Even if you’re living off the grid, you’re probably aware of the Microsoft tech outage that’s being called the biggest IT outage in history, but let’s take a look at what happened behind the metrics and how it affected businesses around the world. Banks, airlines, television networks and health systems around the world that rely on Microsoft 365 apps were affected by the widespread outage last week. Thousands of flights and train services were cancelled across the world. The problem was reportedly caused by a technical issue that global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said it has identified in its software and is working to fix. CrowdStrike provides Microsoft with an antivirus software for its Windows devices. As of Friday night, more than 3,000 flights within or outside the US had been cancelled and more than 11,400 other flights were delayed globally. More than 42,000 flights were delayed on Friday. Access to critical digital records was blocked. Oregon Mayor Ted Wheeler issued an emergency declaration for the city on Friday. The London Stock Exchange said its regulatory news service was disrupted, but trading was not affected. A New York Stock Exchange spokesperson said markets were fully operational and expected to open normally. Starbucks said customers were unable to use its mobile ordering feature due to the outage. Delivery companies such as FedEx also reported that some packages may be delayed due to the outage. CrowdStrike said the outage has been fixed, but some problems will take time to resolve even after CrowdStrike applies the fix, but the problem has increased the need to diversify technological services across multiple platforms, as critical functions in a hyperconnected world become more dependent on technology. Governments and consumers are forced to consider the technological risk associated with their businesses.