Reference Case Number: FOI11512
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
Please provide information on the impact of recent global technology issues on the FCA.
Please provide copies of any staff memos sent regarding the CrowdStrike outage of 19 July.
On 6 August 2024, you provided further details on the scope of your request and explained that the information you are seeking is:
I can confirm I would like my request to cover internal communications to all FCA staff that relate to both the impact on the FCA and the impact on the financial sector?
FCA response:
On 19 July 2024 we published, on our internal intranet site, the following article in relation to the global technology issue.
Major global IT incident
Date Published: 19 Jul 2024
Reading Time: 40 seconds
As you may have seen from the news, a major IT outage is affecting a wide range of industries across the world, including some financial services firms and payment services.
We are aware of the incident and monitoring the situation closely. We are chairing the cross-authority response for the financial services sector, which includes liaising with affected financial services firms.
Microsoft has confirmed this incident is the result of an update from a software platform. The company responsible for the software, Crowdstrike, has said it is not the result of a cyber-attack and that the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix deployed.
We've also been made aware that there has already been an increase in phishing attempts as opportunistic, malicious actors seek to take advantage of the situation. This may be aimed at both organisations and individuals, so please take care when reviewing any emails that have come in over the weekend and going forward. Report anything suspicious using the Report Phishing button on Outlook.
We understand the issues causing some delays on Friday to payments in the restaurant and coffee bar in our Stratford office have now been resolved. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.