State of Delaware impacted by worldwide tech outage

DOVER — Delaware state government agencies have been impacted by Friday’s worldwide tech outage that spurred from a faulty system update by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

In his first statement since the outage occurred early Friday morning, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said that the issue was the result of 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,” Mr. Kurtz 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.”

Gov. John Carney released a statement early Friday morning to notify Delawareans the issue was indeed 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,” the governor said.

“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.”

DelDOT said all Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles locations will be closed today.

The Department of Technology and Information and statewide IT experts are aware and are responding to the issue, agency spokesperson Christina Dirksen said.

These widespread outages have disrupted flights, banks, media outlets and countries throughout the world, according to the Associated Press. Problems with tech systems have persisted hours after the Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike said it was remedying the issue preventing access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

The ripple effect of the outages has grounded flights and delayed airline services throughout the country. Airlines and airports in Europe, Australia, India and elsewhere have also reported problems as a result of the outage.

Retail outlets, banks, railway companies and hospitals in several parts of the world were also affected in what appeared 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,” Microsoft said in a statement on X.

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