Early in the morning of July 19, 2024, an update automatically delivered by CrowdStrike, our antivirus software, began causing some Windows computers and servers to crash with a "Blue Screen of Death". It soon became clear that we were just one of thousands of companies being affected world-wide. CrowdStrike quickly reverted the update but some campus computers remained unavailable.
Only Windows computers and servers that were on overnight AND that received the CrowdStrike update would be affected. Mac and Linux computers do not have this issue.
Be aware that this issue is affecting companies around the world so and each company's response will be different. While we may have everything back to normal relatively quickly, other companies could take several hours or days to fix their own systems. If interacting with these companies, schools, banks, airlines, etc. please have patience.
IT staff have been working to bring any affected servers back online. Clients whose computers might have an issue today should first try restarting their computer. If it continues to blues screen, contact the Service Desk at (207) 725-3030. The fix does require manual intervention and our staff will work with you to get the computer working as quickly as they can.
If you have any questions, please contact the Service Desk.
Further Details
This issue began with a bad update from CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike sends updates periodically, and those updates begin delivery overnight and are random, which means that not all computers receive the updates at the same time. At around 4:09 UTC on July 19, an update was released to all CrowdStrike protected computers around the world. Word quickly got out that computers were blue screening, or crashing. Once it was discovered that it was CrowdStrike that was causing the issue, CrowdStrike began working on a fix. About 90 minutes later, a newer version of the file was sent out and the bad file was pulled back. While this helped remove the threat of affecting ALL protected computers around the world, thousands of devices were still impacted.
Locally, WCSH6 and other local news channels were not able to broadcast fully, and airlines delayed or cancelled flights in and out of Portland and Bangor airports.
Although a relatively easy fix for most systems, It will take some time for companies to recover.