“A global IT outage has hit the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Authorities, airports, and banks around the world have been affected by the outage,” UKSH announced on its home page, noting that the outage affected both its locations, Kiel and Lübeck. “Due to this, the UKSH is cancelling all elective procedures for today,” it continued. “The outpatient clinics at both locations will also be closed.” It would continue to provide care for patients already in the clinics, and emergency cases, it said.
Industry experts were quick to jump in with comment.
“The scale of this outage highlights the risks associated with over-reliance on a single system or provider,” Mark Boost, CEO of cloud computing provider Civo, said via email. “Implementing redundant systems and failover protocols is not just a best practice but a necessity for maintaining critical operations. It’s a sobering reminder that size and reputation do not guarantee invulnerability to significant technical issues.”