Bartholomew County and Columbus emergency services were working normally Friday except for access to other databases used in law enforcement, such as the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, officials said.
A Microsoft global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue affected Microsoft 365 apps and services, and escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing it.
Bartholomew County and Columbus agencies had minor disruptions due to the CrowdStrike software update on Microsoft operating systems Friday.
Bartholomew County E-911 Director Todd Noblitt said the county’s 911 system was intact and working, although access to the BMV, which police use to check driver’s license status and registrations, was disrupted.
The state BMV reported on social media it is affected by the outage and the state agency was unable to process transactions on Friday.
Bartholomew County’s tech system does have CrowdStrike, but officials at the county courthouse said there had been no impact on computer systems for county offices.
One impact however, occurred when Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies could not use their Circle K gas cards to fill up patrol vehicles, as the gasoline stations were affected by the outage. An emergency gas tank at the county garage was being utilized to fill up patrol vehicles Friday, according to the sheriff’s department.
Jackson County 911 had a service disruption early this morning, but service was restored Friday morning, according to officials there. Seymour police and Jackson County use each other’s systems as backup during outages, according to officials.
Columbus city officials said they were experiencing minor disruptions due to the global technology outage.
• Columbus Fire Department (CFD) Inspection Division had technical challenges with their inspection software, resulting in limited functionality.
• Columbus Police Department Records Division encountered some software issues, officials there said.
• Columbus City Utilities experienced difficulties with the online payment and could only accept cash or check payments at their offices at 1111 McClure Road. Customers had to bring in a billing statement to use this option. The office was unable to access customer billing information or process credit cards due to the outage.
Columbus Regional Health reported everything normal and operational on Friday.
