A faulty cybersecurity software update affected some non-critical City of Akron services, according to a press release from Mayor Shammas Malik’s office.
Scores of other companies worldwide were affected by the outage caused by the CrowdStrike software update, including airlines, banks and health care companies.
City services or departments that may be affected include:
- 311 website access.
- Utilities Business Office.
- Income Tax.
- City golf courses.
City services that were not affected include:
- Akron’s 911 dispatch operations
- Water and wastewater services
City IT personnel “are working diligently” to reboot other affected departments and systems, the release stated. All city buildings are open and all city employees reported to work as normal.
Akron Deputy Police Chief Dave Laughlin told Signal Akron the Akron Police Department is doing just fine.
“From the Police Department side, nothing’s really interrupted our operations, our team got on it pretty quickly and there’s still some bits here and there,” Laughlin said.
“All things considered, I think from the police department’s side we fared pretty well. The IT guy, who’s doing all the work, who called me at 2:30 in the morning, might disagree, but we’re pretty good.”
Malik said, “Our critical and core city functions and services are working as intended and we expect to have all other functionality back up and running very soon.”
Anyone with questions about city services can call 311 and speak to a customer service representative.
Akron-Canton Airport navigates delays — facility remains open
The Akron-Canton airport shared on social media that the outage affected some flight arrival and departure times. Travelers should directly contact the respective airlines – American Airlines, Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways and United Airlines – to check their flight statuses.
While flights may be delayed, travelers should have no problem navigating the facility, said Christian McCauley, the spokesperson for the Akron-Canton Airport.
“The airport remains fully operational, and has remained fully operational throughout,” McCauley said. “So any travelers that would show up to the airport would not have any difficulty getting in and out to the facility.”
Patient care unaffected at Summa
Elbridge Locklear, senior vice president and chief information officer for Summa Health, said in an emailed statement that some of the healthcare provider’s systems were affected, but that “we have robust policies and procedures in place for this type of situation and have been able to continue to provide patient care uninterrupted.”
Heidi Swindell, a public information officer with the Summit County Engineer said, “We have not had any issues here at the Engineer’s office. Knock on wood!”
Anthony Gomez, public information officer for the Summit County Clerk of Courts, told Signal Akron that most of the court’s operations were unaffected by the outage.
The Title Division, however, uses a state-operated computer system impacted by the Microsoft outage and is unable to provide services. The courts cannot issue titles, he said, and cannot print receipts for processing passports.
According to a statement on CrowdStrike’s website, the problem was caused by “a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack.” The site also said a fix had been deployed.
Signal Akron will continue to update this story.
