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NYC sees some ongoing disruptions from tech outage: What you need to know
By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Elizabeth Kim
Published Jul 19, 2024
Modified Jul 19, 2024
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By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Elizabeth Kim
Published Jul 19, 2024
Modified Jul 19, 2024
Share
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What to know
- A global network outage disrupted some services around New York and New Jersey early Friday morning.
- MTA customer information systems — countdown clocks and the MTA app — were affected by the outage but subways, buses and trains are running normally.
- JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Airports all cautioned travelers to check with their individual carriers and not to head to the airports before confirming their flight statuses.
- 911, 311 and all traffic management services are functioning as normal.
A global network outage disrupted some services around New York and New Jersey early Friday morning, according to reports from multiple agencies. Most critical systems were not affected, officials said.
The problems seem to have stemmed from an update to cybersecurity system CrowdStrike that crashed Microsoft Windows systems using it. The biggest impact was to banks, businesses and flights at regional airports — but local train, traffic and emergency response systems were all functioning, officials said.
Still, Mayor Eric Adams warned New Yorkers in a press conference Friday morning that ancillary effects could cause some agita to New Yorkers.
“We expect to continue to see cascading effects of the outage throughout the day,” he said.
911, 311 and emergency response are unaffected
In an interview Friday morning with WNYC, New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said the update did not affect the city’s 911, 311 or traffic light systems, which run on separate operational networks to shield them form these kinds of outages.
“The good news is, everything that’s critical, the critical services across the city everything from 911, 311, traffic management, water management — everything else in between that’s most critical – those systems are not impacted,” Fraser said. “We’re taking a catalog right now of everything that received that update, and we’re trying to put together a list of things that are impacted.”
But any computer systems that do use the software experienced “the blue screen of death,” Fraser said.
“That basically means that the system went under a critical failure and it didn’t know how to recover,” he said.
An NYPD spokesperson said the department could still respond to calls, but its central computer system — for looking up incident reports and other important information – was down.
Check with your airline if you’re flying
Online services like banking and managing flight bookings were down, and airlines like American and Delta asked the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a global ground stop on all flights.
JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Airports all cautioned travelers to check with their individual carriers and not to head to the airports unless their flight statuses were confirmed. The Port Authority itself was not affected by the outage.
No disruption to subway, busses, commuter rails
The MTA said only its customer information systems – such as train arrival information, the countdown clock at stations and the MTA app — were affected. Otherwise, subways, buses and trains were running normally.
“The airline systems may be in disarray but New York City’s transit system is going full speed,” MTA chief Janno Lieber said.
NJ Transit ticketing machines go down
NJ Transit said its ticketing vending machines may be affected the the outages, but that customers who run into issue won't be denied travel until the machines are operational. It said train and bus service wasn't affected directly.
Separately, NJ Transit was still operating under a days-long advisory that some normally scheduled trains would be cancelled or combined with others, because of the week's extreme heat and ongoing repairs.
Some 'pauses' at hospitals
Mitchell Katz, the CEO in charge of the municipal health care system, said all hospitals across the city were “functional” and said the electronic health records systems for city hospitals did not go down.
“Overwhelmingly all of the systems are running just as they should,” he said. “Patients should keep their appointments.”
However, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notified patients Friday it was pausing any procedure that required anesthesia, but a spokesperson said mid-day the pause had been lifted. In New Jersey, the RWJBarnabas Health networksaid its hospitals were delaying some scheduled procedures "out of an abundance of caution."
Several callers have also told WNYC and Gothamist that their non-emergency appointments were canceled or postponed.
You might have trouble paying your parking ticket online today
Some computers in city agencies are currently offline as a result of the outage, Fraser said. That means New Yorkers may have trouble accessing certain online services such as those used for paying parking tickets or filing for building permits.
“You might find yourself in a position where those services may be online offline temporarily,” Fraser said. “But as I said we're moving through and we have the pathway to recovery.”
Courts backlog
Though Office of Court Administration spokesperson Al Baker said there were “no significant disruptions to in-person, courthouse operations” Friday, arraignments were reportedly shut down in Brooklyn and Manhattan courts.
“Our technology professionals are still in the preliminary stages of their work to assist staff around the state with disrupted interactivity issues,” Baker added.
Alec Hamilton contributed reporting.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the relationship between CrowdStrike and Microsoft.
Tagged
new york city
computer crash
public safety
transportation
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
Read more
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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