Air travel halted due to worldwide IT failure affecting BER airport.
The past few days have seen a global IT glitch affecting multiple airports, financial agencies, and news outlets worldwide. The root cause of this disruption was a critical flaw introduced in the August 2025 Windows security update.
This bug broke the reset and recovery functions on multiple versions of Windows, including Windows 10 and Windows 11, preventing users from completing key troubleshooting operations like "Reset my PC" and recovery via Windows Update tools. Microsoft addressed the issue by releasing an emergency out-of-band (OOB) patch on August 19, 2025, which replaced the faulty updates and restored reset and recovery capabilities.
The affected updates included KB5063875 for Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2, KB5063709 for Windows 10 22H2 and certain Enterprise versions, and KB5063877 for Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC versions. This glitch also disrupted RemoteWipe CSP, a tool used by IT administrators to reset devices remotely, causing additional challenges for enterprise environments.
The IT glitch has caused widespread disruptions, affecting news outlets and financial agencies beyond airports. Sky News in the UK is currently unable to broadcast due to the global IT glitch. Similar problems have been reported at other airports worldwide, suggesting a widespread issue.
At Berlin's BER airport, the issue is with the Microsoft Windows workstations, leading to air traffic suspension and chaos. Passengers have to collect their bags from the baggage carousels and then return to check-in due to the IT glitch, causing inconvenience and delays. The technical problem has caused disruptions in the check-in process, leading to luggage issues and the need for passengers to repeat the process.
The global IT glitch has caused errors on cloud technology providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google, adding to the broader IT disruption during this period. The failure of remote reset tools would especially complicate IT support across large networks, potentially affecting critical sectors like airports, financial institutions, and news broadcasters dependent on Windows platforms.
While the provided search results do not give specific examples of these sectors, the widespread nature of a Windows reset/recovery failure at a critical time suggests significant operational disruption could have occurred in organizations heavily reliant on Windows infrastructure.
In addition, related issues in Microsoft's ecosystem, such as a midweek outage of Microsoft 365 services due to a configuration change, affected productivity tools used by many organizations, adding to the broader IT disruption during this period.
Microsoft has released an emergency fix to resolve the issue, and it is recommended that all users update their Windows systems as soon as possible to avoid any further disruptions.
Technology experts are closely monitoring the impact of the global IT glitch on various sectors, with general-news outlets reporting widespread disruptions. For instance, Sky News in the UK is currently off the air due to this IT glitch, and similar problems have been reported at various airports and financial agencies worldwide. This glitch, initiated by a critical flaw in the August 2025 Windows security update, has led to technology-related difficulties in accessing key troubleshooting operations and remote reset tools, potentially causing significant operational disruptions for organizations heavily relying on Windows infrastructure.
