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‘Closely monitoring’: What’s affected and not affected locally by the global technology outage

By Boston25News.com Staff
By Boston25News.com Staff

BOSTON — A global technology outage on Friday disrupted various Massachusetts businesses, hospitals, online banking, 911 call lines and also led to flight cancellations at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

Massport said some airlines at Logan were affected by the computer outage and the FAA noted that United, American, and Allegiant flights were all grounded at one point.

“We urge passengers to check with their airline for their flight status before coming to the airport,” a Massport spokesperson said Friday morning.

As of 12 p.m., there were 236 delays at Logan and 74 cancellations, according to FlightAware.

Also in Boston, Mass General Brigham canceled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits scheduled for Friday due to the major software outage impacting companies and airlines globally.

The outage impacting Microsoft services grounded flights and knocked banks offline and media outlets off the air. Microsoft 365 said the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact in a more expedient fashion.”

“A major worldwide software outage has affected many of our systems at Mass General Brigham, as well as many major businesses across the country. Due to the severity of this issue, all previously scheduled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits are canceled today,” Mass General Brigham said in a statement.

Mass General Brigham facilities and services include Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, Mass General Brigham Community Physicians, Mass General Brigham Health Plan, Mass General Brigham Home Care, MGH Institute of Health Professions, McLean Hospital, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.

Tufts Medical Center and South Shore Health were also experiencing issues linked to the global tech outage.

In a statement, Tufts said, “We are aware of this global IT disruption and have been in close contact with the vendor. We are currently operating under an emergency management structure as we await a resolution of this disruption. During this time, we remain open and able to provide safe patient care.”

South Shore Health added, “Early this morning, South Shore Health was made aware of technology issues impacting multiple information technology systems across South Shore Health. This appears to be a global problem impacting multiple businesses in addition to many healthcare organizations. We are currently working to assess, test, and remedy the affected systems. As always, patient care and safety remains our top priority and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that we continue to deliver high-quality, safe care for our patients as we address these technology issues.”

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s website was also down as of 7:30 a.m.

The impact on Massachusetts state government was more muted and limited to things like Registry of Motor Vehicles customer service appointments, courtroom operations, and MBTA bus or train arrival time data, the State House News Service reported.

“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is closely monitoring the CrowdStrike technology outage and working to mitigate any impacts on Massachusetts,” a spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey said Friday morning as what one expert called “the largest IT outage in history” came into better light.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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