McDonald's says global IT failure was not related to a 'cybersecurity event'

March 15 (UPI) -- A worldwide McDonald's IT system failure that disrupted the restaurant chain's operations was still being resolved Friday, but McDonald's said it was not a cyber attack.

"We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved," a McDonald's statement said Friday. "Notably, the issue is not related to a cybersecurity event."

The tech failure affected ordering apps and in the United States it began around 1 a.m. EDT and was restored there by 5 a.m. EDT, a New York McDonald's cashier told CNN.

The issue stretched from the United States to Australia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Britain, Japan and beyond.

"Many stores nationwide are temporarily closed. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers," the McDonald's Japan X statement said. "We are currently experiencing a system failure."

McDonald's said on its Hong Kong Facebook account it was a "computer system failure."

British McDonald's franchise owner Sara McLean told the BBC her area managers reported there had been an "IT outage."

The company said Friday morning that the issue had been resolved in Britain and Ireland.

The McDonald's Japan X account confirmed the problem early Friday morning and apologized to customers.

There are 13,457 McDonald's restaurants in the United States and a total of 41,822 stores worldwide.