Delaware impacted by worldwide tech outage

DOVER — Delaware government agencies are being impacted by Friday’s worldwide tech outage, spurred by a faulty system update by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

In a statement after the outage occurred early Friday morning, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the issue resulted from a content update that contained a bug, which affected Microsoft Windows hosts, and was not a security incident or cyberattack.

“Our customers remain fully protected,” he wrote on X. “We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”

Earlier in the day, Gov. John Carney released a statement to notify Delawareans that the problem was impacting state agencies.

“The State of Delaware’s computer systems were affected by a worldwide IT outage overnight that impacted Microsoft Windows operating systems. This was not a cyber-attack on State of Delaware systems,” he noted.

“Public safety services are operating normally. Please keep in mind that other State services may experience extended delays while we work to restore service. For information regarding the availability of specific services, check directly with the agency provider.”

Meanwhile, the Delaware Department of Transportation said all Division of Motor Vehicles locations are closed Friday.

Agency spokesperson Christina Dirksen added that the Department of Technology and Information and state IT experts are aware of the issue and are responding.

The widespread outages disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and countries throughout the world Friday, according to The Associated Press. Problems persist hours after the Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike said that it was remedying the issue preventing access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

The ripple effect grounded flights and delayed aviation services throughout the country. Airlines and airports in Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere also reported difficulties.

Retailers, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world are also affected, in what appears to be an unprecedented internet disruption.

“We remain committed in treating this event with the highest priority and urgency while we continue to address the lingering impact for the Microsoft 365 apps that are in a degraded state,” wrote Microsoft in a statement on X on Friday.

“Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions.”