Businesses across Europe – including pahrmacies, airports, airlines, and others – have been hit by major IT problems caused by a rogue software update.

The problems were first reported in Australia overnight with banks, supermarkets and airports among the companies reporting major disruption due to IT problems.

As Friday dawned, the international extent of the issue became apparent.

READ MORE: European travel services hit by major global IT glitch

Windows users reporting getting the notorious ‘blue screen of death’ error screens on their systems which prevented them from carrying out their work – a problem caused by a software update on the CrowdStrike security platform.

CrowdStrike’s CEO says the problem has now been identified and a fix deployed, but it’s likely that knock-on disruption could continue for some time.

Several Norwegian organisations and companies affected

As of Friday morning, several Norwegian organisations and companies were experiencing technical issues, according to reports from VG readers.

Among the affected websites were Tryg Forsikring (an insurance company) and Biltema (a retailer specializing in automotive and hardware products).

These issues caused inconvenience for users attempting to access services such as insurance claims.

However, Biltema’s website was fully functional again after 11.30am.

Pharmacies also affected

Apotek1, a major Norwegian pharmacy chain, has posted the following update on its website:

“Due to global IT problems, we are closed for all online orders. This will also cause delays in existing orders. We are not available via chat, phone, or email. We hope to find a quick solution.”

Additionally, the pharmacy chain closed many of its physical stores due to the issues, which have prevented their PCs from being turned on and disrupted customer service.

“This is a special situation, which we have never experienced before,” pharmacist Dag Stokke at Apotek1 in Bodø told the Norwegian national broadcaster.

Similarly, Vitusapotek has reported experiencing the issues.

“Due to the global IT problems, we are experiencing errors on the website and with the order process,” the pharmacy posted on its website.

Booking issues at SAS

Airline SAS reported issues with its booking system, stating, “We apologise for the inconvenience this causes. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

Avinor, the state-owned company that operates most Norwegian airports, informed the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) on Friday morning that operations were running as normal at Norwegian airports.

“No, I have not received any reports that it affects any of our airports. There are completely normal operations at OSL and other airports,” Cathrine Framholt, communications manager at Avinor, told NRK.

However, VG has received reports from Norwegian travellers experiencing issues with check-in and security checks at airports worldwide.

Issues at major European airports

Travellers planning international trips should be aware of ongoing issues at major European airports, including Berlin, Schiphol, and Spain’s Aena, which manages 46 airports.

Major airlines like Ryanair and Brussels Airlines are also affected. Travellers are advised to arrive at the airport well in advance.

Flesland Airport in Bergen braces for delays

Bergen Airport Flesland is bracing for possible delays due to IT issues affecting other European airports.

Øystein Skaar, the operational manager at Flesland, told NRK that while they haven’t been impacted yet, the situation could change.

“This could potentially cause significant delays for us over time, as we are part of an international network of airports. Schiphol, a major hub with many stopovers from here, is particularly affected. It all depends on how long these issues persist,” Skaar said.

READ MORE: What are your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled in Norway?

Oslo Airport monitoring situation

Avinor’s Cathrine Fuglesang Framholt told VG that Oslo Airport is currently not affected by the problems impacting other regions in Europe.

“We use a completely different set of security solutions, so we are not impacted.”

However, they are closely monitoring the situation to understand how issues at other airports and airlines might affect Gardermoen.

“There may be delays as a consequence. We are working to assess the potential impacts on affected airlines,” she added.

“So far, there are no delays, but this could change if flights from heavily impacted airports, such as Berlin, Amsterdam, and Gothenburg, are disrupted.”

When flights are cancelled or delayed at other airports, it can create similar issues at Gardermoen due to the non-arrival of scheduled planes.

“Travellers will receive information about any changes from their airline,” Framholt said.

Technical issues at Norges Bank

Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, faced technical problems with its online system due to global network issues early on Friday, according to reports from e24 and Bloomberg.

These issues, which included problems with login and the auction system, forced the bank to conduct Friday’s liquidity auction, known as an F-loan auction, via email and telephone.

F-loans are used by Norges Bank to provide liquidity to banks. This process involves auctioning off loans at a fixed interest rate to banks, which offer some form of security in return. This method allows the banking system to secure loans directly from Norges Bank rather than seeking them from other banks.

However, the central bank’s online problems have since been resolved, and the auction system is now back in operation, as the Reuters news agency reported.

Meanwhile, major Norwegian banks, including DNB, Danske Bank, Nordea, and Sparebank 1, have informed NRK that they are not experiencing any issues.

Train and health services in Norway not affected

SJ, Vy, and GoAhead Nordic told VG they were not affected by the glitch and that train services in the country were running as usual.

Furthermore, while IT problems have impacted health services and hospitals worldwide on Friday, Norway’s health sector was unaffected.

The Directorate of Health announced that no reports of compromised computer services have been received.