Last Friday, the 19th of July, a worldwide IT shutdown disrupted various big and small firms across Georgia. This extensive outage interrupted several sectors like government services, airlines, and healthcare facilities.

Affected Major Firms

Georgia Department of Revenue, the digital tax filing system shut down which caused a delay in tax processing.

Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS), the services got impacted including license renewals, road tests, and fee payments. A lot of people who came for services had to be sent home because the systems failed.

Georgia Department of Human Services, this firm also faced troubles and asked users to wait patiently while they worked to get the services back on track.

Airlines, Flights by Delta and Frontier Airlines were grounded causing huge delays and cancellations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. By late Friday night, more than 1,800 flights were delayed or cancelled.

MARTA, the company’s website didn’t work but bus, rail and streetcar services worked fine.

Home Depot, A few inhouse systems stopped working but their stores and website still worked as usual. The online tickets weren’t available on Georgia Aquarium’s website early on Friday due to unknown tech issues.

While 911 services and patrol remained functional at Roswell Police, some operations like issuing permits and releasing vehicles were affected.

The permit system court systems along with UGA Extension Service Systems faced troubles at DeKalb County. However, the 911 center kept operating normally.

The office could not access system information on crimes in Georgia leading to delay in releasing inmates who posted bonds for freedom.

At SIUE University, the disturbance was minimal. Classrooms, Faculty and Staff Machines faced the disruption, but classes went on as usual.

Cause and Expert Point of View

The IT failure resulted from a defective update in Microsoft Windows software done by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The upgradation caused systemwide troubles, affecting various firms globally from airports to hospitals and banks.

Expert from Emory Prof. Rajiv Garg explained that while CrowdStrike tried to correct this faulty update, users need to be cautious over the next few days. He stressed on preparation of strong mitigation plans by companies before they release updates.
“We have never encountered this type of issue, which is a positive thing, but this also stresses on testings of such software’s,” stated Garg.

Effect on Air Travel

The travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport faced inconvenience and prolonged delays. Late on Friday night over 1,800 flights were affected mainly those by Delta Airlines. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had released ground stops for Delta and United Airlines but there were still disruptions.

Jenna Leach a traveler mentioned her discontent, “We’re all suffering together, Thankfully the staff here are helpful and distributing water among passengers although few said it should have been wine or beer.”

Healthcare and Government Services Disruptions

The health system of Wellstar along with Emory Healthcare and Grady Memorial Hospital all reported different level of interruptions. Patients at Wellstar were asked to get in contact with their service centers in case they had procedures scheduled.

The non-emergency procedure got delayed at its ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals as reported by Emory while minor interruptions were experienced by Graddy. The Fulton County Tax Commissioner’s Office was unable to process motor vehicle tags while request for e-WIC couldn’t be processed by the Board of Health. Processing of license, reservations and registrations all got affected leading to IT failure at Georgia Department of Natural Resources!

Reaction from Locals

Citizens trying to finish their errands faced significant delays and frustrations. A resident from Georgia, Justin Lane said, “There were a lot of things to get done today and I thought I’ll get it all done here but after reaching here they told me that system has crashed. “Keeping perspective on the issue, Kim Ward shared her experience, “I assumed this was a slow day because there were no cars here but it’s because they are not serving anyone.”

Broader Impact

Along with disrupting local firms and facilities it also showcased vulnerable technology setups. The IT team at Georgia Technology Authority said they were working to restore servers online whereas CrowdStrike CEO assured that they had released a fix.

“This is not an incident related to security or cyberattack,” stated Kurtz. “We have identified the issue, isolated it and deployed its solution.”

Conclusion

The worldwide IT shutdown has had deep impact on Georgia as it has disrupted everything from airlines to healthcare sectors. As gradually services are being restored this event accentuates the need for tough and dependent tech infrastructures.

Firms along with Government bodies are urged to prepare solid mitigation strategies so similar difficulties can be avoided in future.