Services from airlines to healthcare, shipping and finance were coming back online on Friday (July 19) after a mistake in a security software update sparked hours-long global computer systems outages, another incident highlighting the vulnerability of the world's interconnected technologies.

After the outage was resolved, companies were dealing with backlogs of delayed and cancelled flights and medical appointments, missed orders and other issues that could take days to resolve. Businesses also face questions about how to avoid future blackouts triggered by technology meant to safeguard their systems.

A software update by global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, one of the largest operators in the industry, triggered systems problems that grounded flights, forced broadcasters off air and left customers without access to services such as healthcare or banking. Global shipper faced major disruptions and some moderators who police content on Meta's Facebook were hit.

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