Italy was not immune to the worldwide
disruption caused by a major IT outage related to a update
problem with the Crowdstrike security software for Microsoft
Windows on Friday.
ITA Airways said that it was working to "limit the inconvenience
to passengers as much as possible" with the air-transport sector
among the worst affected.
It said that, while its IT systems "continued to function
properly thanks to backup solutions", air traffic-restrictions
and problems at airports had caused delays and the "cancellation
of 60 flights - 34 at Rome's Fiumicino airport and 26 at Milan
Linate".
In total around 50 flights to or from Fiumicino were cancelled.
Aeroporti di Roma, the company that runs the airport, said there
were no consequences on its operational systems, but problems
were inevitable due to repercussions on flights connecting the
US and Europe.
It said there were delays, averaging between 60 and 90 minutes,
on flights regarding New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta,
Boston, Philadelphia, Alicante, Barcelona, London, Manchester
and Edinburgh.
The Milan stock exchange's Ftse Mib index was not updated for
several spells on Friday.
Highways company Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi) said it had
activated its Business Continuity IT system early on Friday and
had put on extra staff in order to cope with the disruption,
stressing that "the service on the network was always
guaranteed".
Energy company Enel said apologised for problems related to the
outage on access to customer services such as helplines and said
it was working to solve them.
A specialist unit of the Italian Cybersecurity Agency was
expected to meet to on Friday to assess the effects of the
disruption.
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