Latest: Local impacts of major IT outage impacting flights, businesses

PITTSBURGH — A massive computer outage brought the world to a standstill and impacted businesses across the Pittsburgh area.

>>> Microsoft outage grounds flights, shuts down businesses globally

An update at Crowdstrike is being blamed for a worldwide Windows outage that grounded flights and impacted global business.

CrowdStrike is a global cybersecurity firm and one of its clients is Microsoft Windows. Its CEO George Kurtz said that it was a “defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyber attack.” He added that the a fix as been deployed, but issues across the world continue.

Check back for updates on local impacts below:

Update 6:05 p.m.:

The Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium is now able to take digital payments and credit cards.

Update 5:40 p.m.:

Allegheny County issued the following update:

“County IT continues to individually service departments to bring all functionality back on line and anticipates that all County services should be back to normal on Monday. Some credit card payment systems have already been restored at North Park, South Park and Settlers Cabin and the remaining issues in the Parks should be resolved over the weekend. This will be my last update on impacted County functions and services unless we continue to experience issues into Monday.”

Update 2:27 p.m.:

Bob Kirlik, Director of Public Affairs for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said nearly all airlines have fully restored their systems at Pittsburgh International Airport. You can read his full statement below:

“This morning some airlines operating at PIT issued delays and cancellations as a result of the IT issue affecting companies and airlines worldwide. The issue did not affect airport systems and the security checkpoint continues to operate normally. Nearly all airlines have fully restored their systems at PIT, however passengers should continue to check with their airlines about flight status in the event of residual delays.”

Update 1:30 p.m.:

The Pennsylvania Lottery said they are back up and running normally.

Update 11:56 a.m.:

A spokesperson for Giant Eagle said some of its pharmacies are experiencing slight delays in prescription fill times.

You can read their full statement below:

“Importantly, as noted by CrowdStrike, the vendor at the center of this global issue, this is not a cybersecurity or system integrity issue.

“Supermarket and GetGo guests can shop and fuel up in our Giant Eagle, Market District, and GetGo locations and via our online ordering systems as usual.

“Some of our pharmacies are experiencing slight delays in prescription fill time. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve this issue and appreciate our guests’ understanding and patience.”

Update 11:46 a.m.:

A spokesperson for Allegheny County said the government is experiencing “limited service and function interruptions” due to the widespread outage.

Courts and 911 are functioning normally.

Some limited service and function interruptions today include:

• The Parks Department is open and ready to accept visitors but anticipates only being able to accept cash payments at some golf courses and pools.
• Allegheny County Jail canceled visitation today and mug shots will temporarily be unavailable.
• The Medical Examiner’s Office will not be releasing information on cases until further notice.
• Courts are operational but some court records functions are offline today including passport photos and marriage licenses.

Update 11:10 a.m.:

The Pennsylvania lottery told Channel 11 the outage has impacted their connection to some servers but connection has since been restored.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and thank players for their patience,” they said in a statement to Channel 11.

Update 10:56 a.m.:

PennDOT said that many of its services are unavailable, including Driver License Centers and their customer call center.

Update 10:54 a.m.

FedEx said it has had “substantial disruptions” and that there could be delays for packages that were scheduled to be delivered on Friday, NBC News reported.

The company said customers should check the service alerts page for updates and track shipments on fedex.com.

UPS has a similar message that while the “network is operating and delivering in all areas, there is a potential for delivery delays due to a global technology outage.” The company said its Service Guarantee does not apply today due to the outage.

No alert has been posted for the USPS, but you can keep track of any issues here.

Update 10:40 a.m.

All Allegheny County pools will be cash only until further notice due to the outage.

Update: 10:10 a.m.:

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services website is currently down due to the outage.

Update 10:10 a.m.:

Due to the outage, the zoo said they will be operating on cash only today.

Update sent around 7:49 a.m.:

A spokesperson for UPMC told Channel 11 that patient care has not been affected. They sent the following statement:

“UPMC has been impacted by the worldwide CrowdStrike cybersecurity outage affecting fewer than 10% of our Microsoft Windows-based devices at some of our facilities. UPMC’s IT team intervened early to mitigate the problem and is restoring servers and PCs.

“Patient care has not been affected and our facilities are operational. Our emergency departments are open and appointments and procedures will proceed as scheduled.

Update 6:41 a.m.:

Both North and South Park Golf Courses will be cash only until further notice due to the outage.

Update sent around 5:30 a.m.:

A spokesperson for Pittsburgh International Airport said that airport systems have not been impacted and you can get through security, but to check with your airline about flight status before you head to the airport. Multiple flights already have been daleyd or canceled due to the outage.

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