Dozens Of Wyoming Government Agencies Hit In Global Cybersecurity Crash

A global technology outage caused by a software update glitch from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, wreaked havoc on the State of Wyoming’s executive branch on Friday.

Michael Pearlman, a spokesperson for Gov. Mark Gordon, confirmed that the crash affected Wyoming’s 49 executive branch agencies including the Department of Health and Homeland Security, as well as the governor’s office.

“Wyoming executive branch agencies were among those affected worldwide by the update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike,” Pearlman said. “We are focused on ensuring the services the state provides to the public remain available, and safety and security of our services and network are our priorities.“

The update caused computers to constantly reboot, taking them offline. This made it difficult for the company to push out a fix remotely.

As of Friday afternoon, Pearlman said several state agencies still had limited access to services. He said representatives of these organizations were communicating directly with their customers and constituents to continue to meet their needs.

Pearlman did not have a timeline as to when full functionality was expected to be restored. He said Wyoming Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), the state’s technology department, has communicated with all its agency directors and is working directly with agencies to address the issue impacting state computers. ETS is made up by a five-person team responsible for providing cybersecurity and IT services to 127 state agencies.

Worldwide Crash

Some experts have called the crash “historic” and another example of the global economy’s deep dependence on certain software.

The update resulted in crashes of machines running the Microsoft Windows operating system, but the company’s chief executive said on NBC’s “Today” show that it was not a result of a security incident or cyberattack.

“We’re deeply sorry for the impact that we’ve caused,” said George Kurtz, the CrowdStrike executive.

The crash also caused major shutdowns and delays on airlines, health care systems, mail, banks and scores of other businesses around the world on Friday.

A Wyoming delegate who was attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisc., confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that there were major delays at the airport due to the crash. By Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 flights across the country had been canceled, according to FlightAware, compared with about 900 on Thursday.

Emergency response systems in the U.S. were also affected, with 911 dispatch lines down in multiple states, the U.S. Emergency Alert System said on social media.

CrowdStrike And The State of Wyoming

ETS signed its first contract with CrowdStrike around 2016 when ETS Deputy Director Jason Strohbehn said the state was looking for a modern cybersecurity platform to replace its legacy antivirus solution, which was failing in critical areas, according to a February blog post from CrowdStrike.

“Old tools and techniques don’t work against modern attacks,” Strohbehn said. “Our AV software was missing a lot of detections, plus it was very labor-intensive and process-heavy.”

In 2020, the state increased its investment with the company by purchasing more products. According to the post, the State of Wyoming relies on a suite of CrowdStrike products “to deliver superior cybersecurity across the Wyoming state government.”

“CrowdStrike’s endpoint and identity protection solutions are like peanut butter and jelly … they’re good by themselves, but when you put them together, you’ve got something special.” Strohbehn said in the blog article.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.