ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Chief Administrative Officer, Brandee Ganz, released the below statement following the international impacts of the CrowdStrike IT-outage:
“Last night at 12:41 a.m., our current vendor, CrowdStrike, initiated an update which caused massive outages and issues across the globe. Internationally, this event affected the normal operations for banks, airlines, government organizations, and more. Unfortunately, Howard County Government was immediately affected by the outage as well.
Throughout the early morning, our County Administration and Department of Technology and Communication Services (DTCS) worked vigorously and immediately to restore critical systems first, including our 911 operations center, financial systems, and all other high priority systems.
At 5:14 a.m. all employees received a telephonic notification of the situation with guidance on computer use and assistance available.
By 6:00 a.m., all employees received an additional email notification explaining the nature of the disruption and providing additional direction.
By 8 a.m. we secured our internal systems and DTCS deployed technicians at various worksites to assist where needed.
At 10:30 a.m. my team and I briefed all elected officials of the situation once we knew the breadth of the impact, verified that there were minimal disruptions, and implemented Continuity of Operations Plans were necessary.
We continue to monitor for potential threats and triage issues as they arise. I am so proud of the efficiency, expertise, and professionalism that our government displayed to minimize any disruptions to our services and operations.”