Iowa's Critical IT Systems Restored Following Global CrowdStrike Outage

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Des Moines, IA – Governor Kim Reynolds announced this afternoon that Iowa’s critical IT systems have been fully restored, and services to Iowans have resumed normal operations following a global outage caused by an automatic software update from CrowdStrike, the state’s malware and virus protection provider.

“I want to thank the Department of Management’s Division of Information Technology and its security operations center for their near immediate response when the outage occurred in the middle of the night,” Governor Reynolds stated. “Iowa is fortunate to have robust cybersecurity capabilities. Today is a great example of the importance of investing in services that protect state infrastructure and improve service to Iowans.”

Rapid Response to Outage

The Iowa Department of Management’s Division of Information Technology, which operates a 24/7 security operations center, identified the issue at approximately 12:30 a.m. The security center promptly applied a temporary fix at 1:04 a.m., and CrowdStrike issued a formal fix by 1:30 a.m. The swift response minimized the outage's impact, affecting approximately 1,400 servers and 3,300 workstations, representing less than 20% of all devices across executive branch departments.

Ongoing Restoration Efforts

While core services have been restored, IT staff are continuing to work on restoring devices used by state employees. This process is expected to be completed over the weekend.

Governor Reynolds highlighted the incident as a testament to the state's strong cybersecurity infrastructure and the importance of continuous investment in these critical services.

“Iowa’s quick recovery from this incident underscores the dedication and expertise of our IT professionals and the robustness of our cybersecurity measures,” Reynolds added.

Commitment to Cybersecurity

This incident reaffirms Iowa's commitment to maintaining and enhancing its cybersecurity capabilities to protect state infrastructure and ensure uninterrupted services to its residents. The rapid resolution of the outage demonstrates the effectiveness of the state’s preparedness and response strategies in handling unexpected IT disruptions.