Major banks, airlines hit in new global online outage

Major banks, airlines hit in new global online outage

SYDNEY: Major banks and airlines were among businesses hit by a fresh global online outage yesterday, with the problem traced to US-based tech provider Akamai. An hour-long blackout hit a number of US airlines and several Australian financial firms as well as other companies dotted around the world, with angry customers unable to access websites and mobile apps.

"We are aware of the issue and actively working to restore services as soon as possible,“ an Akamai spokesperson told AFP. American, Delta, United and Southwest airlines were among those affected, while the issue appeared to be more prolonged in Australia-where problems struck mid-afternoon as much of the world slept. Australia's largest financial firm Commonwealth Bank told AFP that it and many of the country's major lenders had been hit.

The outages, which began around 2.10 pm Sydney time (0510 GMT), also hit Australia's postal service and Virgin Australia. The airline said in a statement that it "was one of many organizations to experience an outage with the Akamai content delivery system“. A spokesperson for ANZ bank told AFP the incident was "related to an external provider“ but that "connectivity was restored quickly and the most impacted services are back online“.

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