Internet outage has global effects but little seen here

A worldwide tech outage caused by a faulty Microsoft Office update stopped some bank ATMs from working, caused thousands of flights to be cancelled and affected businesses worldwide.

But what is being called the largest internet outage in history did not have much effect locally, other than flights being canceled or delayed, and reports of some ATMs not working.

Local businesses and government agencies reported some issues.

Sarasota-Bradenton AirportAround 11 a.m., Sarasota-Bradenton Airport reported 15 cancellations, seven arrivals and eight departures, and 18 delays, eight arrivals and 10 departures.

Flights for multiple airlines like Delta, American Airlines, Southwest and United were showing delays up to seven hours, according to SRQ’s departing flight status page.

SRQ CEO Rick Piccolo said passengers should check for updates on their mobile app frequently, as the outage will continue to cause a ripple effect in delays through the weekend.

“People need to understand it’s going to take a couple days to rewire itself (flight system), because the cancellations will cascade through the system,” Piccolo said. “Seats are going to be filling up the next few days, because of people missing their flight today.”

Punta Gorda AirportThe global outage also affected Punta Gorda Airport, which posted an alert that all morning departures for Friday were canceled. PGA spokesperson Kaley Miller around noon that the Allegiant website was down with no confirmed time when it might be fixed.

Passengers flying out of PGA should check the Arrivals/Departures page and social media for updates.

At 1:15 p.m., Miller had an update:

“Good news,” she said. “Allegiant is now checking people in for the 2:44 departing flight to Stewart/Newburgh. They are going through TSA screening so that should be the first flight out today. Hopefully, all the other flights will follow on time.”

Sarasota Memorial HospitalSarasota Memorial Hospital reported virtually no effect from the worldwide tech outages, with its hospital campuses and First Physician practices open and operating on a regular schedule.

“While some phones and software applications have been impacted by the Microsoft/CrowdStrike-related global network outage, the health system is using manual and backup systems to minimize any interruptions while Microsoft/CrowdStrike and our IT teams work to fully restore services,” SMH Public Information Officer Kim Savage stated. “CrowdStrike reported that the issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed, and confirmed that it is not a security issue or cyberattack.”

PGTPGT Industries, the largest private employer in Sarasota County, reported “minimal impact” to some customers via third-party vendors “but production systems are not affected,” said Tyler Stover, the senior communications and PR specialist with the company.

“We are staying in contact with our software vendors who are working to resolve the temporary impact, and our team is available for customers to reach out with any questions,” he said. “Our Business Technology Services team continues to actively monitor for any additional reported issues related to this outage that could affect regular operations and will provide any updates as they are received.”

Charlotte County governmentIn Charlotte County, public services remain unaffected by the Microsoft outages, according to Charlotte County PIO Brian Gleason.

“No public services have been impacted by the outage,” Gleason said. “We had some staff computers affected, but it didn’t affect patrons.”

HCA HospitalsThe region’s HCA hospitals reported it was not being directly affected by the outage and are working with their vendors regarding any issues they’re facing.

“We do not expect the incident to impact our ability to provide care to our patients,” said Julie Beatty, director of Communications and Community Engagement at HCA Florida Englewood Hospital, responding as well for HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital and HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital.

Outage WorldwideAs for the effects worldwide, the outages knocked media outlets offline and disrupted hospitals, small businesses and government offices on Friday.

The trouble with the Microsoft 365 update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected customers running Microsoft Windows. It was not the result of hacking or a cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.

But hours later, the disruptions continued for many companies and they scrambled to deal with the fallout.

Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed around the world.

Several local TV stations in the U.S. were prevented from airing the news early Friday, and some state and local governments reported problems at courts, motor vehicles departments, unemployment agencies and other offers.

Elsewhere, people experienced minor inconveniences, including trouble ordering ahead at Starbucks, causing long lines to form at some of the coffee chain’s stores.

Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused.

“All of these systems are running the same software,” Bore said. “We’ve made all of these tools so widespread that when things inevitably go wrong — and they will, as we’ve seen — they go wrong at a huge scale.”