Global Technology Outages Shuts Down DMV, Disrupts Hospitals In NY

LONG ISLAND, NY — The impacts of a global technology outage have been felt across New York, according to reports.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles reported thatdue to the Global Microsoft outage, "DMV is unable to process transactions online or in person at our offices at this time."

Some hospitals have reported disruptions: "Northwell Health is currently experiencing sporadic technology impacts due to a global issue caused by a faulty update from a third-party cybersecurity provider, CrowdStrike. Where needed, we have implemented standard emergency response procedures to ensure the continued quality of care and safety of our patients," a statement from the hospital read

Stony Brook Medicine officials also spoke out on the outage: "Stony Brook Medicine is aware of the worldwide impacts related to Microsoft outages which appear to be caused by the CrowdStrike application. Our leadership team is actively monitoring the situation and assessing how the disruptions are affecting its campuses, vendors and our partners. At this time, operations are normal at our hospitals."

According to an Associated Press report, the global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack — and that a fix was on the way. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
But hours after the problem was first detected, the disarray continued — and escalated.

Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. News outlets in Australia — where telecommunications were severely affected — were pushed off air for hours. Hospitals and doctor's offices had problems with their appointment systems, while banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages to their payment system or websites and apps.
Some athletes and spectators descending on Paris ahead of the Olympics were delayed, but Games organizers said disruptions were limited and didn't affect ticketing or the torch relay.

DownDectector, which tracks user-reported disruptions to internet services, recorded that airlines, payment platforms and online shopping websites across the world were affected — although the disruption appeared piecemeal and was apparently related to whether the companies used Microsoft cloud-based services.

Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused by the outage because systems we've come to rely on at critical times are not going to be available. Hospitals, for example, will struggle to sort out appointments and those who need care may not get it.

"There are going to be deaths because of this. It's inevitable,'' Bore said. "We've got so many systems tied up with this."

Microsoft 365 posted on social media platform X that the company was "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact" and that they were "observing a positive trend in service availability."

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

CrowdStrike said in an emailed statement that the company "is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts."

It said: "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

The Austin, Texas-based company's Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15% in premarket trading early Friday.

A recording playing on its customer service line said, "CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor," referring to one of its products used to block online attacks.

Associated Press report by Charlotte Graham-McLay and Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press; Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed.