This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the day as more information becomes available.
Latest:
ITHACA, N.Y. — The national Crowdstrike outage and its ripple effects on Microsoft systems has wrought havoc Friday morning, with impacts that stretch from around the globe to Tompkins County.
Crowdstrike, one of the largest cybersecurity providers in the world, updated its software at some point Thursday night or Friday morning. But a problem with the update has caused users of Microsoft systems, one of the world’s largest software companies, to encounter the “blue screen of death” indicating a critical system error on their devices, highlighting overall outages and disruptions worldwide.
The resulting communication problems grounded flights across the country Friday morning and disabled emergency notification systems in certain states.
Tompkins County Director of Communications Dominick Recckio issued an announcement Friday morning that the local Department of Motor Vehicles in Ithaca would be closed for the morning as a result of the issues, but could reopen later in the day. Additionally, the Department of Social Services cannot currently “process online applications and paperwork,” though the building remains open and more information for clients is available upon arrival or by visiting the DSS website.
Recckio’s announcement states that all other county services remain operational and accessible and that more information will come throughout the day as the situation evolves.
Ithaca-Tompkins International Airport Executive Director Roxan Noble said morning departures from the airport were delayed, but both planes had taken off as of 12 p.m., though some complications at the airport remain.
“The station manager reported that United [Airlines] computer systems are experiencing issues, but they are working through them and as of right now flights are still expected to happen, but could have delays,” Noble said. “They reported that Delta [Airlines] Airlines computer system seems to [be] operating ok at this time.”
Additionally, the City of Ithaca announced Friday morning that the outage has hampered the ability to accept electronic payments. The city lists the City Clerk, the Chamberlain’s Office, the Building Division as unable to complete electronic payments, while the Community Pass may not be usable with Cass Park, GIAC or Ithaca Youth Bureau programming currently.
City Hall remains open, according to the announcement.
Cayuga Medical Center encountered issues overnight from the Crowdstrike malfunction, according to VP of Communications Melissa Tourtellotte.
“We immediately put our standard downtime systems in place to stay fully operational at Cayuga Medical Center,” Tourtellotte said. “All of our outpatient clinics are open [Friday] across the three county area and also seeing patients. We are currently restoring primary systems across the entire Cayuga Health System.”
The Ithaca Voice is awaiting a response from leadership of the Department of Emergency Response regarding any impacts experienced by those entities. Other reports have indicated that 911 center operations are not currently interrupted.
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