IT outages are affecting people around the world today (Friday, July 19) which some companies have claimed is due to an update from the Crowdstrike cyber-security service.

Airports and airlines around the world have experienced delays with some having to ground flights as a result.

This has included long queues at Luton Airport with extended wait times at Edinburgh Airport, whilst Gatwick Airport has issued a warning over delays at check-in desks and security.

Meanwhile, several train companies have been affected in the running of their services and some GP surgeries in England have had problems with booking appointments.

Additionally, companies which use Microsoft have had issues with people being able to access systems.

Australia's home affairs ministry and American Airlines have both said the outage appeared to be related to an issue at global cyber-security firm Crowdstrike.

What is Crowdstrike?

Crowdstrike is a security service designed to stop internet breaches for the world's biggest companies, as reported by the Daily Mail.

It is believed a software update sent out to subscriber computers has caused the IT outages.

In a statement on social media, CEO of CrowdStrike George Kurtz said the global IT outage was “not a security incident or cyberattack”.

He added: "The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website.

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"We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers."

In a statement, Microsoft said a resolution for Windows devices was “forthcoming”.

It said: “We are aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming.”