Microsoft cloud outage takes down Korean game servers, airline ticketing

A global technology outage, likely caused by two incidents impacting Microsoft products, has affected Korean companies including airlines and gaming servers.

Jeju Air passengers wait to get check in at Incheon International Airport on Friday after a global tech outage led to ticketing issues for budget airlines in Korea. Attendants had to conduct check-ins by hand. [YONHAP]

A massive global technology outage impacted a number of Korean companies on Friday, including low-cost airlines and gaming servers.

The crisis — which has grounded flights, halted news broadcasts and taken down computer systems worldwide — appears to have been caused by two similarly timed incidents that both impacted Microsoft products. One, which caused machines running Windows to get stuck in recovery loop when attempting to boot up, was caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which many global businesses use to manage security. Another caused service disruptions to Microsoft's cloud service system, Azure.

The Azure outage appears to have impacted the ticketing operations of low-cost airlines Jeju Air, Eastar Jet and Air Premia. The three airlines all use computer systems powered by Microsoft's cloud service, sources told Yonhap.

Employees of the three airlines were conducting check-ins by hand as of press time, the source said, making wait times subsequently longer.

The disruption has not impacted self-check-ins at Incheon International Airport, which operate on a proprietary cloud platform.

The CrowdStrike issue, meanwhile, appears to have impacted online games. Officials from Pearl Abyss, developer of role-playing game Black Desert Online, said in a notice on its website that its server was “was unstable due to a sudden problem,” and that the “defect in the software program used for [the game] was a global issue.”

The server for Black Desert was closed for emergency inspection between 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Gravity, the developer of online titles Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok Origin, also faced disruptions; users reported being unable to access its website and games earlier this afternoon. The domestic firm began inspecting the issue at 2 p.m., citing an “error in a system provided from a different company” as the reason.

Other games that operate on Xbox Live were also impacted by a widespread outage to the Microsoft service that lasted several hours. That outage, which has not been confirmed to be related to either the Azure or the CrowdStrike issues, has since been resolved.

E-commerce platforms such as Coupang, GMarket and 11Street have not been affected as the retailers use Amazon Web Services (AWS) instead of Microsoft, according to Yonhap.

Korea’s three major telecommunications companies — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — have not yet reported damages from any of the above disruptions.

Public institutions, the financial sector and large conglomerates have also not reported disruptions, as they mostly use in-house or domestically developed servers for security reasons.

Microsoft said it has restored the majority of its cloud services. In an update on its website, the company said it was “continuing to see an improvement in service availability across multiple Microsoft 365 apps and services.”

“This issue may be impacting any user attempting to use various Microsoft 365 apps and services,” the company added.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz stated on X that “the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.” Related delays, however, continue to be announced as of press time.

BY KIM JU-YEON,MONICA CHIN [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]