Some KS systems still down, Sedgwick Co. systems return

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Kansas is feeling the impact of a global technology outage . Sedgwick County said its tag offices closed because of the State of Kansas motor vehicle computer system being down. People trying to check on unemployment also had problems.

The Kansas Department of Labor posted this message on Facebook:

“At this time, the phones for the Unemployment Contact Center and the Get Kansas Benefits (GKB) website are temporarily down. We apologize for this inconvenience and will provide updates once available.”

The Kansas Department of Revenue said driver’s license offices were also affected.

“Due to ongoing global IT issues, all Kansas driver’s license offices will be closed for the remainder of the day,” the KDOR posted on Facebook. “Appointments will be notified. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

The Kansas Department of Transportation said some functions of kandrive.gov may be affected. And the Kansas Department of Agriculture said there may be some limits in access and service at its offices.

Sedgwick County commissioners got an update Friday morning.

“At this moment, the state has not got their stuff up and running. Therefore, we are not able to open the offices because of the state system still being down,” Sedgwick County Treasurer Brandi Bailey said. “The plan is to keep the tag office closed until we have that up and running because I don’t want people coming and sitting in the office, and sitting there all day. We may not be able to help them today.”

The global outage also grounded flights , knocked banks and hospital systems offline, and impacted some 911 systems. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

Sedgwick County Chief Information Officer Mike Elpers says the update impacted 75-80% of their Windows workstations.

“It blue-screened. We actually call it a blue screen of death or BSOD, to where the computers weren’t usable and had to be manually touched in order for them to be usable again,” Elpers said.

He said staff worked all night to fix the systems, focusing first on public safety, which includes EMS, fire stations, the sheriff’s office and the jail. Staff also worked on the operations at the county courthouse.

At 3:30 Friday, Sedgwick County released an update saying 95% of its computer systems were back to normal operations. The Sedgwick County Treasurer’s Office resumed normal operations, but the three tag offices remain closed.

When the tag offices reopen, the County will post an update on social media. Click here for a link to the County’s Facebook page. Click here to access the County’s X (formerly Twitter) account.

The Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department had to suspend inspections and the issuance of new permits Friday morning. It has since regained access to its files. Appointments that were missed on Friday will be rescheduled.

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