Transit working, Porter flights cancelled as Toronto hit by global IT issue | CBC News

• CBC Toronto is working to figure out how the IT issue is affecting the GTA Friday morning. This story will be updated with the latest information as we gather it.

Porter Airlines has cancelled flights until noon and some hospital patients are experiencing delays Friday as Toronto grapples with the effects of a worldwide IT issue. 

The city’s 911 and paramedic services are working as they should, and the TTC said its signal and safety systems are fully operational. If anything changes, the transit agency said it will let riders know. 

Similarly, Metrolinx said its trains and buses are running, however you may have issues updating your Presto payment account. 

Major banks and media outlets have had their services interrupted — although some CBC Radio programs are still on the air if you want to tune in for live updates.

The University Health Network, which runs a number of hospitals in the city, confirmed it is dealing with challenges. “Clinical activity is continuing as scheduled, but some patients may experience delays,” it said in a statement.

So what’s causing the problems? According to an alert sent by global cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike to its clients and reviewed by Reuters, the company’s Falcon Sensor software is causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the “blue screen of death.”

When will it be fixed? Crowdstrike’s CEO said on X, formerly Twitter, the issue has been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed” but it’s unclear how long that will take. 

Porter’s not the only airline that may be affected. A spokesperson from Toronto’s Pearson Airport told CBC News the impacts varied “airline to airline,” with Air Canada, Westjet, Sunwing and Flair’s flights on track but several American carriers seeing disruptions.

“We are continuing to work with our airline partners as the global IT outage impacts some airlines. Travellers may notice the terminals are busier than normal this morning as we anticipate connecting 135,000 passengers today,” Pearson said in a statement.

Porter, meanwhile, is working on a plan for its passengers.

“Passengers cannot be rebooked while systems are offline. The rebooking process will take a period of time, with new flights confirmed over a number of days due to high passenger volume,” Porter said in a statement.

“Further delays and cancellations are possible,” it warned. 

More to come.