Global outage a cause for concern for future IT updates

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)—An IT outage is causing issues worldwide, and Kansas is not immune to frustrations. Multiple state and local systems, including 911 systems, are affected .

The Texas-based software company CrowdStrike said the outage happened because of a defect in their Microsoft Windows software update. The company is used in many major banks and healthcare systems to detect and block hackers.

Sedgwick County employees spent the day rebooting computers one by one.

Both Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell and Its Expert Bill Ramsey agree that this is an eye-opening breakdown. Howell adds that it’s startling to see how much of an impact a small patch of software can have on our daily lives.

Sedgwick County ran the update to their security software late in the evening. The staff realized, like many other agencies around the globe, it brought on problems.

“The smallest, tiny little error, in a little tiny file, on a standard update, can bring the world to a stop,” said Howell.

Howell said it’s ironic that software meant to protect had a faulty improvement.

Tag offices across the state had to close down due to the outage. Restoring computer systems in the country took most of the day. Howell said advancements in technology have made us reliant on it to work.

“Computers have made our lives so much more efficient, but there’s also that vulnerability; we do trust the companies that create this software that we all depend on,” said Howell.

IT Expert Bill Ramsey said this outage impacted banks, airports, and even hospitals, causing panic. He added that it was not a hack but something that may have worked in test environments but not in the real world.

“I think this one is going to open some eyes because it’s such a simple update that caused an outage, a global outage, so it’s a little worrisome,” said Ramsey.

He expects tweaks in the protocol for delivering these updates in the future.

“I think a lot of places are going to make some changes to the ways they’re rolling these things out after this particular instance,” said Ramsey.

Ramsey told KSN that there is no true way to have zero vulnerability but that having an incident response plan in place should be a “must-have” for agencies and businesses moving forward.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.