INDIANAPOLIS — A 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.
13News is tracking central Indiana impacts below:
2:50 p.m. - AES Indiana says bill pay issues tied to the outage have been resolved.
"The widespread tech outage that impacted AES Indiana’s payment vendor today has been resolved. Customers who were unable to make a payment due to the outage will not be penalized. "
12:41 p.m. - Local Social Security Administration (SSA) offices are closed right now. But the SSA has provided alternate ways to contact them:
12:40 p.m. - Richmond Police report they have recovered from an overnight outage. They sent the following media release:
"In the early morning hours of today, July 19th, 2024, , The City of Richmond’s Information Technology infrastructure experienced temporary downtime due to an unscheduled push update from our IT vendor, CrowdStrike. While this downtime did affect Richmond Police Department computers, it did not cause any delay or disruption in our services. Our off-site Dispatch center remained fully operational and was not impacted by the downtime. As of 0600 hours, service disruption was restored and our IT staff began putting computers back online. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that this was a cyber attack on our city infrastructure. The incident appears to be solely the result of an unscheduled update."
12:25 p.m. - Latest updates on flight delays and cancellations at the Indianapolis International Airport due to the widespread technology outage on July 19, 2024.
9:59 a.m. - The Indiana Department of Homeland security is urging first responders experiencing issues due to the outage to contact their local Emergency Management Agency.
9:15 a.m. - 13News' Gina Glaros found fuel pumps at Circle K are not working properly, with cash as the only payment option.
9:14 a.m. - The Indianapolis International Airport shared an update on impacts on social media: "A worldwide technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines has caused some airlines to have a ground stop. Travelers planning to depart from IND today should please check with their airline for updates on flight status before coming to the terminal."
9:13 a.m. - The Indiana BMV says it is currently "unable to process transactions" and encourages people to check its website and social media pages for updates.
9:12 a.m. - The Hancock County 911 Center says it was not impacted by the outage.
9:11 a.m. - The City of Carmel says the outage is impacting city government connectivity. "We are working diligently to restore connection and expect public services to be up-and-running this morning," the city posted on social media.
9:07 a.m. - AES Indiana reports its payment vendor has been impacted and customers are unable to pay bills. "We will keep you updated when payments options are restored," the company posted on social media.
7:15 a.m. - 13Sunrise anchor/reporter Gina Glaros looked into the widespread technology outage.
7:15 a.m. - 13Sunrise reporter Sia Nyorkor is at the Indianapolis International Airport with the latest updates on flight delays due to the outage.
6:52 a.m. - A spokesperson with Ascension St. Vincent told 13News they weren't aware of any significant impacts to their systems.
5:37 a.m. - Workers in the emergency room at Eskenazi Hospital told 13News they're unaware of any outage, and their operations are running as normal.
5:19 a.m. - The Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency told 13News that 911 systems throughout the county remain functional.
5:17 a.m. - A supervisor with the Indiana State Police Indianapolis Post told 13News that it has experienced intermittent issues with its emergency systems, but 911 remains fully operational at this time.
5:15 a.m. - Travelers at Indianapolis International Airport told 13News they've been told systems are down and no flights are departing. There are long lines at the airport now.
5:12 a.m. - IU Health Methodist Hospital told 13News that its communications are up and running, but they are experiencing an online glitch in patient Medicare eligibility.
5:00 a.m. - An update from the 13Sunrise team: