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.
Here’s a look at who’s affected, and who’s not:
Montgomery County treasurer alert
The outage also is affecting some taxpayers on the due date for the second half property taxes in Montgomery County. Taxpayers attempting to make online payments through some banking systems are receiving notices that their online payments are not accepted, according to a release from the office of Montgomery County Treasurer John McManus.
“The global Microsoft outage affecting financial services worldwide is unfortunate, but our office fortunately has many options in place to help taxpayers who bank with any impacted financial institutions,” McManus stated. “Any taxpayer experiencing trouble paying online is being asked to utilize one of our other many options to pay their property taxes. If a taxpayer is experiencing trouble or needs additional guidance navigating their options, we’re available to help over the phone or in person and want to ensure that taxpayers have their questions answered. Additionally, our office is in close contact with our online payment vendor who is keeping us apprised of developments pertaining to the outage.”
For more information, call the treasurer’s office at 937-225-4010.
BMV locations
The Ohio Department of Public Safety confirmed that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles has been affected by the outage.
“Due to a global network outage impacting services worldwide, some BMV and title services may or may not be available. We are working to restore services as quickly as possible,” said ODPS spokeswoman Lindsey Bohrer.
A representative at the Dayton BMV site said all locations were closed across the state. There was a sign posted on the door of a Springfield BMV office saying it was closed.
The outgoing message at BMV’s Moraine/West Carrollton License Bureau said, “Due to the worldwide computer outage we are unable to process transactions at this time. Please try again later.”
Calls to other BMV locations across the region and to the central office in Columbus resulted in automated messages of “We are currently unable to take your call” or waiting on hold after being told that wait times were “longer than usual due to high caller volume.”
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said the global CrowdStrike issue is disrupting some services and operations. In a statement, the agency said anyone experiencing trouble accessing services should try again later because they were working to restore systems as quickly as possible.
WIC clients for Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County
Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County said due to technical difficulties with the state’s WIC computer system, the health department is unable to serve clients at its WIC locations. WIC is the food assistance program for pregnant women, women who recently had a baby and children up to age 5.
Fifth Third Bank
Fifth Third Bank is one of the financial institutions affected by the outage, according to a statement on its website: Some of our branches are currently experiencing limited functionality due to a global technology issue, but you can still bank with us using our mobile app, website, and chat with us via Jeanie.”
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton reported that its IT outage has been resolved, according to its website.
UD said that its IT Service Center will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday to assist with the ongoing disruption, or anyone using a university-issued laptop can bring it in or call the service center during normal business hours during the week.
UD said it uses the CrowdStrike application on all computers, and that it was causing “blue screens” and/or booting issues on Windows-based operating systems, but that it should not affect Apple/Mac systems.
CrowdStrike has remediated the issue on their end, UD reported.
Dayton International Airport
The Dayton International Airport website reported at least four flights were delayed this morning, with others departing 7:45 a.m. and after listed as “Scheduled.” One flight, a 6 a.m. departure to Atlanta, was canceled. The site shows two departures this morning, a flight to Washington, D.C., and a flight to Philadelphia.
911 services
Butler County 911 service has been restored after it experienced a worldwide software disruption that started around 1 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Richard Jones said.
Emergency calls were routed to the Hamilton County 911 center and relayed via radio, he said.
“Personnel were immediately called in to work on the issue,” he said, and the system is functioning normally. “No 911 calls went unanswered during the outage.”
Middletown police reported similar 911 issues and restoration at 7:53 a.m. During the outage, they asked residents who needed assistance from police or fire to call Monroe police or the Ohio State Highway Patrol so those agencies could relay the information to Middletown first responders.
Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said emergency systems are not affected.
“All mission-critical systems at the sheriff’s office including the phone lines and 9-1-1 system at the regional dispatch center are working. If you don’t have an emergency, please do not call 9-1-1 to test the lines,” he said.
Dayton
City of Dayton officials said some city devices were affected, but core city services remained fully operational, including police dispatch, payment systems and call centers, with all city facilities open. City IT personnel were working to restore the limited issues today, and asked any customers experiencing delays in city services to call 937-333-4800.
One person was unable to fill prescriptions at a local pharmacy because the system couldn’t communicate with the insurance provider, a user posted on Reddit in response to a Dayton Daily News story.
Kettering
Technology systems in the city of Kettering’s government offices sustained “a near-complete outage,” around 1 a.m. Friday, said Mary Azbill, community information manager.
IT personnel started working around 1:30 am. to restore service with initial focus on public safety, Azbill said in an email.
“Employee computers were impacted, requiring our IT team to physically work on each one individually,” she said.
Most computers were operational by shortly after noon Friday, Azbill said.
A Dayton Daily News employee drove around Kettering and reported Kroger and Meijer appeared to be operating as usual, along with multiple banks, gas stations and fast-food restaurants. The employee also was able to get cash from an ATM at a local bank.
Springfield
The Springfield Police Division has been affected by a statewide outage of law enforcement reporting and record checking systems, according to city community information coordinator Valerie Lough.
In addition, Clark County’s Jobs and Family Services department said it also is experiencing interruptions after Ohio JFS was hit by Microsoft outages, Clark County JFS Director Ginny Martycz said.
Hospitals
Patient care at local hospitals is largely unaffected Friday morning.
Mercy Health, which has locations in Springfield, Urbana and the southwest Ohio region, have several Microsoft-based systems that have been minimally impacted, it said.
“However, we are employing our standard backup procedures to help ensure continuous and uninterrupted patient care,” the health system said.
Patient care at Kettering Health, which operates more than a dozen local medical centers, is also unaffected, the hospital system said.
Premier Health, which also has more than a dozen local hospitals, emergency centers and medical offices, said in a statement: “All of our clinical systems are up and running normally.”
Dayton Children’s said it does not use CrowdStrike for cybersecurity, but some of its suppliers do.
“Very few areas were impacted and we have alternate systems in place. Families may experience a small delay in the pharmacy. Otherwise there should be no noticeable impact,” Dayton Children’s said.
