Worldwide tech outage felt in Maryland with impacts to BWI, courts, hospitals, banks

A worldwide technology outage brought flights to a near halt at BWI Marshall Airport early Friday morning as government agencies and businesses in Maryland grappled with technical issues.

Though some flights were resuming around 7 a.m., airport personnel were handing out water later Friday morning to travelers still stuck at BWI as airlines worked to restore operations. Meanwhile, emergency management officials and businesses in Maryland had to run on backup measures as they struggled with IT issues.

The technology outage, which knocked many bank and hospital systems offline globally, came after a cybersecurity company said it had deployed a faulty update to systems running Microsoft Windows. CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm, said a fix was being deployed Friday morning as more firms started reporting issues.

The Maryland Department of Emergency Management said it met with local emergency officials Friday morning throughout the state as the outage impacted critical systems across the globe, including 911 services in some areas.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement later Friday that he had been “fully briefed” on the outages, and that his administration was receiving regular updates as they worked with impacted organizations to minimize disruptions.

“We are closely monitoring outages at major medical systems and state agencies,” he said, noting that officials across the state routinely run “thorough exercises to prepare for an emergency like this one.”

The governor said many impacted systems already had come back online midday Friday and that the state’s transportation systems were working, though specific airlines had been affected. He said the state’s 911 and first responder systems had “remained resilient” in light of the outages. He said later Friday that the state had made “significant system restoration progress” and that state agencies had only experienced “minimal disruptions.”

Hospitals worldwide struggled with outages on a variety of applications they use — including systems that store electronic health records and X-rays as well as medication management software, said Toby Gouker, an officer with the healthcare cybersecurity firm First Health Advisory.

Some Maryland hospitals were running on backup systems as they assessed how the outage affected operations.

The University of Maryland Medical System as well as LifeBridge Health, which operates Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Northwest Hospital in Randallstown and Carroll Hospital, said they were impacted and running on downtime procedures, while Johns Hopkins Medicine was not. A LifeBridge spokesperson said Friday morning that non-urgent procedures and surgeries at Sinai were being rescheduled, but later in the day stated that those were resuming as the North Baltimore hospital restored some of its systems. UMMS also was able to start transitioning away from their backup procedures Friday afternoon, a spokesperson said.

Friday’s outages caused many hospitals to go back to pen and paper to handle some work as part of their downtime procedures, said Gouker, First Health’s chief security officer for government healthcare. Though recent cyber attacks have prompted medical institutions to establish plans and training for similar events, Friday’s outage was “dramatically different” because of its widespread nature, he said.

“It’s gonna be days, if not weeks before” firms can get all of their systems back online as the bug needs to be manually fixed, he said.

A statewide system used by emergency medical providers in Maryland to share information was back online Friday morning.

Still, other government operations — from courts to electronic payments — were expected to be scaled back for the rest of the day.

• The Maryland Judiciary said Friday morning that courts throughout the state would be closed for the rest of the day, except for emergency matters.
• Carroll County’s government said some of its operations would be limited, including online tax payment and permitting sites, and landfill payments would only be taken in cash.
• Howard County government offices also were impacted, and county administrators worked throughout Friday to bring systems back online in order of priority.
• Baltimore County’s public library system said there “may be a sporadic impact” on some services, like public computers and checkout stands.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said that while the city was not immediately impacted, its internet provider began experiencing an internet outage later in the day, interrupting 311 and online payment services. He said the city was working to determine the source of the problem and whether it was related to the global outage.

The Social Security Administration said all of its local offices were closed Friday, and some online services were unavailable as well.

Banks also struggled with some systems being out, though spokespeople for two Baltimore area financial institutions — M&T Bank and CFG Bank — said they had recovered by noon after outages caused minor delays on some services.

The outage impacts were felt at a multitude of other businesses throughout the area, as well.

A sign on the door of the Starbucks location on Boston Street in Canton told customers that the coffee shop was only taking cash payments. A spokesperson for the Seattle-based coffee chain said the outages had impacted its mobile order features, though customers still were being served at “the vast majority” of locations as the company works to bring its systems back online.

Travelers packed BWI early Friday morning as lines were at a standstill and major airlines grounded flights, citing communication issues. Many gate screens said flights were on time, but a Delta agent said, “We can’t do anything right now.”

Tone Smith, of Largo, sat next to luggage after having waited more than 10 hours at the airport only to have his flight canceled. He arrived Thursday night for a flight to Los Angeles that was supposed to take off before 1 a.m. and kept getting delayed.

“Now we are here, waiting to figure where we’re about to go, how we’re about to get there,” he said. “I pray everybody makes it to their destination, though, in a timely manner.”

Three travelers huffed and puffed to their gate just before 5:30 a.m. Friday, pleased to read a message on a screen.

“On time!” one exclaimed.

But, they like thousands of fellow would-be airline passengers, were in for a rude awakening, as their flight was ultimately grounded. As people sorted through delayed plans, lines stretched throughout the airport while others waited at gates for more information.

Gate agents provided some updates, explaining that the issue was affecting the majority of airlines.

Southwest Airlines, which has the biggest footprint at BWI, did not appear to be impacted and resumed operations Friday morning with several flights taking off.

Twice before 8 a.m., an announcement informed travelers that the Maryland Aviation Administration was aware of an “airline cyber outage” and stated, “there will be delays.”

Some travelers gave up hope, heading for exits, while others continued to wait around at gates, airport bars or on the floor next to a power outlet.

Passengers at BWI didn’t seem to have issues getting through security. A spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration’s Mid-Atlantic Divison said on social media that the agency had not been impacted.

BWI recommended in a social media post that travelers check flight status before coming to the airport.