A glitch in a system update caused a global technical outage on Friday morning, cancelling flights and disrupting communications at hospitals and banks in the region.
Here’s which Milwaukee-area organizations are affected by the outage:
What caused the global blackout?
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike blamed the disruption on a faulty system update.
CrowdStrike said one of its recent content updates contained a flaw affecting Microsoft’s Windows operating system, adding that the incident was “not a security incident or cyber attack.”
In a post on X, the company’s CEO, George Kurtz, apologized for the outage and said the issue had been identified and isolated, a fix had been distributed, and CrowdStrike is “working with all affected customers to ensure their systems are restored and they can provide the service they expect.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft said that “the root cause has been fixed” and affected Microsoft 365 apps and services have been restored, but the company continues to monitor the issue.
What can Microsoft customers do to fix the problem on their computers?
A Microsoft 365 Status post was made on X, which stated that customers could restore their Windows 365 Cloud PCs to a known good state before the update was released, as documented here.
What is CrowdStrike?
CrowdStrike is a cybersecurity software company founded in 2012. According to the company’s website, CrowdStrike has a “cloud-native platform that secures and enables the people, processes, and technology that power the modern enterprise.”
CrowdStrike posted a statement on X in response to customers affected by the outage.
“Today was not a security or cyber incident and our customers are fully protected. We understand the seriousness of the situation and deeply apologize for any inconvenience and trouble caused. We are working with all affected customers to ensure that systems are restored and we are able to provide the service they expect.”
“As previously stated, the issue has been identified and a fix has been deployed,” the statement said.
What flights are delayed or canceled at Milwaukee Mitchell Airport?
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport confirmed Friday morning that most airlines had restored their systems or put alternative procedures in place as of 9:30 a.m. after a global communications outage.
Travelers should still prepare for possible delays and cancellations: Several U.S. airlines, including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, grounded all flights on Friday due to communications issues, according to USA Today.
You can search the status of your flight on the Mitchell International Airport website here. For detailed flight information, please visit the airline’s website or call their customer service line.
Froedtert Health reports disruptions, other Milwaukee area hospitals also monitoring outages
A Froedtert Health spokesperson confirmed the outage affected some systems.
“Our teams are following standard procedures to avoid disruptions and continue patient care while continuing to work to restore systems,” spokeswoman Stephanie Barton said.
Burton said affected patients would be notified if the interruptions affected their appointments, adding that the issue does not appear to be related to a cybersecurity incident.
Burton did not immediately respond to a follow-up email seeking details about how the disruptions are affecting hospitals and clinics and which systems have been affected.
Aurora Healthcare, in a statement, did not provide details about how its hospitals and clinics in Milwaukee and the surrounding area were affected.
“Like many other organizations, we are closely monitoring the global CrowdStrike outage and are working diligently to minimize disruption to patients,” the statement said.
Ascension Wisconsin did not immediately respond to an email Friday seeking information about the impact to operations and patient care.
The Bayshore Mall store remains open for business, but back-office operations have been affected.
Several stores at Bayshore Mall in Glendale were making the most of the power outage on Friday.
At the Lane Bryant retail store, only one cash register was operational and back-office operations were made even more difficult by the lack of email.
Gap and Loft store managers also said the problem wasn’t with processing customer transactions, but rather with their internal platforms.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Loft manager Anna Duarte said.
Users of multiple banks reported technical issues on DownDetector
DowntownDetector.com reports outage information and reveals that several banks across the country are experiencing outages.
- Bank of America
- Chase Bank
- Bank of America
- Wells Fargo
A spokesman for Bank Five Nine, which has branches in southeastern Wisconsin, said customers were also having trouble using the bank’s mobile banking services and making deposits at ATMs.
The Milwaukee County Transit Authority reported no disruptions during the outage.
The Milwaukee County Transit Authority reported service on Friday was not affected by the outage.
“The bus continued through Milwaukee County without incident,” spokeswoman Anna Shriver said.
Related:Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport saw flight cancellations and delays on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Katherine Lauren, USA Today and USA Today Network Florida contributed to this report..
