Many state, city government services disrupted by CrowdStrike outage
State and city governments are reporting disruptions caused by a faulty update to CrowdStrike cybersecurity software Friday morning, mainly knocking administrative systems offline and delaying the delivery of some services.
State and local governments join the large number of organizations worldwide where operations have been disrupted, a list that includes banks, airlines and TV broadcasters. The incident was initiated by a faulty driver update to Crowdstrike’s Falcon security software.
States including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan and Virginia have reported that they’re monitoring the incident and its effects to their Microsoft Windows machines. Cities including Washington, D.C., and New York are among those that have reported disruptions.
Most state and local governments have stated that because CrowdStrike identified the cause of the issue and has deployed a fix, agencies are focused on ensuring that essential operations continue.
“It is important to know that our critical infrastructure and emergency operations — including the 911 call system — have not been impacted. I’m told this is an issue that’s affecting only Window-based devices receiving automatic updates,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote on X, adding that the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation has been working to stop any more updates to its system and to minimize potential service disruptions.
Adams said the technology office sent guidance to all city agencies with information on a manual workaround for impacted devices, and that Chief Technology Officer Matt Fraser is in contact with CrowdStrike, “to identify the fastest path of resolution.” During a news conference, Adams reiterated that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on X that he was briefed about the incident and that the state’s emergency operations center was activated early Friday morning. He said New Jersey will monitor the incident throughout the day.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also reported some impacts to some systems and agency business operations in the Commonwealth, and noted there may also be some delays with certain government services.
While states such as Alaska, Arizona, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Ohio have reported some impacts to their emergency services, others, like Rhode Island, assured the public that their critical systems have not been affected.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a statement that his state conducted an initial assessment to determine affects across government agencies and departments for functionality. “Critical health and safety systems, including 911 call systems and transportation infrastructure, are operational,” the statement read.
“The assessment determined that government administrative functions are experiencing disruptions, and we are coordinating with local, regional and federal authorities and private sector critical infrastructure partners in order to reestablish normal operations,” Youngkin continued. “As a result of the administrative disturbances, Virginians may experience delays and we ask everyone to remain patient as we work to remedy and reestablish the high standards that Virginians deserve.”
The delivery of services at motor vehicle offices across the country have been delayed or completely interrupted. The Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles posted on X that residents should expect delays. Gov. Ned Lamont said the state is assessing the effects on state computer systems.
“We are asking state employees who may be experiencing technical difficulties to report them to their service desk or help desk as appropriate,” Lamont said on X.
North Carolina’s DMVs also reported outages. State Sen. Vickie Sawyer wrote on X that several were unable to assist customers Friday morning.
Other state systems have also been affected. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate shared that the state’s application for digital business filings was also down.
