Detroit Metro Airport, Corewell Health, Detroit-Windsor border among those impacted by global tech outage

ROMULUS, Mich. (FOX 2) - From Detroit Metro Airport to the Ambassador Bridge, a global outage connected to Microsoft led to disruptions for businesses, governments, banks, and hospitals in Southeast Michigan and beyond Friday morning.

The outage created problems for local healthcare that was struggling to restore its systems, while delays at the border were backing up traffic. Meanwhile, the state government's Unemployment Insurance Agency said its phone services were limited due to the outage.

The problem could be traced to an update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which impacted Microsoft Windows devices around the world.

At DTW, the airport asked anyone flying through Detroit on Friday to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport following a widespread global communications outage that affected industries like transportation, media outlets and banks.

At Corewell Health, many of its systems are also impacted by the technology outage. In a statement from its senior director of communications, an official said their teams were "assessing the situation and working together to care for our patients."

"Our hospitals and emergency rooms are open. Some procedures and appointments might be delayed. Please visit CorewellHealth.org for the latest updates," said Mark Geary.

Henry Ford Hospital also reported issues with their systems.

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Reports arose following outages involving Microsoft created problems for Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan wrote on social media that 911 and non-emergency service phone lines were experiencing technical difficulties. They asked anyone in an emergency to text 911 from a cell phone.

Detroit Airport problems

"Operations are returning to normal at DTW, but there may still be delays and cancelations," according to DTW. "Please check your flight status with your airline before heading to the airport."

Multiple airlines were impacted – with several flight delays and cancelations, and long lines frustrating travelers.

"We got all of our flights canceled, we can’t find a hotel room, I can't reserve anything because all my cards are shutdown," said John Saari, who was planning to travel to Minneapolis. 

However, some passengers reported needing to use paper tickets to get onto their planes.

"Feels like being victimized by technology," said Mark Peters, who's traveling to the West Coast.

It was a different story at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, where multiple flights were delayed. The carriers included American Airlines and United.

The Federal Aviation Administration also posted it was "closely monitoring" the outage, saying it was impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines. "Several airlines have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved. Monitor http://fly.faa.gov for updates." 

Ambassador Bridge delays

The outage isn't just impacting business - but the border as well.

According to Windsor Police, there are long delays at the tunnel and Ambassador Bridge due to a "worldwide Microsoft outage" and asked people to please avoid both areas. 

In a release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, they said the bridge crossing was experiencing longer than normal delays. However, Canadian-bound traffic was not affected by the outage. The disruption is mainly impacting people crossing into the U.S.

Images from the bridge showed long lines of cars heading into Detroit.

Michigan Unemployment problems

The state government's Unemployment Insurance Agency said its phone and online chat services were limited on Friday morning.

Employees could not speak with clients due to system issues related to CrowdStrike's update. In a news release, it said "Technicians are currently working to resolve the issue, with no current resolution time."

If someone needs to get in touch with the UIA, they can use the Michigan Web Account Manager - which was not affected by the outage. 

A CrowdStrike update

The American cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike did not believe the global outage was due to a cyberattack. However, it did confirm on its website that it was falling out a fix after identifying the issue.

According to its CEO, the firm was actively working with customers who were impacted by a "defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted."

"The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website," wrote George Kurtz, the president and CEO of CrowdStrike.

In response to the massive outage, CrowdStrike said it had rolled back the update that caused the initial problem.

In a follow-up statement, Kurtz wrote on X that its customers "remain fully protected."

"We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption. We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on."