causing multiple problems in the National Capital Region.

The issue began after global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said its Falcon Sensor software caused Microsoft Windows to crash — causing what's colloquially known as "the blue screen of death."

Here's what we know about what's affected and what's still working in the nation's capital.

Porter cancels flights

Many American airline companies had to cancel or delay flights Friday morning. In Canada, Porter Airlines announced it cancelled all flights until at least 3 p.m. ET as the outages affect their systems.

Zach Schowalter and Daniella Schowalter were set to travel to Boston from Ottawa Friday morning on a flight, which they found out was cancelled after arriving at the airport, despite being told they should have received an email notification.

They had to rebook with Air Canada and say they're left feeling bewildered and frustrated.

"I'm certainly confused and baffled, incredibly frustrated because now we don't know what the next steps are going to be. It's a frustrating position to be in because there's no one that you can blame," she said.

Zach expected passengers to get more frustrated as they continue to arrive at the airport.

"It's not crazy yet because it's early but I'm sure as people get here they're going to get angry," he said.

Emergency services largely unaffected, some hospitals having issues

The outage is plaguing some local hospitals in Ottawa, while others appear to be largely unaffected.

CHEO, the children's hospital in Ottawa, said it's still providing services but has had to find workarounds where needed.

"We do not anticipate any impact on our services offered to children and their families today," the hospital wrote in a statement.

The Queensway Carleton Hospital said it was also impacted overnight, but its health record system has since been restored and surgeries and appointments aren't impacted.

Likewise Glengarry Memorial Hospital in Alexandria, Ont., said it had faced minor disruptions but that the situation was improving.

The Ottawa Hospital, Monfort Hospital, Cornwall Community Hospital, and Hawkesbury General Hospital are operating as normal.

Ottawa police, paramedics and firefighters all told CBC they're unaware of any problems due to the outage.

In western Quebec, the City of Gatineau said all its emergency services, including police and paramedics, are operating normally.

The regional health authority CISSS de l'Outaouais told Radio-Canada it is not affected.

Via Rail, OC Transpo operating normally

Hydro Ottawa said it had restored online services after experiencing issues earlier. Customers experiencing a power outage and MyAccount or mobile app access issues were advised to contact customer service by telephone. 

The City of Ottawa said it was not experiencing impacts to its Microsoft platforms.

Employees at Ottawa's Via Rail station on Tremblay Road told CBC trains were running normally as of early Friday morning.

There appeared to be problems with the tap payment system on some OC Transpo buses, but the system was working on others as of Friday morning.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) branch at the corner of Queen and Bank in Ottawa could only accept deposits on Friday morning, with clients unable to withdraw cash, a staff member told a CBC reporter. Bank machines at that location would not accept client cards, though apparently not all branches were affected.

'Malicious actors'

Malicious actors have attempted to exploit the outage with phishing emails, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has warned. 

Emails purporting to come from Crowdstrike have tried to lure users into downloading malicious files, according to Sami Khoury, the head of the centre.

Users affected by the outage who are eager to restore services need to be "extremely wary" and verify the provenance of any communications before clicking any links or downloading files, he said. 

"Crowdstrike is the official channel for all advice and guidance," Khoury said.