CECIL COUNTY — A major global technology outage that has disrupted airline service, operations at hospitals and work at small business around the world hampered computer systems used in Cecil County courthouses - but it hasn't affected computers used by law enforcement and other first responders.
"Right now, about 50 percent of our computers are not functioning, and there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why some are working and some aren't. There is a fix, but it has to be applied manually to each computer. They will be working through the weekend, with the hope of having every computer up and running by the start of business Monday," said Matthew Barrett, who is the Cecil County Circuit Courthouse administrator.
As a result, the county courthouse is open to the public only in a limited capacity - to handle petitions in domestic violence cases, to conduct bail review hearings in criminal cases and to handle emergency evaluations, Barrett reported.
The Cecil County District Courthouse, which is one block away on East Main Street in Elkton, reportedly faced similar computer problems on Friday.
Wayne Tome, director of the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services, responded, "None for us locally," when asked if the global technology outage has had any negative impact on the services provided in Cecil County by paramedics, firefighters and by similar first responders.
Lt. Michael Zack, a spokesman for the Cecil County Sheriff's Office, also reported that that agency is unaffected by the global technology outage.
"Nothing has happened so far," Zack said.
(Zack explained that the agency uses a computer system for dispatching deputies to scenes. He then explained that, if that computer system ever were to be compromised, CCSO simply would use police radios to dispatch deputies to scenes.)
A representative of the Great Wolf Lodge waterpark in Perryville told the Cecil Whig on Friday afternoon that the operation was unaffected, "It is business as usual here," she said, before noting, "We have Microsoft, but we use a different system (than the one affected).
The global technology outage reportedly occurred when a Cypersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
It has significantly impacted airports around the world, causing cancellations and delays of flights, including more than 26,000 flight delays and more than 2,000 cancelled flights in the United States. It reportedly has hampered operations at hospitals all over the globe, including the cancellations of surgeries. And it has negatively impacted businesses in the world.
Information regarding what impact, if any, has been experienced at ChristianaCare's Union Hospital in Elkton was unavailable, as of late Friday afternoon. The Cecil Whig left a phone message for ChristianaCares' media relations department on Friday afternoon, after a Union Hospital representative redirected the Whig to that office, but it had not been returned as of late Friday afternoon.
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