Microsoft global outage forces hospitals to cancel appointments

A major outage of Microsoft systems led to the cancellation of non-urgent medical appointments and surgeries globally. The issue, reportedly caused by an update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, affected computers and clinical systems. The incident, although not a result of a cyberattack, highlights potential vulnerabilities within Microsoft’s infrastructure, despite their recent agreement with the Biden administration for added security against cyber incidents. The impact on patient care continuity, record-systems, and appointment scheduling remains significant across numerous health systems.