Global tech outage affects flights, health care, state agencies in Minnesota
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The massive technology outage that swept around the globe Friday disrupted flights, affected health care systems and knocked some government agencies offline in Minnesota.
The Associated Press reported that the trouble stemmed from a faulty software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, affecting computers running Microsoft Windows. Crowdstrike said it was not a hacking incident or cyberattack; the company apologized and said a fix was on the way.
Health care
The Minnesota Hospital Association issued a statement Friday morning stating that “many hospitals and health systems in Minnesota are recovering from the overnight global technology disruption.”
The association said the outage was reportedly affecting “electronic medical records, medical dictation applications, workforce management functions, as well as individual workstations and a limited range of medical equipment and machines.”
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Allina Health in a statement said its staff was “actively working to restore our computers and systems that have been affected by the Crowdstrike system outage and limit impacts to patient care. Allina Health has systems and processes in place to address emergent care needs, and we will contact patients directly if there are impacts to patient appointments.”
Air travel
The outage halted some airlines’ operations early Friday, including Delta and Minnesota-based Sun Country. That led to long lines in the terminals at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, of travelers waiting to check in or check luggage.
Delta and Sun Country said some of their flights resumed after 7 a.m., but delays and cancellations persisted through the day — totaling well over 400 by late afternoon.
When passenger Sammy Aho, traveling for work, spoke with MPR News at MSP on Friday morning, she had been waiting an hour to check in for her Delta flight.
“My coworker that is here, he didn’t have to check a bag — so he just got to go right through security,” Aho said. “He’s already at the gate and he said that there’s like nobody at the gate, because I’m assuming they’re all out here trying to check in ... Unfortunately, I have to check a bag. So I think I’m in the right line, but they haven’t really given that great a direction. It’s stressful.”
Airport spokesperson Jeff Lea told MPR News on Friday morning that it would take time to clear the backlog.
“We had flight cancellations on the West Coast that should have had planes here. That means that the Minneapolis connections are going to be canceled or delayed as well. And so there will be that domino effect through certainly today. It remains to be seen how well the airlines can recover and get folks to their destinations,” he said.
Lea said travelers with flights on Friday should check with their airline.
Delta announced it was offering a travel waiver for passengers with tickets for Friday flights, allowing them to change travel plans. Delta also announced in an update Friday afternoon that additional delays and cancellations are possible this weekend, as its network gets back up and running.
Government agencies
At least a dozen state agencies, departments and offices in Minnesota were dealing with internet outages stemming from the outage.
A spokesperson for Minnesota IT Services said the agency was working with vendors to deploy a fix and restore services.
Websites for the Departments of Public Safety, Education, Higher Education and Revenue were among those affected by the outage Friday, as was the state Pollution Control Agency’s website. Websites for the State Patrol and MNSure were also unavailable Friday morning as a result of the outage.
The state reported that several agencies also faced internal technology issues, affecting employees’ ability to work.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said its state parks reservation system was down for a time Friday, but it was back in operation by late afternoon.
The outage also left some license service centers unable to process state driver’s license or ID card transactions on Friday morning, including those in Anoka and Hennepin counties. Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services said its “DVS Now” kiosks at some Cub Foods stores were still working through the day — and in an update Friday afternoon, DVS said its network was back up and running statewide.
Ramsey County reported Friday morning that the outage had knocked “many” of its computers offline, and some county services were not available. Hennepin County also reported some county services were down.
The city of Mankato said that “even though a wide range of city computers were affected by the CrowdStrike tech outage, we have successfully brought systems back online.”
Stanley Cup delayed
The global tech outage also led to some disappointed hockey fans in Minnesota.
The Stanley Cup was supposed to be in Minnetonka on Friday for a day with former Gophers player Kyle Okposo, who won the Cup with Florida this past season.
But Michael Russo, hockey writer for The Athletic, reported that the Stanley Cup was stranded in St. Louis due to canceled flights.
A Friday morning event with Okposo and the Stanley Cup at Pagel Activity Center, giving fans a chance to take photos, was postponed. At last report, Russo reported, efforts were underway to try to get the Cup to Minnesota to salvage some of the rest of the day.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.