Tech outage causes big delays at Detroit-Windsor border

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The nationwide Microsoft outage also caused big delays for motorists at the US-Canadian border on Friday,

Both the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge were impacted with drivers coming from Canada at a standstill waiting to cross into the US.

Bridge authorities told FOX 2 that there is about a 40-minute delay. The truck lanes seem to be moving a little faster, however. Delays at the tunnel are a little better, around 30 minutes.

From Detroit Metro Airport and beyond, a global outage connected to Microsoft led to disruptions for businesses, governments, banks, and hospitals in Southeast Michigan and beyond Friday morning.

At the heart of the massive disruption is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

CrowdStrike has said a fix is on the way. Still, chaos deepened hours after the problem was first detected.

Those coming from Canada need to pack their patience and expect longer than usual delays. 

Experts stress that Friday’s disruptions underscore the vulnerability of worldwide dependence on software that comes from only a handful of providers.

-Information from the AP was used in this report.